OIV Stamped Mail

OIV Stamped email is a message in an envelope delivered in an email. Stamped Mail, like paper mail, requires a small payment for delivery. This makes indiscriminate mass mailing impractical - it stops spam. Unlike paper mail the recipient receives the postage. Below is a screen shot of stamped email received in a email client:

Stamped Mail can only be sent by OIV Mail software - either by using the OIV Mail website or by downloading software.

Stamped Mail has these distinguishing characteristics:

• “OIV Mail - $x.xx - ” prefix in the “Subject” field. Where “x.xx” is the face value of affixed stamp. For example, Subject : OIV Mail - $0.10 - Testing
• A method to open the mail. This depends on whether you use OIV software. Without OIV software, there is a web link for you to click, similar to Click here to open this stamped mail and receive $0.10 You can preview the associated web address by moving the mouse pointer over the link and looking at the bottom bar of the email client or browser. Genuine Stamped Mail will always point to www.oivmail.com. Clicking the link opens the body of the email in a browser window.
• With OIV software, you will see a line similar to Double click on this message to open this mail and receive $0.10 When you open the mail, the body appears in the same window.
• A recipient code. OIV Mail puts this code on the envelope. It is specific for your email account. Since senders cannot guess this code, you can be sure a Stamped Mail is genuine by checking it. This is an example, Recipient Code - Pvi*

A Stamped Mail envelope as shown in this screen shot above.

OIV Mail establishes a verification level for the identity of senders of Stamped Mail. OIV Mail assigns a verification level of High, Medium or Minimum based on what information has been verified.Minimum level implies that OIV Mail has verified the email address of the sender. Medium level implies that OIV Mail also has verified that the sender has a valid financial account (credit card, bank account or Paypal account). High verification level requires proof of physical address and phone number as well.

The Stamped Mail envelope reflects the verification level (via the color of the border, stamp and font of from-text) instantly providing the recipient information regarding the origin of the Stamped Mail. The recipient can use this information to evaluate the message or may choose not to open the mail at all.

There are three types of OIV Mail.

Stamped Mail is issued by OIV Mail at the request of a sender for a specific Stamp value and for a specific recipient. The sender then uses this stamp to send Stamped Mail to the recipient. Stamped Mail pays the recipient the face value on the stamp if recipient opens the mail. Previously verified identity information of the sender is presented in the envelope for the recipient to examine. If a recipient does not open the mail, the stamp expires after 7 days, and the sender pays nothing.

Permission Mail is issued by OIV Mail user to those senders he would like to receive mail from, for example, family or friends. Permission information is stored on OIV Mail server; if you have several computers using the same email account, permission will apply to all. Users can grant and revoke permission stamps from OIV Mail website (after logging into their account) or from their PC by using OIV Mailer or from their mail clients like Outlook, Outlook Express etc. equipped with appropriate OIV Mail client Plug-in. Permission Mail is free.

Currently only OIV Mailer offers the Clean Inbox feature which separates Stamped Mail and Permission Mail from regular emails. All OIV products (website and downloaded software) allow sending Stamped Mail and Permission Mail.

Acknowledgment Mail is sent to the sender of Stamped Mail when the recipient of that mail opens the mail and redeems the stamp.

OIV mail clients (downloaded OIV software) do not show Acknowledgement emails. You can open the Status window to see whether the recipient of your sent Stamped Mail has opened it.

If you send Stamped Mail from the OIV website, a copy is sent automatically to your email account. This servers as a record of sent mail. Because the mail is received from outside (OIV website), the copy will go to your Inbox rather than your Sent folder.

Similarly, when you use the link to open a Stamped Mail in your browser, you will see a link to get a copy in your Inbox. Clicking this will cause the website to send a copy of the body of the Stamped Mail to your email account. You must click this link to get a permanent copy of the Stamped Mail. The web copy expires 7 days after it is sent.

If you use downloaded OIV software, you can send and open Stamped Mail directly. In this case Stamped Mail works more smoothly - sent Stamped Mail goes in the Sent folder, opened Stamped Mail immediately appears in the Inbox folder and when a recipient opens Stamped Mail, the acknowledgement shows in the Status window rather than the Inbox.

OIV Mail Accounts

Within the Mail System, each email address has a unique OIV Mail account. The OIV Mail account ID is your email address itself. An individual can and often does have multiple email addresses. Thus a single individual owner will likely have multiple OIV Mail accounts. Your OIV Mail account is like a Wallet that contains credit received by opening Stamped Mail and which can be used to send Stamped Mail. Whenever you open a Stamped Mail, the OIV Mail account in the "To" field is credited with value of the received stamp. The OIV Mail Stamp credit can be converted to real cash. Click here to see what else you can do with OIV Mail Stamp Credit.

When you open your first Stamped Mail, an OIV Mail account is created automatically. The OIV Mail System ID for this account is your email address to which this stamped email was addressed. At this point, you can read the mail and collect the value by means of the web link (URL) in the envelope.

Most users will download one of the free programs from this website which remove this limitation and give the user the combined advantages of OIV Mail and PC based email client. Users of operating systems other than Windows (Mac, Linux, etc.) must use the web link for the present.

Example:

You received a Stamped Mail at your email address, John892135@yahoo.com. The OIV Mail Id for the created account would be John892135@yahoo.com. From then onwards when you open a Stamped Mail addressed to John892135@yahoo.com, the stamp credit would be added to the John892135@yahoo.com OIV Mail account.

When your OIV Mail account is created during first stamp value redemption process, it is called inactive. This inactive OIV Mail account is credited each time you open a received Stamp Mail. You can find your Inactive OIV account balance by entering your email address on the Know Your Balance page of OIV Mail website. Then, an email with your account balance details will be sent to you, ensuring that only the legitimate owner sees the account balance.

In order for you to use all other features of the OIV Mail system (send Stamped Mail, convert OIV Stamp credit in to cash etc.), you must establish at least Minimum verification level by verifying your ownership of the email address. To do this, you must Register with OIV Mail system. During the registration process, you specify your name or nickname and choose your password. The OIV Mail System will then send an email to the address. This email contains a verification link. After you click this link the OIV System will inform you that you have successfully activated your OIV Mail account.

Alternatively, you can pre-create an OIV Mail account for a particular email address before receiving any Stamped Mail, by visiting Register page on OIV Mail website.

At this time the verification level is Minimum, meaning that OIV Mail has verified the email address.

The next verification level is Medium.This level implies that OIV Mail also has verified that you have a valid financial account (credit card, bank account, Paypal account etc.). You get Medium verification level by purchasing stamp credit (of at least $10) at least once.

Sending Stamped Mail

Senders of Stamped Mail must have activated OIV Mail account. That is, you must verify your email address.

Senders can send OIV Value Stamped Mail from the OIV Mail website (after logging into their account) or from their PC by using OIV Mailer (free mail client from OIV Mail) or from their mail clients like Outlook, Outlook Express etc. equipped with appropriate OIV Mail client Plug-in.

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Screen shot of a sample value stamped mail received in a mail client

Viewing Stamped Mail

There are some differences in features and procedures depending on whether you download and use OIV software on your PC or whether you use web based email (e.g. Yahoo, Hot Mail, GMail, etc.) or a PC based email client without OIV software.

OIV offers a general purpose OIV enabled PC based email client called OIV Mailer and plug-ins which add OIV capability to Microsoft Outlook and Outlook Express. These currently work only on PC. Macintosh and Linux computers currently cannot use OIV download software.

Downloaded OIV software enables the following OIV Mail features in the email client:

• Composing and Sending Stamped Mail the same way as normal email. Without OIV software, you will compose and send Stamped Mail using your web browser.
• Integrated Acknowledgement - Read acknowledgement shown as a mark next to the original in Sent folder. Without OIV software, acknowledgement is received as a separate email.
• Clean Inbox - Stamped and permission email is separated from normal email and SPAM. Without OIV software, Stamped and permission email is distinguished by a code at the beginning of the Subject line, but not sorted into a different folder. Currently Clean Inbox is implemented in Mailer but not the plug-ins.
• Open Stamped Mail in Same Window - When you open Stamped Mail, the content replaces the view of the envelope. Without OIV software, opening Stamped Mail opens a separate browser window showing the content. You receive a copy of the content as a separate email. To reply or forward the content of the Stamped Mail, you must wait for that email - or cut and paste the content from the browser to your email composer.

• OIV Mail Client Plug-in …
  You will get the complete set of OIV Mail features by downloading and installing an OIV plug-in for your mail client if one is available. OIV Mail current offers plug-ins for “Outlook” and “Outlook Express” and is developing more for other mail clients that allow plug-ins. Click here to learn more about OIV Mail Client Plug-ins.
• OIV Mailer application …
  OIV Mailer is a replacement for your current email client with enhancements to view, send and receive OIV Stamped Mail. It has all the basic features of mail clients like “Outlook Express”, “Outlook”, “Thunderbird” and “Eudora”, adds all the functionality of the plug-ins and more. Download, install and setup OIV Mailer to receive your mail, then you have a folder that completely and instantly eliminates spam, as well as getting paid to open Stamped Mail and the other benefits of OIV Mail. Click here to learn more about OIV Mailer.

Screen shot of opened value stamped mail:

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Sending Permission Mail

Sender of Permission Mail must meet the following conditions:

• An activated OIV Mail account.
• Explicit permission from the recipient. (Click here to learn more about granting and revoking permissions.)

Senders can send OIV Permission Stamped Mail from theOIV Mail website (after logging into their account) or from their PC by using OIV Mailer(free mail client from OIV Mail) or from their mail clients like Outlook, Outlook Express etc. equipped with appropriate OIV Mail client Plug-in.

Currently, only OIV Mailer has the Clean Inbox option which separates Stamped and Permission Mail from regular email. Permission Mail received in any other client appears no differently than regular email.

Stamp Credit

You can use OIV Stamp credit in the following ways:

1. Redeem as cash; receive a check, credit it to your Paypal account, or transfer it into your bank account.
2. Transfer your credit to a friend or a merchant who accepts OIV Stamp.
3. Send Stamped Mail.

You can do all of the above (after logging in) from My Account page on the OIV Mail website.