| |
RapidSSL.com |
Comodo InstantSSL |
| Upfront Costs |
Zero - Pay As You Go. |
Requires Non-Refundable Account Deposit (A/D) of either
$200, $1000 or $20,000. |
| Reseller Buy Price
Per Certificate |
Pay As You Go
$39
Bulk Purchase
10 Pack $34
25 Pack $25
50 Pack $20
Bulk packs work on credit, so a 10 pack provides $340 worth of credit to spend on either 10 one year certificates or x number of multi-year certificates
FREE if the certificate is to replace an existing Thawte certificate or Comodo certificate
|
$42.87 (for $200 A/D)
$39.20 (for $1000 A/D)
$30.38 (for $20,000 A/D) |
| Validation Overhead |
Zero - automated 2 factor 2nd generation validation
process. Reseller is not required to do anything for the validation
process. |
Comodo uses 1st generation validation and requires Web
Host to conduct the validation process, inc. receipt. review, approval
and storage of corporate documents.
Comodo states in its Validation Guidelines that before issuing a certificate
the Web Host must receive from the customer its offical corporate
documentation (Comodo lists over 100 acceptable document types), and
the received documentation must be in English. |
| Mis-Issuance Liability |
RapidSSL.com automatically validates all applications.
No mis-issuance liability placed on Web Host. |
Comodo states: "You must only make applications
on behalf of validated companies. Not validating your customers prior
to making a Certificate could affect the warranty provided by Comodo."
Legal position of the actual Web Host reseller is therefore unclear
in the event of a mis-issuance. |
| Issuance Speed |
Immediate. |
Dependent on how long it takes the Web Host reseller
to correctly validate customer.
To avoid mis-issuance the Web Host reseller is contractly obliged
to correctly validate the applicant.
We estimate that for an experienced operator it will take about 30
minutes per SSL certificate to follow the Comodo validation guidelines. |
| Issuance Availability
24/7/365? |
Yes |
No |
| Root Certificate Ownership |
RapidSSL.com owns root used to issue RapidSSL Certs.
Owning our own root certificate means that RapidSSL.com is always in control of its pricing. This gives us the ability to change pricing depending on market dynamics ensuring that we will always offer our resellers the lowest cost SSL certificate available in the market! |
Comodo does not own its own root. |
| Root Certificate Stability |
Stable - owns its
own root. |
Unstable - relies on sold off Baltimore root (now owned
by Betrusted). |
| Installation |
Easy - single certificate install |
Complex - chained root requires multiple certificate install |
| Customer Upgrade
path to Professional Level Certificates? |
Yes - RapidSSL.com reseller program allows you to upgrade
customers to GeoTrust Certificates and earn $120+ profit per certificate. |
No Professional Level Certificate availability. |
| Customer Ownership |
RapidSSL.com alerts the reseller when a certificate is
ready for renewal. Customer ownership remains with reseller. |
Unclear, no public customer ownership pledge is available. |
| Suitability for White Labelling |
Certificate shows it is issued by "Equifax Secure eBusiness CA-1" - the original owners of the RapidSSL.com root. The end customer will not see RapidSSL.com's name on the first screen when viewing the certificate. Not seeing the RapidSSL.com name on the certificate prevents the customer from coming directly to RapidSSL.com. |
Certificate shows it is issued by "Comodo Class 3 Security Services CA". This occurs even on Comodo's "powered" reseller program. The end customer will always see the Comodo brand on the first screen when viewing the certificate. |
| Reseller Support
Hours |
1am to 9pm EST. |
3am to 7pm EST. |
Note for Bulk Pack purchases. If you have any remaining certificates left in your account after the initial 12 months, the remaining certificates will be rolled over into additional year(s). You are not at risk of losing any remaining certificates after the first year.
