Despite the country slumping further into recession, it seems we won’t find any sympathy from our old friends, Google. The Internet giants last week announced plans to increase the service fees it charges to its online merchants using their Google Checkout service – leading to fierce criticism from angry vendors.

As Channel Register reports, “Merchants in the UK currently pay 1.5 per cent of the value of the transaction plus 15 pence. From 5 May this is replaced by a tiered structure starting at 3.4 per cent and 20 pence per transaction if monthly sales are worth less than £1,500″.

This is just further evidence of how with interest rates at such low levels, banks are placing more emphasis on transaction fees for their revenues to pay their costs.

Yet it certainly seems rather odd that Google should choose a time when merchants are struggling financially to raise transaction fees, and when their main rival, Paypal, are themselves courting controversy for their high fees and aggressive strategy. With all that in mind, it has led many merchants to reassess the best service to get the most out of their money.

This situation is very much at odds with how Chapter Eight charge for transactions. For the past 6 years merchants using Chapter Eight’s ecommerce processing systems have enjoyed rates starting at 1% and DROPPING to even lower levels depending on their volumes.

Not only that, Chapter Eight’s ecommerce system is not tied to a single bank which means merchants are free to negotiate the best rates they can on the bank side too – meaning lower rates and more profit for our merchants.

If Google Checkout don’t quickly heed the calls from angry punters to drop their fees, it won’t be long before merchants start checking out their other options, and I know where I’d be putting my money.