Google Checkout is Live

Check it out, Google Checkout is now live. It's pretty much a clone of AOL, Yahoo and Microsoft's efforts, except it is tied directly to Adwords. In addition, Google struck a co-marketing deal with Citicard to offer $5 or 1000 ThankYou Points the first time you use the card with Google Checkout.

As of this writing, the links aren't all live yet. However, most interesting, Google is giving everyone the ability to integrate Google Checkout in their own Web sites or on Google Base. This can help pave the way to leaps in social commerce. The New York Times is reporting that Google will charge merchants 20 cents plus 2 percent of the purchase price to process card transactions and, as previously noted, it is waiving certain fees to those who advertise.

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