Hi,
I’m currently using a free trial of a Comodo SSL to test my store but I need to purchase an SSL now for going live.
Can anyone help me out by pointing me to an SSL that would be good for a small ecommerce store? I’m going crazy trying to figure out what SSL would be best for my site. I think I want one with a $10,000 warranty but I don’t know if I should go with an Instant SSL or some other type.
I really don’t want to spend a fortune on one as we are a very small online store right now. I think one under $100/year would be good but just want some input from others.
Thanks in advance for any pointers/info.
Regards,
Stephanie
Stephanie,
I use the Comodo Instant SSL. It works just like it is supposed to and I have been happy. If I remember right the set up was pretty easy. I also use the trust logo and it was a sinch to install. I think the cost is something like $80 - $90 per year.
I also set up a SSL with GoDaddy. The one I set up with them was for 5 domains and I think the cost was $80 - $90 per year. This SSL has a lower insurance, but since I don’t even display the logo I don’t think it really matters.
I know that Indy has SSL on sale, but I’ve never used the companies that she sells so I can’t say anything either way.
I hope this helps,
Brandon
Thanks, Brandon. The Comodo Instant SSL was the one I was looking at getting and your comment makes that my top pick. I also looked GoDaddy but thought I wanted higher insurance so the Comodo interested me a bit more for that reason.
Thanks again. Your info definitely helps!
Stephanie
I am not sure but the good sll certs are all basically the same for practical purposes.
I use one that I paid around $10 a year for with no browser problems at all
Instant SSL or something like that.
The insurance is just a gimmick.
Did you buy comodo off their site or do you suggest a reseller?
How easy was the install and the turnaround in getting the logo?
The Comodo has just a small problem. You have to pay for the SSL seal too … and it cost $119 
.
We are a reseller of SSL certs and I can recommend GeoTrust. Have a look on our site SSL Certificates.
Then if you buy “some” SSL certificate for $10 and you can load your site with HTTPS it says nothing to the customer. They don’t care the HTTPS but the company the SSL come from and those “Trust Logo” because a simple online shopper doesn’t know what a HTTPS is, and if you claim on your site the checkout is secured they are looking for any advice to check it out.
Uhm, no you don’t. My instant SSL cert costs like $89.00 per year and it includes the seal.
Now if I want the EV option it costs more.
Brandon
[quote name=‘brandonvd’]Uhm, no you don’t. My instant SSL cert costs like $89.00 per year and it includes the seal.
Now if I want the EV option it costs more.
Brandon[/quote]
Yes, they offer the “Trust Seel for free”. Just a marketing trick. By other big SSL providers you will get the seal automatically.
So, what’s the difference? Free or included automatically they are both the same to me.
Brandon
[quote name=‘brandonvd’]So, what’s the difference? Free or included automatically they are both the same to me.
Brandon[/quote]
The difference is that the customer should believe to save $119 what I finde for stupid because how much cost some certificates without the seal? -$$$?
I don’t really want to get in an argument about it, but $0.00 is $0.00 either way. What it comes down to is that I pay something like $89.00 per year and that includes the seal, free or automatic, it doesn’t matter to me.
Personally I don’t see why where you get the SSL cert matters. I have one from Comodo and one from Godaddy and besides being different types of certs, they both work the same.
The only thing I will say that kind of goes against what I think is that places like Amazon and Paypal both use Verisign. I don’t know why that is, but when you have major sites like those both using the same thing you have to wonder.
Brandon
As a practical matter the certificates work the same when i last checked a few years ago.
The extra money is for bells and whistles - insurance, seals etc…
As long as the certs are a “single root” link they work equally well.
Verisign is a big brand name and charges extra for the name recognition. Very large companies feel that evry little bit helps and they do not mind paying for the brand.
In the end you need to look at the demographics of your customers.
For my website a $10 cert works as well as a $500 one. No one cares about seals and so on but that is for my customers your may be different…
[quote name=‘Traveler’]
The extra money is for bells and whistles - insurance, seals etc…
[/quote]
Thats true that the SSL insurance in case of an online shop is nonsense because nobody would buy something for $100,000 from an online shop and pay easy with a CC.
They may not pay that much but most of the lower amounts of insurance/warranties I’ve looked at indicate they will cover transactions up to $1,000 (with a total of $10,000 paid out - meaning up to 10 $1,000 transactions - if I’m reading correctly).
I DO have local customers purchasing items on a regular monthly basis where orders total upwards of $500 occasionally. I may want to have that insurance in case of a problem with these customers, wouldn’t you think? I am a very small business and could not afford to cover these types of transactions if something were to happen during the credit card payment.
Thank you to everyone for all of the information. I appreciate the input/feedback!
Regards,
Stephanie
[quote name=‘scase’]They may not pay that much but most of the lower amounts of insurance/warranties I’ve looked at indicate they will cover transactions up to $1,000 (with a total of $10,000 paid out - meaning up to 10 $1,000 transactions - if I’m reading correctly).
I DO have local customers purchasing items on a regular monthly basis where orders total upwards of $500 occasionally. I may want to have that insurance in case of a problem with these customers, wouldn’t you think? I am a very small business and could not afford to cover these types of transactions if something were to happen during the credit card payment.
Thank you to everyone for all of the information. I appreciate the input/feedback!
Regards,
Stephanie[/QUOTE]
Stephanie,
Check carefully what the insurance covers I can assure you that they rarely payout or they would not offer the insurance…
Thanks, Traveler. I’ll definitely keep your comment in mind when I’m looking to buy my SSL. I just want to make sure I make the right decision. All of this extra stuff with installing CS-Cart is new to me. My current cart is hosted and I didn’t have to worry about things like SSL, etc. (the host had one).
Regards,
Stephanie
I read a lot of reviews of the different companies and found that most thought DigiCert had the best support. [url]http://www.digicert.com/[/url] I’ve called them several times and thought they had pretty good support. I’m using them and so far have been happy.
[quote name=‘jmottle’]I read a lot of reviews of the different companies and found that most thought DigiCert had the best support. [url]http://www.digicert.com/[/url] I’ve called them several times and thought they had pretty good support. I’m using them and so far have been happy.[/QUOTE]
Of course they only sell expensive certificates which is a major flaw.
Usually your webhost will provide free support for installation. the certificates themselves rarely have problems.
Unless you need something special a $10 certificate will do the same job of encryption as a $100+ one…
Just wanted to say thanks to everyone who has given me assistance in determining which SSL to purchase for my store. I decided to go with the InstantSSL from RapidSSL and already have it installed and working in CS-Cart. It also came with a seal to put on my pages of my cart to indicate that the cart is secure.
Now, I just have to worry about the upcoming PCI Compliance standards later in 2010 and hope that Authorize.net doesn’t deny us processing if we’re not using a PCI Compliant cart! I’m not planning on holding any credit card information in the database but not being compliant could pose an issue (and not just for me, I’m sure!)
Thanks again for the SSL help. I went cheap and can always purchase a more expensive one down the line if needed.
Regards,
Stephanie
[QUOTE]Thanks again for the SSL help. I went cheap and can always purchase a more expensive one down the line if needed.[/QUOTE]
I will bet you $100.00 right now (virtual handshake) that you will never feel the need to “upgrade”! 