BOSTON & FOSTER CITY, Calif. (PRWEB) January 16, 2008

    “EFI’s Internet applications are used by thousands of printing companies and their customers, resulting in tens of thousands of shipments, so it was important for us to enable these clients to show actual or estimated shipping charges to their own customers in real time as they added items into their shopping carts,” said Chuck Gehman, EFI director of product management for Web-to-Print. “We want the end customer to be able to compare the charges between different carriers and different shipping methods, and Paid’s API enables us to do that at a very affordable rate.”

For EFI, and for eCommerce companies in general, shopping cart abandonment is a problem that they are seeking to solve. According to Practical eCommerce, “Seventy-two percent of shoppers cite shipping as a top reason for shopping cart abandonment.” With estimates in Shop.org and Forrester Research’s “State of Retailing Online 2007” study that online retail sales, excluding travel, were $ 146.5 billion in 2006 and were projected to grow to $ 174.5 billion for 2007, few companies want to risk losing shoppers once they have lured them to their sites. Additionally, a groundbreaking research study by Jupiter analyst Ken Cassar revealed that the largest percentage of ecommerce customers believe that shipping and handling charges should be a function of product weight.

“A priority for us is providing our clients with a way to make more sales, including the prevention of shopping cart abandonment where possible,” Gehman stated. “Since they are selling print jobs, shipping charges can vary greatly depending on what is ordered. Therefore, it is extremely important that we allow them to make comparisons among carriers and provide shipping data during the ordering process, rather than offering flat rate shipping or show shipping costs after the order is placed. After examining several API solutions in the market, we found that Paid’s solution provides exactly what we need with a considerable time-to-market advantage, as well as a low cost of ownership.”

The online shipping calculation technology enables EFI to automatically calculate multiple carrier shipping, packaging, insurance and handling costs for orders placed through its clients’ web sites as each item is added to the shopping cart, eliminating the surprise of true shipping costs at check-out. EFI also plans to have its call center operators use the API to calculate shipping charges for phone orders in order to provide customers with total order cost instantly.

“We’re pleased to welcome EFI as a customer, for our shipping calculation API,” said Richard Rotman, Paid CFO and CTO. “EFI approached us nearly a year ago when they recognized the value of our shipping calculation API. They are a perfect example of the type of customer that can benefit from our API, because the products shipped by their customers vary in size and weight and are shipped to a wide range of destinations, as is typical of many eCommerce companies. We’re looking forward to helping them provide their customers with accurate shipping costs that can help reduce shopping cart abandonment and ultimately result in more sales and happier customers.”

Rotman noted, “Although it is commonplace now for companies to use a zip code as a location indicator to help them calculate shipping charges, when we developed and applied for our patent in this area more than five years ago, the concept was cutting edge. We’re still leading the industry in providing real-time shipping costs and comparisons among carriers based on the actual size, weight and other criteria of the merchandise as it is placed in or removed from the shopping cart. We anticipate signing additional licensing agreements for astute companies like EFI that see the cost efficiencies and enhanced customer service to be gained through our API. We also expect to pursue licensing agreements specifically relating to our newly patented technology.”

About EFI

EFI (http://www.efi.com) is the world leader in customer-focused digital printing innovation. EFI’s award-winning solutions, integrated from creation to print, deliver increased performance, cost savings and productivity. The company’s robust product portfolio includes Fiery(R) digital color print servers; VUTEk(R) superwide digital inkjet printers, UV and solvent inks; Jetrion(R) industrial inkjet printing systems; print production workflow and management information software; and corporate printing solutions. EFI maintains 23 offices worldwide.

EFI, Fiery, VUTEk and Jetrion are registered trademarks of Electronics For Imaging, Inc. in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and/or certain other foreign jurisdictions. All other trademarks mentioned in this document are the property of their respective owners.

About Paid, Inc.:

Paid, Inc. operates a diversified set of businesses, including its celebrity services and AuctionInc ecommerce technology businesses. Using proprietary patent-pending technology, Paid’s innovative AuctionInc brand shipping calculation and auction management software and services are utilized to streamline online auctions, ecommerce and web site development and hosting. Paid, Inc.’s celebrity services provides celebrities and organizations with official Web sites and fan club services that include e-commerce storefronts, ticketing and fan experience packages and web site content to attract tens of thousands of visitors daily, as detailed on its web site, http://www.paidcelebrity.com. The Company also sponsors autograph signing events and other sports marketing services for sports clientele. The Company’s common stock is traded on the OTC Bulletin Board under the symbol PAYD. For further information, visit http://www.paid.com.

Forward Looking Statements:

This Press Release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 that are based upon current expectations or beliefs, as well as a number of assumptions about future events, including matters related to the Company’s operations, profitability, business development efforts, and expectations about celebrity programs and fan club activities, technologies, and services. Although the Company believes that the expectations reflected in the forward-looking statements and the assumptions upon which they are based are reasonable, it can give no assurance that such expectations and assumptions will prove to have been correct. The reader is cautioned not to put undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, as these statements are subject to numerous factors and uncertainties. In addition, other factors that could cause actual results to differ materially are discussed in the Company’s most recent filings, including Form 10-QSB with the Securities and Exchange Commission.