Completely branded custom drop?

Ben - I had lengthy exchanges with Drop.io management about this topic as well. After a while I came to the conclusion that it may be better to give full credit to Drop.io and acknowledge them as providing key components of a value-add infrastructure. These days is sort of in-vogue to associate one brand with another, which is why so many sites have API links to Twitter or Facebook, or Google widgets and other such plugins. That's the nature of mashups.

I have no idea who you are, what your main product or model is, or what your goals are, so I hope none of this offends you.

If you intend to provide the exact same services as Drop.io, with no value add, then your clients don't have a lot to gain from coming to you versus going direct. If that's the case you're going to have a hard time with the whole venture. If you want to sell voice mail services (without the branded "welcome to Drop.io" message") or provide a way for people to share files that they email to a host (not @drop.io), then you should probably look elsewhere.

However, if you do provide unique value-add and the Drop.io services are merely a part of what your clients/visitors get when they come to your site, then I don't think you have to worry about people wanting to cut out the middleman or go directly to the source.

So my advice is to consider embracing the brand, and figure out a way to make people feel good about coming to your site to make use of Drop.io services. Provide some way to make use of the files and transport tools that compel people to come to your site - and if they go direct to Drop.io, many/most will realize that they simply can't get there what you offer. If people do go direct and find what they want, let them go. Competing with free and low-cost services is tough enough as it is. It's even more difficult to try to make a profit in the process.