System and method for instant online postage metering

A method for a vendor to dispense postage over a network to a remote personal computer, the method comprising:

• obtaining, by the vendor, a meter license from a postal service, said meter license being associated with a meter account assigned to the vendor, said meter account being maintained at a data center;
• receiving, at a computing device via the network, a transaction request for postage from a customer using the remote personal computer, the customer not having a meter license from the postal service, said transaction request including information from the customer, said information corresponding to the transaction requested and payment method;
• processing, by the computing device, the requested transaction by requesting the data center to create evidence of postage payment and to account for the created evidence of postage payment in the meter account assigned to the vendor;
• effecting payment for the transaction based on the information received from the customer;
• receiving, at the computing device, the evidence of postage payment created by the data center;
• and
• sending the evidence of postage payment from the computing device to the remote personal computer for use by the customer;
• wherein the customer can obtain postage from the vendor without having a meter license from the postal service.