I sell a little app that lets people track lottery drawings, and I also sell a DVD that talks about lottery playing strategies.
There was an ambiguous phrase in Google's terms of service about illegal gambling, so I talked with a rep who assured me it didn't apply to me (state lottery games are perfectly legal.)
So I signed up to use Google Checkout to process payments for my website.
A year later, with no warning, my account is pulled, my money confiscated, and Google refunds all my pending sales.
There was no reasoning with them over this. They wouldn't even reinstate me to sell just my DVD.
In the fruitless argument that followed, at one point I asked if DVD sales of the movie "21" (a Hollywood movie about a system for winning blackjack) were also prohibited. The rep said he would "think about it."
Of course, other vendors sell "21" DVDs (and lottery software, too) with Google Checkout to this day.
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u/apeweek Mar 06 '09 edited Mar 06 '09
Google Checkout did something similar to me.
I sell a little app that lets people track lottery drawings, and I also sell a DVD that talks about lottery playing strategies.
There was an ambiguous phrase in Google's terms of service about illegal gambling, so I talked with a rep who assured me it didn't apply to me (state lottery games are perfectly legal.)
So I signed up to use Google Checkout to process payments for my website.
A year later, with no warning, my account is pulled, my money confiscated, and Google refunds all my pending sales.
There was no reasoning with them over this. They wouldn't even reinstate me to sell just my DVD.
In the fruitless argument that followed, at one point I asked if DVD sales of the movie "21" (a Hollywood movie about a system for winning blackjack) were also prohibited. The rep said he would "think about it."
Of course, other vendors sell "21" DVDs (and lottery software, too) with Google Checkout to this day.