VietNamNet Bridge – The Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT) has established a portal to help consumers identify trust-worthy e-commerce sites as well as provide a blacklist of sites that have failed to meet good trading practice.

The statement, made during an online exchange on VnExpress online newspaper on Friday, was posted by Bui Thanh Hang, deputy director of the Viet Nam E-commerce Development Centre, which works under MoIT.

She said that the portal, has updated the list of trusted e-commerce websites, which must register to offer e-commerce services and are required to meet standards established by the ministry.

"Customers should read carefully any information on website owners, product information (size, colour, quality, price) and the process of buying products," Hang said.

"Or customers can see if the websites are labeled with SafeWeb, a standard system in e-commerce transactions in Viet Nam," Hang added.

She made these remarks in response to the issue of customers who had purchased products online, but had not received the items despite having paid for them in full.

The centre established the system to consider and assess business-to-consumer e-commerce websites, e-commerce trading floors and purchase groups.

Nguyen Hoa Binh, head of media at the Viet Nam E-commerce Association, said that e-commerce brought interest for buyers due to product prices and payment convenience.

"Customers should only purchase products on websites labeled SafeWeb and pay through electronic wallets, which are awarded an operating certificate by the State Bank of Viet Nam. If trouble happens, the electric wallets will be in charge of protecting customers' rights," he said.

Also attending the online exchange was Le Minh Loan, head of Hi-tech Crime Police (C50) under the Ministry of Public Security, who noted there were ongoing difficulties in managing e-commerce activities.

He said that cyber criminals used latest technology to break security systems, while management measures had not caught up with the development of technology.

"When facing any trouble in shopping online, customers need to contact administrators of the websites to consider the reasons and responsibilities. If not sharing the same voice, you can go to see the Department of E-commerce under the Ministry of Industry and Trade or solve the problems at a court," he said.

"At the moment, C50 has not provided a hotline for customers. However, we will build and publicise the website as soon as possible to receive information on hi-tech crimes."

According to a survey, carried out at the beginning of 2012 by market research company Cimigo, 13 per cent of users thought it was safe to do shopping online.

Source: VNS