MANILA, Philippines – Social shopping network Multiply launched Tuesday two services that will allow Multiply sellers to advertise on the site as well as certify themselves as trusted sellers.

In a statement, Multiply president and CEO Peter Pezaris said the new programs -- Multiply Promote and Multiply Trust -- give online sellers new tools to be more successful through advertising and at the same time build confidence among buyers that the sellers will live up to their end of the transaction.

“Many of these stores are small businesses, and they have told us that they need a very cost-effective, straight-forward program to promote their wares. Multiply Promote gives them access to an affordable, easy-to-use solution for reaching all of these shoppers. In addition, Multiply Trust lets well-established shops get an instant seal of confidence that is crucial to attracting new customers,” he said.

Multiply Promote offers a 3-step ad creation approach that allows users to design the ad, schedule its daily budget and campaign length and target the ad on a per country and shop category basis. 

The service also allows sellers to defer payment upfront through its “Bill Me Later” option. Payment is accepted through credit cards, PayPal and GCash.

“The Multiply Promote ads appear in the Inbox, integrated right into the message stream, in the Multiply Marketplace and even below product listings on other shops,” the company said.

On the other hand, the Multiply Trust program provides verification that sellers are real persons and businesses that can be reached by the buyers.

Under the program, sellers are required to submit legal documents such as government IDs, proof of billing and business or tax registration for verification. Sellers are also required to pay certain fees to get the Multiply Trust badges, which will be shown prominently on seller sites as well as throughout the Multiply Marketplace.

The Multiply Trust badges are for verified sellers, verified business and trusted business.

“Clicking on a Multiply Trust badge anywhere within Multiply will display the seller’s verification details to the shopper so that they understand exactly what that seller had to provide in order to get verified,” the company said.

In an earlier interview, Multiply executive chairman Claudio Pinkus, executive chairman of Multiply Inc., said that of the approximately 5 million Filipinos using Multiply, 26,000 are registered sellers. He said 42% of Multiply traffic in the Philippines was to the online storefronts.

Pezaris said Multiply has been experiencing a record number of new store registrations in the Multiply Marketplace, exceeding the 50,000-seller milestone it reached last month.

He said Multiply’s new services will include a seller rating system, an enhanced shopping cart and additional payment options.