Frequently asked questions
Receive answers to all your questions around ePost
General
Private individuals and business customers have different needs when it comes to their mail. There are therefore two separate offers. ePost for private individuals was designed as a mobile app for smartphones (subscription costs). ePost for SMEs is a pure web solution (no subscription but only prices per transaction). There is currently no mobile app for business customers.
Receiving digital mail from companies or authorities that are already integrated as senders in ePost is free of charge. There are also three additional paid services: the "ScanningService" (receiving), the "SmartSend" service (sending) and the eArchiv (archiving), which you can activate on top.
No, ePost is a new service that has emerged from Swiss Post's partnership with KLARA Business AG. The former E-Post Office was retired on 1 August 2021.
Swiss Post and KLARA Business AG, a Lucerne-based software company that has been a subsidiary of Swiss Post since October 2020.
The Digital letter
1. Basics
Existing channels such as e-mail, customer portals or chat apps are either insecure, non-binding, complicated or inconvenient to use. Digital letter are the only channel that is digital, secure AND binding – like a traditional letter, but faster, cheaper and more efficient.
E-mails are openly visible, comparable to a physical postcard that anyone can read, that can easily be forged and is not legally secure. Digital letter are sent within a closed system: both senders and recipients are verified, contents are encrypted and deliveries are traceable – spam and phishing are therefore excluded.
Probably from 1.1.2026. Hybrid letter are expected to become part of the universal postal service; the decision by the Federal Council is expected in December 2025.
2. Security and legal certainty
Yes. Postal secrecy applies unchanged – whether documents are digital or physical. Contents are protected, and even Swiss Post itself has no access.
The authenticity and integrity of a Digital letter are ensured by means of a regulated seal in accordance with ZertES and a qualified electronic timestamp. This provides senders and recipients with legal certainty that the document submitted by the sender is genuine and has not been altered.
- Acceptance time – proof of when Swiss Post accepted the letter for delivery
- Delivery time – proof of when it was delivered to the recipient’s Digital Mailbox
- Retrieval time – proof of when it was opened or downloaded digitally
- Non-retrieval time – proof that the letter was not opened or downloaded digitally after 7 days
3. Use and integration
ePost supports common standards such as REST, MFT, SOAP and SMTP. ERP, CRM or DMS systems can therefore be connected easily. In addition, a WebApp is available that allows you to send documents quickly and easily.
You can find the technical documentation on the sub-pages of Swiss Post’s «Sending» section:
https://www.epost.ch/en-ch/business-customers/sending
With a single API, the so-called oneAPI, you can send all of a company’s communications – whether via ePost, eBill or physical mail, etc. This reduces complexity and makes integration simpler and faster than with classic individual APIs.
Yes. Via MFT (Managed File Transfer), external print service providers can also be integrated into hybrid delivery. This allows digital and physical deliveries to be combined flexibly and existing partnerships to be maintained.
You can also send exclusively via the ePost channel, which does, however, require an API connection.
4. Cost-effectiveness and efficiency
Every digital delivery is cheaper because printing, paper, enveloping and transport costs are eliminated. Physical delivery takes place when recipients are not digitally reachable via ePost.
A company with 100’000 items per year pays on average CHF 150’000 for postage and processes (approx. CHF 1.50 per item).
- With just 5 percent sent digitally (5’000 items): approx. CHF 5’500 saved per year
- With 30 percent sent digitally (30’000 items): approx. CHF 33’000 saved per year
The more people are digitally reachable in ePost, the greater the potential cost savings. ePost provides various tools and measures to help senders motivate their recipients to onboard to ePost. As a result, the digital delivery rate – and the savings – increase.
All costs – whether digital or physical – are shown transparently and invoiced monthly. Individual payment models are possible for high-volume senders.
5. Implementation and support
Digital letter remain available in the Digital Mailbox until you delete them or transfer them to an archiving system. For legally compliant long-term storage, the ePost eArchiv is available:
- Storage in accordance with Swiss legal requirements (e.g. CO, GeBüV)
- Audit-proof, encrypted and accessible at any time
- Ideal for documents that must be retained, such as invoices, contracts or official communications
Yes. Changes from digital to physical delivery or vice versa are taken into account automatically – without any additional effort for the sender.
Swiss Post supports companies with personal consultancy, training and support. From the first test item through to full integration, you receive support – step by step.
Swiss Post actively supports companies and public authorities in encouraging as many recipients as possible to switch to digital reception. Tried-and-tested tools are available for this purpose:
- Information and marketing materials for customer communication
- Text modules for mailings or portals
- Templates for onboarding campaigns
- Practical tips based on experience
This way, you increase the share of digital deliveries step by step – and with it your savings and process benefits.
Making a start with the Digital Inbox
Follow these instructions to get digital post right away. To instructions
In your ePost account, we first invite you to verify your company. To do this, enter your correct company address (the one on the letterbox) in the "Company" section. Confirm the entry and you will receive an authentication code by post within 3-4 days, which you enter here to finally authenticate the company for ePost.
Vaudoise, LuTax (the tax administration of the canton of Lucerne) and the Fédération des Entreprises Romandes are already using the digital letterbox. And new senders are being added all the time.
Anyone who wants to receive more digital mail today has the option of subscribing to the paid scanning service for business customers. To the scanning service.
Log in to the ePost web service at app.epost.ch using your login details. You will see your digital inbox there. You can search for letters and process them from there.
The ScanningService
For business customers
More and more companies and authorities are delivering to the digital inbox. If you already want to receive the majority of your business mail digitally in ePost, it is worth subscribing to the ScanningService. There are many reasons for this: time and cost savings, increased efficiency, access to your ePost from anywhere, environmental friendliness, to name but a few.
To ensure that your ScanningService is active, please check your subscription in the Widget Store.
In the Widget Store, all activated offers are labelled "subscribed". If this overview is not sufficient for you, you will find a selection of your activated widgets under "My widgets".
- The cost of scanning is CHF 0.80 per letter/excl. VAT.
- The automatic forwarding of non-scannable content costs CHF 2.50 per letter/excl. VAT
- Ordering an original letter in paper form CHF 5/ excl. VAT per letter (possible within the retention period of 25 days).
The costs are charged monthly.
All letter contents that are not made of paper but other materials, e.g. SIM cards, CDs, USB sticks, plastic cards, ID cards, badges, etc., cannot be scanned.
Letters with a PIN code, money, tickets, personal vouchers, cheques or if the format is larger than A3 or smaller than A6 will also not be scanned. If the contents of a consignment cannot or may not be scanned (these are BU or GU consignments), it will be physically forwarded to the recipient at a charge (CHF 2.50 per letter/excl. VAT).
Consignments containing physical items (such as passports, credit cards, etc.) are forwarded to the recipient on the same day by A Mail at CHF 2.50 each and arrive at their domicile 1-2 days later.
SmartSend
All about SmartSend
With "SmartSend", you can send letters or invoices that you have created digitally at the click of a mouse. We then do the rest for you: Your letter is printed, enveloped, stamped and sent. It could hardly be more convenient. SmartSend now sends letters via various channels (ePost, physical).
We process PDF document types in A4 format, such as: Quotations, contracts, invoices with ISR and perforation or QR invoices, as well as payslips.
No, not yet. This service is under development.
Yes, multiple users can send on behalf of a company. SmartSend data is processed on servers in Switzerland. For data protection reasons, all customer data is irrevocably deleted no later than 12 hours after the consignments have been printed.
Security
Security and Privacy
All data and documents from you or your customers undergo multi-level encryption and are stored in Switzerland. Only you can read and edit your post; this also applies to KLARA employees.
ePost is bound by Swiss Post’s IT and data security standards.
- Verifying your identity is a multi-stage process
- Two-stage authentication is required during login
- Your documents are encrypted in such a way that only you can see and read them
- Communication in the ePost system is also encrypted and incoming post is checked for viruses, which makes it more secure than communicating by e-mail. In other words, you can open and process letters without a second thought.
This data is processed on servers in Switzerland and is secured by a multi-stage process. All customer data is permanently deleted at the latest 12 hours after printing the mail items.
Any other questions?
We are happy to help
Digital Inbox
Receiving Digital letter, Searching the Digital Inbox, Requesting shipment
