A question about SSL certificate

Hi guys!

I would like your opinion about something. I am making an ecommerce site and i would like to know if i need an SSL certificate for it?

Why do i ask this? Because i do not store the credit card information from customers.. I have 2CO that handles all of this.. But do you think that i should still buy an ssl certificate so that the potential customers see that i have a protected site and everything even though i would not store their financial info?

 

I would suggest you to buy one because of a normal customer does not trust you without a ssl certificate.It is better if you have one.

 

Yup, i agree.. And since they are pretty cheap through Godaddy it is better that i have one then lose possible customers

 

Yes SSL will help boost client confident when buying from you.
SSL is important because you store the client personal information and the leakage of it is a trouble for client.
In short,SSL is needed to verify your true business identity.

 

You can get by without it just fine, that's what we've been doing with our store. I don't think most people will check, or at least they don't seem to care. I've gotten maybe like 4 emails so far from people asking about it.

 

I somewhat agree with powwka. It also depends who your potential customers are. Like if you are selling a beauty product, most potential client may not be that tech savvy or concerned about ssl or even know if they exist. So in short it also depends on your niche. That being said, using a SSL always add an extra level of trust.


Best Regards,
MM

 

different kinds of sertificates have different type of security... and cost from $10 to $1000.

 

It doesn't matter if you don't store the cc info or not. The certificate is for encrypting the info BEING TRANSMITTED while any communication (even in a contact us form). Any private information that the person insert on a form, should be protected somehow by the store owner.

I disagree with you on that. People DO LOOK on that. Being a store developer for over 4 years, serious people that buy/sell online are more informed and concerned about this. Maybe kids and people that don't know, don't look; but buyers are getting more and more informed about this online.

If your transactions by 2CO are handled off your site, and you don't ask for any private information on your site before that moment, then it's not necessary, but you should put a notice on your TOS about that (why you don't have it).

 

I've seen a handful of stores operating without them and they seem to do just fine. Make a note of it on your site and if it seems to be a problem or people ask, then just get it. If nobody notices it's not worth the extra $.

If you do get it, you might consider processing payments yourself instead of 2co. So it would open up more options for you now or in the future. Just a thought.

 

Agreed. SSL's are more about trust for my customers.

 

Its something all serious e-commerce stores should have IMO, even if its just a low-cost basic certficate.

 

There is a lot of ways to make huge and even crushial mistakes building your own e-commerce project or service. Most likely you can make wrong desicions choosing your project or service webiste platform which will be not suitable for your bank merchant, product range, website flexibility.
You can get to the question „why should I choose platform by merchant accounts and products?“. Ok the answer could be triky. Firstly if you make analysis (maybe it is right to use – what products will be mostly sold of your product range) of your products and / or services you will need tell to yourself what platform will suites products regarding what type their are (e.g. Magento Ecommerce, Joomla, etc. – by the way you can install Magento Ecommerce, Joomla, etc. with one click option in Host1Plus.com), but you must think and about other important things, like security... Security is the most important after your product management and visibility.
What concerns security open-source programs are not the safest solution at all. Why? In our oppinion open-source is OPEN that means that if someone works with open-source software developing it they know what is the weakest sides of that software. Therefore sooner or later all those wekest sides will appear on the net.
In this case your website can be hacked and harmed with for example loss of client details, credit card numbers, etc.
What would be the solutions?
1. Make full overview of what you are selling and in what audience you will be targeting.
2. Choose merchant account which can offer 3D security verification for your transactions and QUICK SUPPORT SERVICE. (By the way we had some issues regarding merchant account which was respondin in about 48 hours which is absolutely mad!).
Quick announcement if you are a bit confused: We can help you with any type of merchant accounts, even with high risk ones as Host1Plus became a partner with Commerzbank one of the biggest bank in Germany.
3. Don‘t be blind thinking that open-source software for your shop will be good enough. You always can find some inexpensive shop solutions where they can be customized by their developers by your demands. (Don‘t get me wrong open-source software like Magento or so on are really powerfull and can be really greatly implemented, but then again security issues...)
4. Have your own usability expert which will be from start to the end getting your webiste usability sorted (If you need we can help you in usability, just give us a shout we will give you some advices FOR FREE!).
5. Consider where you host your website and to what audience your hosting company is orientated. This is the last point, but also very important. Therefore there is a lot of posts how to choose the hosting company etc. The only few things we can add as a hosting company: Be sure (really sure) that service is provided with 24/7 support and that hosting company understand about e-commerce, but not only with programming or technical things.
You are always welcome to ask us about anything what regards e-commerce or similar things. To contact us simple go to http://www.host1plus.com and press chat bottum to chat with us. We can find solutions for your e-commerce projects starting from project architecture to little web design bit.
Hey guys maybe you have something to add about our post?

 

If your actual sites collects personal information at all, it would be a good idea to get a SSL. If you google SSL certificate and you can get GoDaddy's cheapest SSL for 12.99 a year instead of $25. That works with anything you need to buy form GD and you don't have a coupon code for it.

But, like I was saying if your site collects info, your clients would feel better about sharing their info if they can see that your site is secure. However, if your actual site is purely informational and when it comes time to enter payment info, the client has to go to 2CO, whose site should be secure, then you technically don't need one. But, its good to have either way.

 

customers will not trust you if you don't have any ssl, so you must buy to be at ease

 

The SSL will gives confident to client when buying products from your shopping cart. SSL is more important because you store the client personal data.

 

it would be better if u use SSL

i use prestashop with SSL and credit card payment option

 

you do not NEED it, but it helps ... customers like to see it ...

 

???? this statement is non-sense.

if you take cc on your site, you will need an ssl, no way around it. It is required (at least in USA) by the payment card industry.

 

You don't need it for credit cards.

 

A well crafted answer ???