It was 7:00 in the evening. Like many REALTORS® who use direct mail, Sharon Marsh, a Plano, Texas agent, was doing her mailers after supper when she found she had run out of that most common and most maddening of business necessities - postage stamps.

Then she remembered that the U.S. Postal Service has authorized three Internet-based companies to sell "electronic stamps". Marsh found the names, and decided to contact each one so that she could compare their products and share the information with her coaching classes and with Agent News.

• www.estamp.com
• www.pcstamp.com,and
• www.stamps.com.

With stamps.com's downloadable software, Marsh was up and running again within an hour and able to finish her mailing, printing the stamps from her desktop simultaneously with her content onto the mailers.

"You have to be connected to the Internet at the time you are printing the stamp," cautions Marsh, "so it will tie up your line. But the advantage is there is no waiting for hardware to arrive in the mail. You can start putting stamps on your mailers as soon as you download the software.

"With the other two, pcstamp.com and estamp.com, you need software and hardware that you send off for, and it's about $49.95," explains Marsh. "It is about the size of a pager. The hardware stores the stamps so that you don't have to be online while printing."

How to print online stamps

The software accesses the database through its own program a variety of ways. You can print directly from Microsoft Word, Outlook or ACT. Marsh says that the software can access your database, and that stays on your computer so you don't have to send your database off to anyone else.

The stamp is actually a bar code, and the software also includes the zip four address, too. The zip four address is the last four digits which many post offices require 9 digit zip codes now.

When you are in Word or another program, the software will give you a diagram of where the stamp is going to be placed so you can prevent wasted postage. It will also allow you to test print at any time.

"I wasn't sure how to do the mailer, because you print it flat, and then you have to fold it," says Marsh. "But the program made it easy to navigate that. My first one was upside down, but it was a test copy so no harm done.

"Now I simply print the stamp onto the envelopes, self-mailers or labels as part of the address. I can type in individual addresses or have the software access or import them from my contact database (which remains on my computer for security purposes). It automatically verifies each address and adds the bar code for speedy mailing."

Marsh outlines a number of advantages. "The fee is nominal, as low as $1.99 per month: about the amount of gas I'd spend to drive to the post office. Not to mention the time spent standing in line for service. It's well worth it to keep me on schedule and assure timely, quality mailings."

"Now I never run out of stamps or get a "bad address return." Plus I get an electronic statement showing my monthly expenses for tax purposes which are easily importable into financial packages such as MS Money and Quicken. No more paper receipts to keep up!"

"It's better than a meter machine because a machine has to be taken into the post office to be refilled periodically," points out Marsh. "This new software saves you from having to go to the post office at all."

"I hate going to the post office, and I'm like other Realtors. If you don't finish what you're working on, you may never get back to it."

With less than 18 percent of American households online, the reality is that even the most Web-savvy Realtors still rely on direct mail pieces to market themselves. Although Marsh is an avid Internet marketer, with her own email newsletter, folding mailers and sending them snail mail is still a viable marketing solution for her.

So which electronic stamp company gets Marsh's vote? "They all work well, but the one I went with was software only, stamps.com. I didn't have a problem being connected to the Internet, and for me, it was faster. I was signed up and printing the same day."

In case you may think the U.S. Post Office is passing along savings with its electronic stamps, think again. The cost for stamps is the same, but the savings in time and inconvenience are inestimatable.

Published: December 2, 1999

Use of this article without permission is a violation of federal copyright laws.

Blanche is a renowned author of five real estate books. Her newest, Bubbles, Booms and Busts: Make Money In Any Real Estate Market, McGraw-Hill, was rave-reviewed by The New York Times. She was also selected from hundreds of real estate experts to contribute to Donald Trump's book, Trump: The Best Real Estate Advice I Ever Received: 100 Top Experts Share Their Strategies, Rutledge Hill Press, and is featured on page 68. Order Now Review - Honors In 2006, Blanche was selected among scores of candidates to author two consumer real estate guidebooks for the National Association of Realtors: The NAR Guide to Home Buying, and The NAR Guide to Home Selling, Wiley & Sons. She is currently planning two new books for the NAR and its members.       Known for her keen insight into real estate industry issues and for her ability to make complex subjects easy to understand, Blanche is a sought-after keynote and continuing education speaker. Real estate organizations from MLSs, to brokerages, to franchisors, to associations hire her to provide up-to-the-minute analysis of real estate industry news and advice on how to improve revenues. Her passionate delivery, peppered with stinging wit, is a huge hit with audiences and fans. Don Klein, CEO Greater Nashville Association of Realtors, Blanche Evans, Richard Courtney, president 2007, GRAR "The GNAR membership meeting last week featured Blanche Evans as the keynote speaker. Her comments and insights resonated extremely well with those in attendance and we have had many requests for copies of her PowerPoint Presentation. She was a terrific part of the membership meeting and convention program!" - Don Klein, CEO Greater Nashville Association of Realtors Coverage from WSMV, Nashville - 8-14-2007 That Interview Guy - Get Inside The Head Of Today's Generation 2007 AE Institute Session - To purchase 2006 AE Institute Session - Parts 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 HouseValues Mastermind call - Parts 1 2 Blanche's fireside chat with Jeremy Conaway, HAR - Click here. For more articles by Blanche, click here.