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buySAFE®, Inc. Shows Impressive Growth in 2005

New technology, staff, partnerships and programs put e-commerce bonding company at forefront of online trust and safety

ARLINGTON, Va. (February 15, 2006) — buySAFE, Inc. (www.buysafe.com), the leading online trust and safety company for eCommerce transactions, announced today that it exceeded company expectations for 2005 in the areas of company growth, funding, partnerships and programs, and key personnel recruitment.

Highlights of 2005 included:

Company growth

Increased the number of active sellers using buySAFE by almost 400 percent year over year.
Seven of the top nine highest feedback-rated eBay sellers in the United States use buySAFE, as well as 10 out of the top 25.
Achieved a quarterly growth rate of more than 140 percent in bonded listings, and a quarterly growth rate of more than 80 percent in the number of bonds issued (transactions completed).
Increased the number of active bonded listings to approximately 2 million items in December 2005.

Funding

Completed a Series B round of $13.25M led by Grotech Capital Group and Core Capital Partners. First-round backers Hartford Ventures and Thomas Rutherfoord, Inc. also invested.
Won the Northern Virginia Technology Council's Hottest Venture Capital Deal award.

Partnerships and Programs

Launched the buySAFE Shopping Web site (shopping.buysafe.com), the world's only all-bonded shopping site, where every merchant is bonded and every listing is guaranteed with a surety bond from Liberty Mutual – up to $25,000 – at no cost to the buyer, significantly reducing risk for online shoppers.
Launched the Trusted Merchant Program with Overstock.com where all Trusted Merchants are bonded with buySAFE. Trusted Merchants' listings accounted for more than 60% of all listings on Overstock.com Auctions in 2005.
Launched bonding program with TIAS.com, the leading auction site for antiques and collectibles.

Key Personnel

Mary Dridi joined buySAFE as the company's first CFO. Dridi is the former CFO of webMethods and played an integral role in their IPO, which was one of the most successful in the history of the high-tech sector.
Rob Kodey joined buySAFE as VP, Technology. Kodey has a successful track record of developing technology programs for emerging companies and most recently served as VP, Technology for Cyveillance.
Doubled the number of buySAFE employees.
Added new members to the Board of Directors, including Patrick J. Kerins, General Partner of Grotech Capital Group; Jonathan Silver, Founder and Managing Director of Core Capital Partners; Scott Kraft, CEO of Kraft Consultants and former VP, Global Head of Branding and Advertising at Sun Microsystems; Pat Gross, a founder of American Management Systems, Inc., and board member for Capital One Financial Corporation, Aegis Communications and others; and Andrew Parsons, Chairman of Gulliver Growth Partners, LLC and former Director and Senior Partner of McKinsey & Co.
Added new members to buySAFE's Advisory Board, including David Holtzman, former CTO of Network Solutions, and Marsha Collier, author of the two best-selling eBay references on the market – eBay for Dummies, 4th edition and Starting an eBay Business for Dummies.

"We exceeded our expectations for 2005, and feel that we are very well positioned for even greater success in 2006," said Jeff Grass, CEO, buySAFE. "We look forward to the continued rapid adoption of buySAFE by online merchants and to building widespread brand awareness among online shoppers. With our new initiatives to significantly broaden buySAFE's availability to bond all eCommerce transactions, we are confident that 2006 will be a pivotal year for the company."

buySAFE offers a unique solution to one of the biggest challenges that online shoppers face – knowing who to trust. The buySAFE Seal in a Bonded Seller's listing indicates that the seller has:

passed buySAFE's comprehensive business inspection process to ensure they are trustworthy, reliable, and committed to delivering on the promises they make to buyers;
agreed to allow buySAFE to continuously monitor their performance in every transaction; and
paid for a surety bond from Liberty Mutual® to guarantee each bonded transaction up to $25,000.

Consumers who wish to purchase items bonded with buySAFE may visit buySAFE Shopping at http://shopping.buysafe.com, or may search for buySAFE Bonded Items on eBay, Overstock.com Auctions or TIAS.

about buySAFE

buySAFE, Inc. helps to create a safe and stress-free online shopping environment through Bonded Shopping™ – the only program that qualifies merchants, identifies reputable online businesses with the buySAFE Seal, and uses surety bonds to provide broad protection for individual buyers from online transaction risks. buySAFE also benefits online merchants by increasing trust and confidence with their shoppers, thereby increasing profit opportunities. There are currently more than two million items bonded with buySAFE that can be found at shopping.buysafe.com. buySAFE is headquartered in Arlington, Virginia. More information can be found at www.buysafe.com.

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