Once again, Google (News - Alert) may have gone against its informal motto of "don't be evil" on Monday when it purchased a tiny competitor, called KikScore, with plans to shut it down.

KikScore, a service which rates the trustworthiness of e-commerce websites, has about 1,700 active customers who are going to be disappointed by the end of the month — the planned date to shut down the website is June 28. Terms of the agreement were undisclosed, but it seems likely that Google shelled out a large sum of money if KikScore CEO Raj Malik's blog about the deal is to be believed — Malik seems downright giddy about the deal.

The blog post features a long list of thank-yous, crediting VC Eric Liaw at Institutional Venture Partners as well as Anuj Goswami, a lawyer at Ballard Spahr, for making the deal go through.

It does make sense for Google to shut the service down as CEO Larry Page (News - Alert) has been clear that Google's direction in the future leads toward cutting down the company's massive product portfolio to move toward a seamless, integrated experience. However, there's no getting around the fact that shutting down KikScore doesn't look great for Google.

While Google now owns KikScore's technology, none of the management of the start up will be joining Google's ranks. Google is suggesting that KikScore customers begin making the switch to its own trusted store product before KikScore's closure at the end of the month.

Google was recently found to be among the companies in the Internet and services industry with the highest sales per share, along with Equinix, InterActiveCorp, VistaPrint and Sohu.com (News - Alert). Google leads the pack by far with sales per share of $123.46, with Equinix in a distant second at $36.02 per share.

Last year, KikScore announced a partnership with Shopify, helping it to gain popularity in the e-commerce market.