SSL Certificate

[gymratsinc]

Is it worth the $300+ getting a logo put on your website reassuring your customers that it is "safe" to shop with you?

The shopsite store already has a SSL certificate. Isn't there another way to communicate the "safety" without paying a 3rd party to reassure the customer?

Just curious to know what others are doing....

Thanks.

[loren_d_c]

ShopSite can use a secure SSL URL if provided one in the configuration, however the actual SSL services must already be functioning on your web server, so the SSL certificate is a hosting issue, not a ShopSite issue. If your ShopSite was already configured to use an SSL URL when you got it, then it is likely that your host set this up for you, and is likely that the SSL URL is through their shared domain name.

Some hosts might provide something like https://secure.theircompany.com/~youraccount, some might have something like https://youraccount.theircompany.com, etc, there are many different ways to do this. But the bottom line is generally that unless you purchase your own SSL certificate, your hosts' secure domain name is always going to be in your SSL URLs. For some merchants this is fine, but some (especially as their online sales increase) may feel it is worth a few hundred bucks to keep their own domain name throughout the checkout process.

It's a personal choice. But the actual communication of the data over the web is secure either way, whether it be a shared SSL URL or your own.

-Loren

[gymratsinc]

I understand that my host configured the shopsite using the SSL. Most online shoppers know to look for the "https://" to confirm that the credit card info is secure.

However, I have noticed that some of my competitors and several other online retailers are paying an extra fee to basically have a "secure" logo put on their website to make the customer "feel" better about shopping there.

Just curious to know if this type of marketing is worth the fees.

[loren_d_c]

I doubt they paid extra money to use the secure logo, usually a code to place a verification logo on your site comes with the deal when you purchase your own SSL certificate. Some people use it, some don't.

-Loren