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INTRODUCTION In an electronic commerce environment, trust is difficult relation to build and even more critical for business success than in traditional commerce. The electronic commerce is not an ordinary business environment where we can trust the vendors. In order for electronic business to prosper, consumers must not be concerned that they will be manipulated, have their credit card numbers stolen, or receive poor quality goods or service. In response to the electronic business needs created by electronic transactions and with the increasing need for third-party assurance to guarantee the trustworthiness of the whole transaction, web seal assurance services have emerged. These web trust assurance services were developed to reduce consumers' concerns. To help consumers determine whether the website is secure, and decide to do online shopping, the AICPA (American Institute of Certified Public Accountants) and the CICA (Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants) have jointly developed the Web Trust Seal to help business entities in maintaining an effective privacy program that addresses their privacy risks and business opportunities.. The seal allows consumers to make purchases online with certainty that vendors have met high standards of business practices disclosure, transaction integrity, and information protection. This paper will focus on defining what the AICPA Web Trust Seal, its development background, what the principles are for obtaining the seal, who is responsible for issuing it, its process, cost, and finally the advantages and disadvantages of obtaining the Web Trust Seal. WEB SEAL DEFINED Web Trust is an international electronic commerce seal of approval designed to improve the confidence and security of co... ...ng doing business online. For those firms seeking the highest standards of assurance, the web seal provided by the AICPA is the most appreciated but also the most expensive among the other seals offered as it is evaluated based on the AICPA attestation standard basis. The web seal is considered to improve the customers' perceptions about the online shopping but business firms need to make sure that their customers are well- educated about the seal. The web seal service has several advantages such as ensuring the vendor's credibility, increasing the trustworthiness of the website, improving the company's internal controls, moreover, web seal assurance may lead to higher sales and better brand recognition. On the other side, it is an expensive service, and requires customers to be well informed about it in order for the mentioned advantages to be fulfilled.