Do I need SSL with Express Checkout?

[nepharius]

Hello, New here and new to all this ecommerce things.

If I were to use paypal express with zencart would I need
to purchase SSL certificates?

Is paypal express a payment gateway? If i use a gateway would I then need to get an SSL still?

I dont play on selling alot of products and making alot of sales so investing in a SSL would be a tad bit too much if I can have paypal handle all the sensitive transactions.

Thank you.

[fairestcape]

With Paypal, Customers payments are taken outside of your site, so yes, Paypal is a payment gateway, however way you decide to use it.

But SSL is also about giving customers confidence and security. I will NEVER shop at a site that is not SSL secure, because:-

1. I have no quick independent verification that the site is genuine.
2. My data is being transmitted unencrypted.
3. I do not trust a store owner who can't spend a few dollars installing SSL.

SSL can be installed for under $50 with many hosts (including the certificate price), and pays for itself very quickly.

[anybox]

Yeah, it is very cheap and easy. I purchased SSL for my Godaddy hosting for just $14. Works great.

[nepharius]

My hosting says I can get ssl with them for $99/annually so I guess godaddy is a real deal.

I am trying to understand a single certificate plan at godaddy, how does that apply to one page or the whole domain if i use https?

Sorry Im just trying to understand SSL and its uses.

Thank you guys for your time.

[louis1971]

Buy the cert from GoDaddy (bought a multi year SSL from them myself because at that low price it's dirt cheap), then you give the cert to your web hosting provider to install for you. Once done, enable it in Zen-Cart and it'll automatically secure the appropriate areas, such as account screens, checkout, etc. Keep in mind any time there's a login (id and password) or any personally identifyiable information, regardless of if they are providing credit card info, it should be secured via SSL (which Zen Cart does automatically).

[nepharius]

thanks alot for the information, I will be going ahead and getting the ssl.