Seal for online selling sites being developed

MANILA, Philippines - The Digital Commerce Association of the Philippines (DCOM) and the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) are coming up with a seal to be placed on online selling sites which comply with certain rules covering service given to consumers in line with the promotion of growth of e (electronic)-commerce transactions.

DCOM president Jack Madrid said during the DCOM Summit 2013 yesterday that the group is currently in discussions with the DTI on a seal to be placed on online selling sites based on certain criteria.

“We are just collaborating on a self-regulating seal with agreed on criteria for what we call DCOM seal that will be approved by the DTI to certify (the site) is compliant to code of ethics,” he said.

For an online site to be given a DCOM seal, it has to be able to respond to consumers’ queries or concerns, make the buying or selling process easier as well comply with other rules to be set by the DCOM and the DTI.

Madrid said the group is ready to present to the DTI its proposed seal and criteria.

“The purpose of the seal is to establish a seal of protection to provide reassurance to customers that we are able to self-police our members,” he said.

For his part, Trade secretary Gregory Domingo told reporters yesterday the seal as well as consolidated criteria for the grant of such, will be ready within the first-half of the year.

The plan, he said, supports the government’s promotion of the growth of e-commerce transactions in the country.

“We are promoting the use of trust marks for online business. A trust mark is akin to a good housekeeping seal to increase the consumer level of confidence transacting in an e-commerce site,” he said.

He said there is no better time than now to engage in e-commerce in the Philippines given the country’s strong economic performance.

“We share the industry’s goal of moving e-commerce forward and taking it to the next level. We therefore encourage industry to police its own ranks,” he said.

He noted that ideally, consumer complaints should be dealt with by online selling platforms within 48 hours to avoid massive fraud and allow the industry to grow.

Madrid estimates that the country has at least 10,000 e-commerce transactions per day.

The DCOM groups 50 firms in the e-commerce industry.