A coalition of Internet B2B portals and an independent company that rates
vendors on transactions are teaming up to launch the Forum for Trust in Online Trade.
The coalition consists of SGSonSITE, FasTurn Inc., MeetChina.com, PaperExchange.com, Rebound and VLINX.com; together they leverage the
expertise of Sociiti Ginirale de Surveillance SA, with expertise in
verification, testing and certification in global trade. (SGS is responsible
for ISO worldwide standards).
The idea is to create a “safe Internet trading environment,” the companies
said. SGSonSITE is SGS’s e-commerce extension.
“This forum was created to educate Internet users on the necessity of
building concrete trust — the “bricks behind the clicks” — in the virtual
world of B2B,” said Hal Loevy, vice president of global marketing and
partnerships for SGSonSITE.
“Only by increasing trust between electronic
buyers and sellers and by setting confidence-building standards
can B2B’s promise be fully realized.”
The forum will help to certify sellers through the third-party trust provider
SGSonSITE. Buyers using the Forum Members’ trade portals will be assured of
vendor integrity and capacity to deliver through the SGSonSITE ranking
system.
SGSonSITE said it increases transaction confidence by verifying the products
offered
for sale on a portal site and certifying to what degree sellers are complying
with their announced product features.
SGSonSITE rates sellers of goods to
provide buyers with an understanding of the amount of risk they may face.
The forum members are hosting a conference on June 9 in San Francisco called
“Linking the Virtual to the Physical: Building Trust in the Global Market.”