1cookie Posted December 11, 2011 Share Posted December 11, 2011 hi I'm starting to look at Part Three of the good book - Selling Physical Products. I'd like to implement something similar to Larry's model/application - widgets say. But first I'd like to test it somewhere (cheapest) before I go live! 1. Do I HAVE to have SSL? Could I do it using http instead? 2. Is a shared host OK to start/test with? For 1. Is this determined by my gateway provider? Just trying to get a feel for it. I'd probably start off with a test domain: http://test.example.com say. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jonathon Posted December 11, 2011 Share Posted December 11, 2011 For the second example you don't need to test it on a live server you can do it locally. In general you don't have to use SSL but you should think of your customers, there safety and experience and if anything, many people expect to see the HTTPS in there URL when buying things, browsers such as chrome make it noticeable when your are in a SSL state, so it might put some people off if they can't see they are secure. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1cookie Posted December 12, 2011 Author Share Posted December 12, 2011 For the second example you don't need to test it on a live server you can do it locally. OK. I'll continue on localhost for the time being. Thanks Jonathon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Larry Posted December 12, 2011 Share Posted December 12, 2011 Yes, you can use localhost for the time being and you'll probably be okay with shared hosting. As to whether you need SSL, my opinion is that in ecommerce, you always need SSL. If you're going to take the customer's shipping address and email address, you should use SSL, even if all the billing is handled offsite. By trying to save money not having SSL, you're going to lose customers (because some will notice the lack of SSL and not check out) or worse, end up with a huge and expensive security problem. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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