Online security is a big issue when looking at taking customer payments online and depending on how you wish to have your shopping cart integrated with your payment processor you may find that this is a must have extra. Even if it isn't a requirement you may find that for the relatively small outlay the customer confidence in your store presenting a SSL certificate on your login and checkout pages will quickly pay for itself.
SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) is a protocol developed for transmitting private data over the Internet. SSL encrypts data using keys - a public key known to everyone and a private key known only to the recipient of the message. Many web sites use SSL to obtain confidential or sensitive data, such as credit card numbers. Web sites using a secure SSL connection display a padlock symbol and their URL will start with https:// instead of http://
If your web site requires a secure connection between your server and the visitor's browser, then you need a SSL certificate. Mostly, this is to accept payments online, but you should consider using SSL to protect your visitors identity if you request any personal or sensitive data, such as their address or other contact details.
If your customer enters their credit card information while on your site you will require a SSL certificate to ensure their data is kept secure. However this will depend on your chosen payment provider and their particular processing solution. In general if your customer makes payment after they have been passed from your site to your payment processors site you don't have to have your own SSL certificate.
In general PayPal, ProtX, WorldPay, 2Checkout.com and many other providers all offer a solution that allows them to handle all the security requirements as well as more advanced options for larger stores.
If you aren't sure of your requirements please don't hesitate to send us an email with your intended payment processor and solution and we can advise on any additional security requirements that may need to be implemented.
However a SSL certificate can easily be added to the ecommerce store down the line if you change your processing provider as you grow or simply wish to add a certificate for customer confidence.
The cost of certificates vary and we recommend our SSL partner Trustico as they offer almost every reputable certificate available on one website at extremely competitive prices. As a Trustico account partner we can also purchase from Trutico on your behalf. Just let us know the certificate you wish to purchase and we can fully handle installation for you. Alternatively we can install certificates from other sources if you prefer.
The cost of installation and configuration of an SSL certificate is £29.00 per year. This includes a unique IP address for your store (required with SSL certificates), installation onto our servers and configuration into the ecommerce software. (If you purchase a multiple year certificate we can discount this price for years 2 and onwards, please contact us for details)