Using the new system, Royal Mail customers can pay for their postage online using a credit card or via a pre-paid account. They can then print a unique bar code directly on to envelopes or labels using their home printer, instead of using conventional adhesive stamps.
The new service is free to use; customers simply pay the normal postage price. Royal Mail said it believed the online service would appeal particularly to home workers and to people who sell goods via eBay and other auction sites.
Royal Mail lost its monopoly on postal deliveries at the beginning of the year, and the state-owned operator is now having to fight hard against private competition for business.
