I think the point is that it's way easier to use this than something like braintree or stripe that require coding skills. Did you think helium or spacebox were just wacky adverts too?
Helium i haven't heard much about, so I can't say much about that.
It's not exactly like this stuff hasn't been coded before in easy enough to use solutions. I'm just annoyed primarily that this site wants you to sign up before showing any of the code/example of how easy it is to use if it's free. Seems kind of like an extra step for no real reason.
Also from what i've heard a lot of stripe/braintree really isn't that hard to set up. If you want to prove that the process is really easy you need to show that stuff on the front-page in pictures or snippets.
HTML is much more basic than programming it's basically english in brackets.
Also if you can find me a "programmer" who doesn't know how to use HTML then you have found some very awkward person.
We're aiming Forge at people who can't code their own website from scratch, not really you or me. These non-techies can manage a Wordpress install or a Squarespace site, and just want to sell something online.
I think that selling online shouldn't be about the logistics of running a website and handling payments. It's more of a product and marketing problem. Forge takes away some (but not all) of the technical hurdles of selling things online.