The Internet-only CompuBank has added the comparison-shopping service provider DealTime.com Ltd. to a roster of online merchants that now numbers 28.
DealTime, a New York company that lets consumers compare offerings from more than 4,000 online companies, is offering its services at CompuBank's eCommCenter, which links consumers and small businesses to providers of services including postage, payroll, insurance, financial planning, and investor research.
Other eCommCenter merchants include MP3.com, which lets users make free downloads of music, SurePayroll.com, and Spedia.com, which pays consumers for using Web services.
Charles Boyd, senior vice president of product development at CompuBank, headquartered in Houston, said customers "have reacted very positively" to DealTime. Though the alliance was announced last week, it has actually been in effect since November.
CompuBank and eCommCenter both have been fully operational for about a year and a half.
"eCommCenter is a marketplace where we go out and look for deals that will provide value to our customers," Mr. Boyd said. "We're leveraging the stickiness of our site. We always felt that shopping online was a natural evolution of the Internet and we want to be part of it."
Houston-based CompuBank's relationship with DealTime includes a co-branded link to the shopper site from CompuBank's home page. DealTime announced a similar alliance in November with Fleet Credit Card Services, a division of FleetBoston Financial.
Financial services is a new to the DealTime site and could prove problematic to its banking partners. The addition lets consumers compare the products and rates of banks, credit card issuers, and online brokers.
"We're building out this category," said Deborah Sack, vice president of marketing and communications at DealTime. CompuBank and Fleet can opt not to have DealTime's financial services category appear on the co-branded pages, Ms. Sack noted.
DealTime has also struck a consumer sales partnership with MortgageIT.com Inc. of New York and soon will begin offering quotes for auto, life, and homeowner insurance through an arrangement with InsLogic Corp. of Vancouver.
DealTime pays CompuBank a fee for each customer who gets to DealTime from the banking site. CompuBank has similar "reverse referral service" relationships with all 28 of its merchant partners.
DealTime makes its money through advertising and by charging companies to get "premium" designation in consumers' Internet searches, Ms. Sack said.
"Our mission is to be the best resource for what, where, and how to buy on the Web," she said. Making its services available to CompuBank's customers "is a way for us to get additional traffic."
