Instead, it is developing a co-branded site with DatingDirect ( www.datingdirect.com ), which will go live next month.
"The decision not to renew our current contract with Personals365 and to sign a deal with DatingDirect was a commercial one, but dating is of real interest to our users and is an area we are looking to develop on the site," said Fiona McMahon, head of business development at handbag.com.
Handbag.com said it is in talks with a number of online dating services for its 'Find a date' channel, and had not ruled out the possibility of working with Personals365 in the future.
DatingDirect's deal with handbag.com adds to its existing co-branded partnerships with GMTV, Heart FM, Galaxy FM and women's portal iVillage.co.uk.
"Partners benefit from users who visit our service on average between four and five times a week and spend up to an hour per browsing session. DatingDirect is looking to sign more deals of this nature," said Darren Richards, chief executive and co-founder of DatingDirect.
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