The Standards Institute of Israel has begun to formalize its SII Standards Mark for e-commerce sites. Online auctions site Olsale is the first website undergoing the Standards Institution of Israel’s tests.
The Standards Institution's approval will be based on international ISO 2000 9000 and BS-7799 standards. The sites will be checked according to the description of products and services they sell. The examination will cover: terms of trade, including delivery timetables, supply methods, payment terms and methods, and product return policies. Customer service, including customer communications and the handling of complaints, will also be evaluated. The institute will check whether customers' orders, delivery notification, billing, etc are carried out as requested, and will evaluate the sites' security management, information security and confidentiality polices, organization security, protection from viruses, network and infrastructure security, e-mail security, system access security, and system development and maintenance; as well as the system's business continuity.
Olsale has been operating for three years. It currently operates eight parallel auctions arenas, with a reported volume of NIS 1 million per arena. The company says it has 250,000 registered customers, and its reported recruitment rate is 1,000 per day. Olsale CEO Yair Shemesh says half of the company’s regular customers make repeat purchases. The site sells appliances and electronic products, computers, toys, furniture, holiday packages, etc.
Industry sources believe that Israel’s e-commerce market amounts to NIS 70 million a month. Auctions account for 80-90% of the market. The rest mostly consists of tourism services that are not auctioned. The main market players are Wallashops, Netaction, and P1000.
Published by Israel's Business Arena on ý12 December 2001