We recently launched our new online platform ecommerce.mk/badge, which aims to make online shopping safer and more reliable for everyone, as well as contribute to the continued fight to reduce the gray economy and the dubious practices of unregistered sellers in e-commerce.
Within this platform, buyers and e-tailers can learn more about:
- The only advanced and categorized register of online sellers in North Macedonia who actively offer products or services and enable online payment through one of the five banks in our country that offer e-commerce ;
- Information on how e-merchants can be acquired with The Verified e-merchant badge, which aims to contribute to the reduction of the gray economy in e-commerce by promoting e-stores that are registered legal entities and have passed the necessary checks by AETM for compliance with regulations and obligations for operations in e-commerce according to the rules for acquiring the Badge;
- Informative content for submitting complaints to the competent institutions in case of unpleasant experiences with e-commerce, as well as educational content for reducing and avoiding the shadow economy;
Through the promotion of registered e-traders, the platform aims to build a better e-commerce community in Macedonia by reducing the unfair competition of businesses in e-commerce, as well as educationally and informatively influencing online buyers in order to reduce the shadow economy.
REGISTRY OF E-MERCHANTS
The register of e-merchants provides a clearer picture of the offer in e-commerce and aims to:
- to increase the awareness of buyers and their protection when buying online
- to allow them to easily distinguish between registered e-merchants and unregistered entities participating in online sales
- to reduce the possibility of buying from unverified online sellers and participating in the shadow economy.
The register of e-merchants includes online sales outlets that have made at least one successful transaction between January 1, 2022 and December 31, 2023, and it is updated several times during the year (mostly on a quarterly basis).
A categorization of e-merchants into 25 categories was made, according to Eurostat’s categorization, but also the local context and the existing e-merchants on the market in Macedonia. The updated register of e-merchants is free and available to the public at any time, and buyers can search for e-merchants by the following 3 parameters: the legal entity of the e-merchant, the web address of the e-merchant (URL) and the category in which including the e-shop.
VERIFIED E-MERCHANT BADGE
In addition to the registry, on the web platform you can find information about The Verified E-Merchant Badge – which represents a visual mark that is placed only at e-merchants who are part of the Register of registered e-merchants and additionally independently will apply and will pass the appropriate checks from AETM for the necessary regulations and obligations for the operation in e-commerce.
The new web platform aims to improve the way of applying for the Verified e-merchant Badge, as well as the complete management of its acquisition procedures and to contribute to its further development. In addition, the new web platform enables a simple and automated way to apply, manage and renew the Badge for a verified e-merchant, as well as an overview of all verified e-merchants and individual profiles of each of them.
INFORMATION PAGE FOR SUBMITTING COMPLAINTS TO COMPETENT INSTITUTIONS
The web platform also has an informative page for submitting complaints to the competent institutions and educational content on the gray economy in e-commerce through which citizens are informed about the competences of the institutions and how to properly submit complaints to the relevant institutions.
Learn more about the web platform at ecommerce.mk/badge
The development of the web platform is part of the initiative “Building a better community for e-commerce” which is implemented with the support of USAID, within the project “Activity for strengthening the business ecosystem”, implemented by Consulting for strategic development.
