Google Charges Retailers to Appear on Shopping Site - NYTimes.com

Excerpt from a timely competitive reality check

"Google is a search engine, not a store, but it is increasingly inching into e-commerce with products like its comparison-shopping service, Google Shopping. At the same time, more people are using Amazon, a retailer, as a search engine to look for what they want to buy.
Trying to stave off the competition from Amazon, Google has recently changed Google Shopping to require e-commerce companies to pay to be included in shopping results, so product listings are now ads. Inclusion used to be free."

Google Charges Retailers to Appear on Shopping Site - NYTimes.com