Web Hosting Talk : Web Hosting Main Forums : Ecommerce Hosting & Discussion : SSL certs - Thawte ?

[netmotiv8]

Hi,

I am interested to know of people's experiences with Thawte. I used them for a while but the authorisation / authentication process to buy or renew a cert seem very slow and picky.

I now use GeoTrust I found it an absolute breeze to buy / renew and install and cost a lot less too!


Neil

[wheimeng]

We are using GeoTrust QuickSSL and frankly, it works perfectly and no complaints here.

[netmotiv8]

We have the QuickSSL cert too.

Just out of interest, why is it that other cert providers charge so much more for their certs. Am I missing something or is something like a QuickSSL cert less 'secure' hence why cheaper???

Neil

[Primal Blue]

I started with Thawte as well. No compalints about the Certs but they were a lot of work to setup.

GeoTrust is just so much easier. With Thawte I remember having to send faxes, GeoTrust a simple Email and Phone call.

[netmotiv8]

Precisely the reason why I switched to GeoTrust. GeoTrust automated phone back authentication process is really neat and simple. I had a cert installed within 15 minutes of me ordering the cert!


Neil

[Tanuk]

What about Verisign? Are they not the same kind of business?

[netmotiv8]

But Verisign are very expensive

[Tanuk]

It allways amazes me how ultimately they are the same product but different prices. I presume the name/brand si what you pay for, hence more expensive would mean more secure.

eg. if you can get it cheaply from one supplier and faster, then maybe they don't do such a good and thorough job as these other guys such as verisign and thwate? I know that Verisign is the worlds most popular of these such companies.

[Knogle]

The 3 companies cater to different markets, but offer the same functionality (128-bit encrption -- equally secure). Verisign caters to higher-end companies and large cooperations. The difference between Geotrust and Thwate is that Thwate actually takes the effort to verify the business and operations of every company it issues a certificate for. In the business world, this is exactly what customers may be looking for -- a trustable and respectable company. It's pretty easy to get a Geotrust cert for just about any type of sites (ie. there doesn't seem to be any kind of check or balance).

[Tanuk]

So then thats meaning that if the "sign" means that it is trustworthy business and if one company such as "Geotrust" don't check thoroughly which they can't do so well as the others, then the other brands are worth more money because more consumers and more serious business persons are going to trust them.

Nice and justified explanation with respect to the price. So in fact the price differentiation is not for the same thing at all. If you want your site to have the lesser "status" then you can go for the cheaper brand, if you want higher "status" with respect to the brand that gives the best consumer confidence then you have to pay more and go with Thawte or Verisign

[Tanuk]

P.S. In fact it adds to the earlier discussions on this forum about "value for money" this is another example of paying more and getting better value and vice versa paying less and getting less value .

[Hercule]

99% of customer don't know verisign, Geotrust or Thwate. And if they know them that's because they have heard about recent verisign activity...

There is a quality/price involved too in your choice. Verisign cost a lot more, but do they make you win the same amount of money you spend more?

[XTStrike]

Good thread, I was looking for a way of explaining this to our directors on which one they should go for, now ive got a good way of explaining it to Non-IT people

Thanks Again

[Corey Bryant]

I do not think I saw it here, but buy a cert from: http://www.ev1servers.net/english/quickssldetails.asp - $49 compared to $149.

There was another thread about this in another forum - why buy from Verisign. Some people think that it is their brand. These days more & more is being drilled into the cosumer's head - make sure the URL has the https: & the little lock sign is in the lower right hand corner.

Someone made the statement that if his grandmother saw two websites & one had the Verisign logo, she would buy from them. But yet he did not state if the product on the Verisign page cost more to compensate for the $895 (http://www.verisign.com/products/site/secure/index.html) that they spent when they could have spent $49.

99% of customer don't know verisign, Geotrust or Thwate. And if they know them that's because they have heard about recent verisign activity...

I wonder if that could be a good thiing

As far as trying to locate an unbiased website to compare certs - we never could find one. We found two - one was owned by ChainedSSL & the other by Geotrust unfortunately.