(28 November 2005) bobshop, one of South Africa's largest online marketplaces, has recently been awarded membership to the Online Publishers Association (OPA) of South Africa - an accreditation that the company values highly. The OPA is an independent body and voluntary association dedicated to building sustainable online publishing businesses locally.

"bobshop is proud of this membership acceptance, as we have always been committed to best practice in online business management," says Andy Higgins, managing director at bobshop. "Being a member of the OPA reiterates the dedication that we hold towards building a sustainable business online."

To be considered for full membership of the OPA, a company must, among other aspects, be committed to enforcing OPA best practices in online publishing and are obliged to publish original or aggregated content on the Internet. "Membership of the OPA is becoming an essential part of the efforts made by online publishers in South Africa to build their credibility through an association with the market's top players in their respective industries," says Russell Hanly, chairman of the OPA. "bobshop adds a new dimension to our membership base and on behalf of all our members we welcome them and look forward to the important contribution they will no doubt make towards growing our industry."

Part of the OPA's mission is to provide a non-profit forum in which South African Online Publishers can address issues of common interest. In light of this, bobshop has established its own online forum, where people have the opportunity to post questions and/or comments on issues related to buying or selling on the bobshop.co.za site, as well as provide feedback on their experience with the bobshop team.

Additionally, bobshop has created 'Category Discussions' on its Web site, which allows people to converse online around items/aspects in various categories; including antiques and collectibles, arts, books, movies and music. "By creating these online forums and category discussions, we not only encourage interaction among common interest groups, but provide the online community with the opportunity to become a larger part of our business, by providing us with feedback and comments on any issue," says Higgins.

Higgins concludes; "South African Internet consumers are starting to see the value of the Internet as an important information and consumer tool. There is no question that customer delivery is key to the success of e-commerce worldwide. The online marketplace is a safe, secure and reliable place to conduct business and provides an open communication environment to which bobshop has and will always be committed. We are extremely excited about our recent membership acceptance and view this as another step towards our dedication to the development of the local online marketplace."