E-Stamp, a provider of postage over
the Internet, scored a coup on Wednesday, striking an exclusive
distribution deal with leading auction site eBay.
The agreement, financial terms of which were not disclosed, makes E-stamp (ESTM)
the sole provider of Internet postage on eBay’s (EBAY) Web site. E-Stamp will be
prominently featured on the eBay site, which has 7.7 million members, and
receives around 10 million unique visitors a month.
The two companies have a special affinity, since people selling products on
eBay use a lot of postage sending the sold items to the buyers.
The E-Stamp strategy includes offering eBay members discounts on the
hardware needed to start downloading postage from the Internet, and it will
also reduce convenience fees for eBay users.
The companies will together create a co-branded micro-site and conduct
joint promotions to top sellers, direct mail outreach and co-branded
mailing supplies.
E-Stamp and eBay tested the first joint promotion in December, making a
special holiday offer to members.