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Vendio™ Launches Open Beta of Dealio™, New Comparison Shopping Toolbar

Leading Online Sales Management Provider Offers Free Product Listings for Online Merchants

SAN BRUNO, Calif. August 3, 2005 — Vendio™, a leading provider of sales management and merchandising services for online sellers, today announced the open beta availability of Dealio™, its new downloadable comparison shopping toolbar, available for download at www.dealio.com. The Dealio Toolbar will initially provide coverage for a wide range of consumer electronics products from online merchants of all sizes, with additional product categories added in the coming months. Vendio accepts product listings from online merchants at no charge and aims to provide the most comprehensive and robust comparison shopping service. The Dealio Toolbar has already attracted scores of online retailers during its closed beta program, including major brands such as Sony©, Wal-Mart®, Target, Amazon.com©, Circuit City©, Dell™, Best Buy©, Overstock.com© and CompUSA©. The Dealio Toolbar is not spyware or adware - it does not record consumers' individual Web movements or adversely affect system or Internet connection performance, and it does not generate pop-ups or any other advertising on a consumer's computer. Interested merchants are invited to visit www.dealio.com for more information and to register for free as a Dealio merchant partner.

Unlike existing comparison shopping websites, the Dealio Toolbar travels with consumers while shopping for products online, providing related comparative shopping data along the way. The Dealio Toolbar therefore provides consumers the best deals with less effort and gives merchants more contextual and timelier opportunities to reach truly qualified buyers with precise product offerings. The process is entirely democratic, since merchant product inclusion is free and product search results are listed by lowest total price first, including tax and shipping. Most other comparison shopping solutions provide only paid product listings and drive consumers to the merchants who are paying the most, not necessarily those providing the best value to the consumer. This practice often confuses consumers and generates less qualified leads to merchants.

"We've been the leading innovator and third-party provider of online sales management services to the eBay seller community and other online merchants for many years, and we have an enormous opportunity to create a fair and uniquely powerful comparison shopping experience," said Rodrigo Sales, CEO and founder of Vendio. "We are taking a long term approach to creating value for both consumers and merchants. Our initial focus on providing thorough coverage of consumer electronics, which most consumers purchase on an annual basis, enables us to gain valuable experience to grow the core technology while providing measurable return to merchants in this competitive retail market."

"We're excited by the prospects of Dealio's new shopping search system, and look forward to utilizing it as a new source of qualified leads on the Web," said Jeremy Conant, Marketing Manager at OneCall, a leading consumer electronics retailer. "In our experience, a consumer who is comparing prices is far along in the buying process, and the right deal presented at the right time is likely to result in a conversion. Dealio's browser-based tool will help us present our offers to the most targeted prospects at the most critical moment."

The Dealio Toolbar is free to consumers and is quick and easy to install and use. After downloading and installing the Dealio Toolbar, the user sees the Dealio logo added to the navigation bar near the top of the their browser. Dealio requires no additional space on the screen during normal browsing, unlike other toolbars. Once a user locates a specific item while shopping online, however, the Dealio Toolbar automatically alerts the consumer to the lowest prices on the Web for that item. The Dealio Toolbar brings prices to the consumer, thereby eliminating the need to spend the time required to visit a comparison shopping site and conduct a product search. Clicking on the "alert" in the navigation bar opens a sidebar within the browser window, which provides the consumer with a list of alternative sites where they can purchase the same product and the related prices, complete with tax and shipping to their zip code. Key features of the Dealio Toolbar are listed below:

  • The Dealio Toolbar minimizes so that it is invisible during normal browsing so it does not take up space in the user's browser; it only appears when needed
  • Users can conduct "Manual" searches by entering a specific product make and model, or a general category term like "plasma TV" or "digital camera"
  • Clicking on a given listing from the Dealio Toolbar's search results takes the consumer to the specific product page of the merchant in question, where buyers can not only purchase the product, but view product details, warranty information, and merchant information
  • By entering their zip code, which is stored on their computer, a consumer can see the total "true" price of any product, including tax and shipping
  • The Dealio Toolbar automatically remembers a consumer's last 50 items viewed, for easy, one-click retrieval of a given consumer's common searches

For media inquiries only:

Helen Fang
Vendio Services Inc.
650-293-3538
Contact Public Relations

About Vendio

Founded in 1999, Vendio Services, Inc. (www.vendio.com) helps small- to medium-sized merchants (SMM's) succeed by offering them an integrated solution to manage their sales seamlessly and cost-effectively across multiple online sales channels including their online store, Amazon.com, eBay, Google, Shopzilla, and more. Each year over 100,000 merchants use Vendio’s award winning multi-channel Platform and Applications to sell over $2 billion in merchandise. The company also operates Dealio (www.dealio.com), a shopping and coupons site for consumers. Vendio is a venture backed, privately-held company headquartered in San Mateo, California with offices in Romania and India.
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