PayPal Befriends Stamps.com

Just days after Stamps.com won approval for a new form of
e-postage that can be printed and used like regular stamps, PayPal did a
partner deal to integrate the solution into its online payments service.

Mountain View, Calif.-based PayPal said the Stamps.com
shipping functionality is expected to be available this fall, in time for the
holiday shopping season.

The new postage product has been named NetStamps by Santa Monica,
Calif.-based Stamps.com . Financial terms of the deal with
PayPal were not disclosed, but there’s little doubt that it will benefit both
parties.

The Stamps.com integration will let PayPal users buy and print U.S. postage
online from their PayPal account. PayPal sellers will be able to calculate
the exact amount of postage required and print a shipping label pre-populated
with the recipient’s information using the Web-based application.

In addition, the electronic Delivery Confirmation feature will allow sellers
to verify delivery of their shipments online, which will be good news for
eBay users. San Jose, Calif.-based eBay , which is in the process
of acquiring PayPal, represents about 60 percent of the company’s
business. eBay’s current payment service, eBay Payments by Billpoint, will be
phased out after the close of the transaction.

PayPal launched its PayPal Shipping service in June in a
deal with UPS to provide a method for sellers to complete their
fulfillment of online transactions without leaving the PayPal site. It allows
sellers to automatically pay for shipments from their PayPal account.

About 15,000 customers already have used the service in the first month,
PayPal said.

The deal represents the first integration of Stamps.com’s shipping
application programming interface into a third party’s product; it would seem
that more can be expected.