Arcadier’s Guide on How to Obtain Your SSL Certificate

1) What is SSL and why is it important?

SSL stands for Secure Sockets Layer, which is the industry standard for security technology used by millions of websites in the protection of their online transactions with their customers. SSL ensures that all data passed between the web server and browsers remain private and integral. Your customers’ browsers provide a key indicator (the lock icon in the right-hand corner) to let them know they are currently protected by an SSL encrypted session.

To create an SSL connection, a web server requires an SSL Certificate. The SSL Certificate will contain your domain name, company name, address, expiration date of the Certificate and details of the Certification Authority responsible for the issuance of the Certificate.

When a browser connects to a secure site, it will retrieve the site's SSL Certificate and check that it has not expired, it has been issued by a Certification Authority the browser trusts, and that it is being used by the website for which it has been issued. If it fails on any one of these checks the browser will display a warning to the end user letting them know that the site is not secured by SSL.

2) How do I obtain an SSL Certificate for my Arcadier Marketplace?

In the Custom Domain section of your admin panel, you can check the status of your custom domains and see whether or not the domain has been secured by SSL. If you have not purchased an SSL Certificate, you can purchase it from sites such as Digicert, or from Arcadier. Simply submit a support ticket here and we will assist you with your purchase. For SSL Certificates purchased from Arcadier, we will also assist you with connecting it to your marketplace.

The SSLs that Arcadier offers are RapidSSL certificates. They are sold in 2 forms:

• Standard: 1 year of SSL coverage of 1 domain e.g. yourmarketplace.com  This will cost 59 USD.
• Wildcard: 1 year of SSL coverage for all sub-domains under 1 root-domain e.g. store.yourmarketplace.com, blog.yourmarketplace.com, singapore.yourmarketplace.com. This is only recommended if you plan on using sub-domains this year. It will cost 249 USD.

Our team will upload it to your Arcadier site for you once we’ve received your payment. We will require the following details from you as well when you email us:

1.       Your Company Name
2.       Your Company Address
3.       Your Chosen email address (See below)

For your chosen email address, you will have to choose an address from one of the addresses listed here:

• admin@yourdomain.com
• administrator@yourdomain.com
• hostmaster@yourdomain.com
• webmaster@yourdomain.com
• postmaster@yourdomain.com

Whereby yourdomain.com, is the domain you are purchasing the SSL certificate for. If you do not own one of the above addresses, you will have to create an email address that is one of the options above. After which, we will send a confirmation email for your SSL certificate to your chosen email address. Do note that it will take between 3-5 working days after payment for the SSL certification to be purchased and added to your marketplace.

3) Obtaining an SSL Certificate through other providers

If you’d like to purchase your SSL Certificate from other third party providers on your own, we recommend the following providers:

• Comodo
• Digicert
• Symantec
• Thawte
• GeoTrust
• Trustwave
• RapidSSL

Follow the instructions provided by each provider.

4) How do I activate SSL on my Arcadier Marketplace?

Once you have purchased your SSL Certificate, you are able to add and install your SSL Certificate through the admin panel. On your selected domain, press the "Add / Renew SSL" button and you will be brought to the next page (see screenshot below).

You may add the SSL Certificate you bought via the button at the top left. The Domain name is for your reference only, to differentiate your different SSL certs if you have more than one. Upload the SSL certificate provided to you in pfx format and key in the private key in the password box. Once done, hit the "Add Certificate" button. Your SSL will be added to the list below. Over there you can select the SSL to attach to your selected domain. If you have existing SSLs already added, you may attach them to other selected domains as well, however do take note the SSL will only work on the domain(s) you registered it with. If you do change the custom domain again after, you will need to buy a new SSL Certificate.