BizNet OnLine Magazine, Online Postage… The Continuing Story

In last month’s article on Internet Postage, we compared E-Stamp to Stamps.com, having already tested E-Stamp.

This October, Stamps.com was released to the public – WITH A LOUD HURRAH! and this writer has it, uses it, and thinks its great! (You can, too. See last paragraph.)

1. Stamps.com and E-Stamp are the only companies so far approved by the US Postal Service to offer online postage nationwide. Both services allow customers to buy postage over the Internet and print a bar-code stamp directly on an envelope in the home or office.

2. Users of Stamps.com must be logged on to the Internet to print a stamp, while E-Stamp requires use of a separate hardware "vault" that stores postage so it can be printed offline.

3. Stamps.com started its nationwide rollout the week of 10/18/99, and says it has 100,000 pre-registered users. E-Stamp has already signed up 10,000 users and has been approved by the Postal Service to extend that to 100,000 customers.

It is easy to download and install –VERY EASY! (Much easier that it’s E-Stamp.)

It is less expensive that its competitor, both for businesses and for the under $20/month postage users

Stamps.com has their act together; they waited to release their product until most of the bugs were out.

In our case, no bugs at all; well, maybe one regarding the return address printing on an envelope; but Customer Support was great and easy to reach (24/7 –what a concept!). All I had to do was download the newest driver for my HP printer and voila! Thanks to Brett & Vern in Customer Support.

We think that Stamps.com wins hands-down in this competition, and will re-evaluate it again in a few months. Meanwhile we are beta-testing for Pitney Bowes on-line stamp program – will they or won’t they, that is the question.. (More on that in another issue… Or not??

ADD-ONS: We also purchased the postage scale (under $50) which connects to the PC (via a serial port) and interfaces with the stamps.com program; it calculates up to 10lbs. The instructions are simple (1-2-3); it was extremely simple to connect, to download the driver, and to begin to use right away.

So, creating perfect postage is now a slam dunk; no more wasted postage by guessing at the weight, or having to stand in long lines at the post office.

This comes just in time as the holidays are upon us; and, I for one will be glad I don’t have to stand in those long lines behind holiday gift senders to transact shipping and postage for my business.

A+ for ease of use
A+ for pricing
A+ for add-ons
A+ for web site
A+ for Customer Support

In Fact BizNet Gives It The A-OK Award…………….

Got the picture? Stamps.com is an all-around exceptional service. And how many times can you say all that about any hardware or software on a PC?

There are plenty of extra services down the pike with Stamps.com, too. My take is that they are way ahead of the competition, having come from behind (so to speak), getting out the gate almost two months later.

This writer got so excited about Stamps.com that she became an affiliate and bought their stock. You can find out more about it and even sign up by going to either of these websites and clicking on the Stamps.com banner.

Sharon Wolfe Is The Owner Of The Squeaky Mouse Computer Training, and her web site can be viewed at:

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