Chinese exporters selling products overseas on Alibaba.com’s AliExpress platform can boost their visibility through a new program thatspotlightsvendors who meet tough product quality and service standards.

AliExpress is recruiting merchants to join its A+ Seller Plan, whose members will be able to brand their online stores with special icons identifying them to buyers as premium vendors. Products offered by A+ members will also get priority search ranking.

To earn the A+ badge, vendors must have positive ratings from buyers and a low number of disputes. A+ sellers also must meet service standards set by AliExpress, such as guaranteed fast delivery (shipment within 48 hours of payment for merchandise not delivered by boat) and customer-friendly return policies. If products do not match their descriptions on the website, buyers can return purchases within 15 days and sellers must pay all shipping costs.

The A+ program is Alibaba.com’s latest initiative to boost the trustworthiness and professionalism of merchants on its websites. Chinese e-commercecompanieshave beenplaguedbyhigh numbers of scammers and counterfeiters who circumvent standard verification checks to cheat buyers. “The purpose of the A+ Seller Plan is to offer higher quality products and suppliers in order to speed up the development of AliExpress,” said an official with the company.

AliExpress is a transaction-based platform that allows buyers to purchase goods in smaller quantities than are typically available through wholesalers onAlibaba.com. AliExpress is ranked No.1 by Alexa.com among international B2B websites in terms of traffic.

To encourage more vendors to join the A+ plan, AliExpress is charging qualifying members a 3% transaction fee, lower than the rate paid by standard vendors, the company said.