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2005-08-08 - Los Angeles and San Leandro, CA, USA: Online personalized postage service company Stamps.com(R) (NASDAQ:STMP) and CafePress.com, an online micro-manufacturing marketplace, have agreed a partnership to bring PhotoStamps - the popular form of postage that lets consumers turn their digital photos, designs or images into valid U.S. postage - to CafePress.com's millions of members.
PhotoStamps is a patented Stamps.com product that couples the technology of PC Postage with the simplicity of a web-based image upload and order process. PhotoStamps was extremely popular during the initial market test which was announced on Aug. 10, and ran through Sept. 30, 2004. During that 7 1/2 week period, more than 2.75 million individual PhotoStamps were ordered. PhotoStamps is available under authorization of the U.S. Postal Service for a second, year-long market test that began May 17, 2005.
From early August, PhotoStamps will be a customization option for CafePress.com's shopkeepers and members. Cafepress.com shopkeepers use the company's services to offer their own branded products to customers. Each shopkeeper will be able to provide unique PhotoStamps designs to customers via their individual shops. Shopkeepers will be able to customize the images on the PhotoStamps to reflect the overall theme of their individual shop. Customers may then simply order PhotoStamps from Stamps.com through the regular CafePress order process.
Since 1999, CafePress.com has built a community of more than 2 million people from around the globe who have expressed their creativity on a variety of more than 70 items ranging from t-shirts to bumper stickers to mugs to postcards. Currently, close to 10 million unique products are available through the CafePress Marketplace.
"By joining forces with CafePress.com, we're able to bring PhotoStamps to a new and extensive network of consumers," said Stamps.com President and CEO, Ken McBride. "Being able to customize products is something that consumers have embraced rapidly. It's a trend that we expect will continue to grow, making this partnership a great opportunity for both companies."
"We've always been committed to bringing the public greater freedom of choice and personalization through the CafePress.com Marketplace," said Fred Durham, co-founder and CEO. "Through the partnership with Stamps.com, clearly the leader in online postage services, we are able to take personalization and customization to an entirely new level by offering shopkeepers the opportunity to send their expressions on PhotoStamps."
Through the partnership between Stamps.com and CafePress.com, customers will be able to create customized PhotoStamps with images that each CafePress shopkeeper makes available, for example pets, vacations, celebrations, events, hobbies and so on. PhotoStamps can be used as regular postage to send letters, postcards or packages, and are currently available for the most common mail rates in denominations ranging from $0.23 to $3.85. Each sheet includes 20 individual PhotoStamps.
