When the Postal Service is an affiliate, we use the following general criteria to select which merchant links are placed on the Postal Service’s Web site:
The merchant must have a logical business relationship with the Postal Service. A merchant has a logical business relationship with the Postal Service when it:
The affiliation must provide an economic benefit to the Postal Service, by creating Web site traffic or revenue.
For merchant links that provide direct remuneration to the Postal Service, the merchant must have a Dun and Bradstreet payment analysis (Paydex) score of at least 45. A Postal Service business unit may establish a higher score for specific Web pages or products. Government and nonprofit organizations that do not have a Dun and Bradstreet Paydex score must provide an alternative rating of payment performance that can be verified by an independent organization, if applicable.
The merchant must publish and adhere to Internet best business practices for privacy and business policies and follow due care security standards on its Web sites. These requirements will be considered met by subscribing to and being in good standing with an independent third-party program from any of the following, or an equivalent policy or practice:
Government agencies that do not subscribe to any of the third-party programs listed must have security, privacy, and terms of use policies equivalent to the Postal Service’s policies.
As technology evolves during the life of the agreement, the merchant must use accepted Internet industry standards for secure transactions. The merchant must also protect the privacy of the customer’s personal information while the customer is on the merchant’s Web site.
The Postal Service’s brand makes its products and services unique to consumers, employees, and other stakeholders. Accordingly, we select merchant links that do not weaken, dilute, damage or harm the Postal Service’s brand or public image, by association, as determined at the sole discretion of the Postal Service.
We consider Web sites that contain any of the following content inappropriate:
Companies and individuals that are otherwise not qualified to contract with the Postal Service (i.e., have been suspended or debarred) are not eligible for an affiliation agreement.
When providing direct remuneration to the Postal Service, the merchant must have procedures for tracking, accounting, and reporting transactions through an independent system that are comparable to industry standards used by the public affiliation networks.
At its sole discretion, the Postal Service may place links on its Web pages or receive links from Web sites that are for companies, products, or services that are directly competitive with the Postal Service, postal products, or postal services if such competitor’s link provides some additional benefit to the Postal Service.
