PayMyBills.com pays up for PayMe.com

Online bill payment site PayMyBills.com announced today that it has signed an agreement to acquire person-to-person payment site PayMe.com.

The two Idealab-backed companies gave few details of the deal, saying only that it was an all-stock transaction and that they expect it to close in May.

Online bill payment has been gaining in popularity. Online auctioneer eBay, which teamed up with Wells Fargo to develop its Billpoint payment system, opened the system to all of its customers earlier this week. And X.com, which recently merged with person-to-person payment service PayPal.com, announced earlier this month that it raised $100 million in its latest round of funding.

Online auction users are beginning to adopt PayMe and similar services such as those offered by PayPal and eBay's Billpoint as a way to pay for their auction items.

For a monthly service fee, consumers can use PayMyBills to receive and pay their bills online. PayMe allows consumers and small businesses to send bills to friends and customers via email and to accept credit cards online.

Idealab launched PayMe in February. PayMyBills, which started operating last fall, recently raised $30 million from a group of companies led by E*Trade.

PayMyBills chief executive John Tedesco said PayMe's person-to-person payment system would complement his company's bill management system. "Now we're a complete consumer payment solution," he said.