[ic] Secure server FAQs [monthly posting]

Jim Balcom interchange-users@interchange.redhat.com
Thu Mar 14 21:28:59 2002


On Wed, 13 Mar 2002, D Zhang - msi wrote:

DZm>>>     First of all, it is questionable business practice to not certify your
DZm>>>     secure server. Besides violating the terms of use of many certificate
DZm>>>     issuers, customers notice the changed domain and it is proven by user
DZm>>>     surveys and long experience that you will receive fewer orders as a
DZm>>>     result. Certs can be obtained for $125 US per year, less than the
DZm>>>     typical cost of one hour of a top consultant's time. Do your business
DZm>>>     a favor -- spend the money to get a cert.
DZm>>
DZm>>I can't agree with the above point of view.
DZm>>
DZm>>I wish that ic would not become a guaranteed revenue source of certifying
DZm>>companies.
DZm>>
DZm>>$125/year is a big deal. Recently, I searched the internet for hosting
DZm>>services. There are many servers offering about $150/year, with capacity
DZm>>more than enough to run interchange cart. Think of this, those servers have
DZm>>to take carry of your site for whole year. How much time, work, and cost
DZm>>does it take to issue an certificate?  It got to be fair to every one.

This is not about IC generating revenue for cert companies.

Here is what this is about:

This is about my sending my credit card info to someone over the net and then
suddenly that card number is used at PayPal to open an account and taking
$475 out of my checking account with that info. (Actual happening to me)

This is about potential customers sending me e-mail saying that they will
not buy from me until I get a cert in place.

This is about customers faxing me their credit card info because I don't
have a cert.

This is about American Express telling me (and all of their merchants) that
we MUST have a cert in place for accepting their cards or we will lose the
merchant account.

This is about conveying an image to your customer that you are legitimate.
Seeing a charge on their card from abc.inc when they bought from Harry's
Place scares the snot out of them! For one thing they get no warranty or
support from Visa/Mastercard/American Express

This is about conveying an image to your customer and when they get a
message that the cert is in someone elses name they will typically go
somewheres else to buy.

If you go and open a corner convenience store, there are certain pieces of
equipment that you have to buy for it: shopping carts, cash registers,
advertising, etc. When you open an e-commerce store there are certain things
that you have to buy for it, and an SSL cert is one of them. Certainly you
wouldn't use the sign for 'Rick's Tatoo Parlor' for your C-Store. Don't do
it with your e-commerce store.

How much work does it take to issue a cert? In Thawte's case, quite a bit.
They have determined that I have a business license from my local government
for the business that I am running. They have determined that I am a
legitimate business - in my case because I am listed with Dunn & Bradstreet.
They have also determined that I am authorized to use the domain name that I
am registering.

My first cert took about 4 days. Nowadays I get them within 24 hours because
they know me.

Is it worth $125? When I consider that Red Hat gets nearly $200 per hour for
consulting, it's probably fair. When I consider that I pay Firestone $75 per
hour for the labor to get my car worked on, it's probably fair.

It soounds to me like you have settled on IC because it is free and you are
a cheapskate.

There are a LOT of us that are making good money through e-commerce. But, we
have spent money to do it right.

I can pretty much guarantee you that if you don't have a merchant account in
your own name and/or you don't have a cert in your own name that your
e-commerce business will never get off the ground - ONLY because your
prospective customers won't tolerate it.

-= Jim =-

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Tagline for Thursday, March 14, 2002 at 21:10 PM:
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