If you saw a logo from the company the issued  and SSL certificate on a website, would that make you more comfortable to pay online? If you didn’t see one, but could tell it was secure with the https, would it prohibit you?

@donpurdum Hi Don, great question! Personally, I check whether the site has https – and if it doesn’t, even if it looks secure, even if there’s a nice shiny logo on the page, it doesn’t matter, I won’t proceed! Https is the truth behind the matter and I need to see it’s proof!

The logo doesn’t really help with regards to making me feel that a website is secure but rather that it is helpful in a marketing type effort in that it shows customers that the company is attempting to take their privacy seriously. I definitely look for the https over the logo. If there is a logo and no https, that just means someone copy and pasted the logo on their website to look like its safe to enter their credit cards online; however, once you do enter the credit card info there is no way to be sure that your information is secure even with an SSL logo unless you know to check for the httpS. 

SSL is essential for any site that deals with personal information. In the case of online payment it may be required by your bank to accept online payments.

thanks, Don Do you know if paypal or wepay automatically have the SSL security? I use wepay to accept money for my book sales. @donpurdum

awesome, thanks @donpurdum

Great topic.

I am of the opinion that showing an SSL certificate is always a good practice as it is one more trust signal that you can send to a buyer.  Some buyers are savvy enough to look for the https://, and some browsers even change the color of the address bar (to green).  

I think this group is probably a little more savvy but for the general consumer providing a trust certificate sends a clear message that you not only go things “right” but that you as a vendor place a value on your users security.  

That said, to answer your question head on, for me personally I’m going to focus on the address bar – if I don’t see https I’m not sharing my personal purchasing info.