Cheap, Working Google Checkout SSl Certificate
Posted Aug. 29, 2008 by Gabriel Hurley
First, the solution: $9.99 Comodo SSL Certificate from NameCheap.com
(Leave me a comment if this helps you! Thanks!)
http://www.namecheap.com/learn/other-services/cheap-comodo-ssl-certificates.asp
Second, the explanation:
I'm a big fan of Google, and their Google Checkout system is a pretty great service as far as online payment systems/merchant accounts go... but their documentation for it leaves a fair bit to be desired.
The biggest hassle is that if you want to use Google's "Notification API" to get real-time updates on orders from Google (e.g. you want to know when an order is successfully paid for, chargeable, or if there's a problem) then you have to do what Google calls "Level 2 Integration". This means that you have to set up a framework (or use one of the pre-existing libraries here) that will handle sending and receiving properly formatted XML messages to and from Google's servers.
Now that part is fine, no problem. Where it goes bad is that Google's server will only talk to your server if you have an SSL certificate installed from one of Google's "Trusted Certificate Authorities". They've got a short list posted here. However, that list is nearly useless, because the certificates they list are root certificates, and don't correspond to any product you can actually buy on the market.
If you're willing to spend $100 or more with a major provider like Verisign or Thawte I'm sure you'd be fine. But if you're a small merchant like me, and need to do this as cheaply as possible, this list is a mess. Searching Google for what's worked for other people turns up even less information. It's all outdated, inconclusive, or just points back to Google's list because the advice is from people who haven't actually had to find a cheap option.
After a lot of hunting and searching, and a lot of mixed reviews about whether or not GoDaddy's certificates worked, the best idea seemed to be to just take the plunge on the certificate from NameCheap. After getting the server properly set up with the certificate, a quick test yielded successful messages being saved to the log file on the server. Clearly everything was working.
So I'm adding my two cents to the internet right now. I'm hoping this post can offer people help finding an SSL Certificate provider that I can say, as of this posting, conclusively works and does not cost an arm and a leg.
Drop me a line if it helps you. Happy selling, folks!
This helps, thanks! (does it still work?)
Yeah, it does, actually. Just used it the other day! We're renewing ours this month!
This helps, thanks! (does it still work?)...