Google's land-grab in the area of on-line payments, Google Checkout has failed to take off as the big G had hoped. With users not wanting another e-wallet (many already have PayPal, and don't even want to manage with that), and with merchants stung by high fees that frequently eclipse those charged to them by their merchant credit card processing accounts, it's no wonder that critical mass hasn't gathered on the merchant or consumer side. Google may have had it right in the beginning, when they gave merchants who advertised with AdWords special discounts on Google Checkout merchant fees, while at the same time offering abundant coupons to consumers for discount at merchant sites... but after a number of months, Google cut these programs, and when they went, so too did many merchants and the incentive for consumers to choose Google Checkout instead of a store's standard checkout procedure. Another road-block is sites' not honoring their own coupons through Google Checkout.
