Wildcard SSL - alternatives?

[httpwebwitch]

I always feel so exploited when it comes time to renew my SSL certificate.

$70/year is what my registrar charges... but for the wildcard (I need to cover 3 subdomains) it's $199.99/year.

I have only a few pages that need to be encrypted; like the login page where the user submits their password. The rest are all http, not https.

$200 is a lot of cash, just for a chunk of random-looking text. Do I buy an SSL certificate, or do I get myself a nice new pair of Doc Martens.

What alternatives are there?

How about these places selling cheap SSL, like a single domain for $8.99, are they legit?

[phranque]

how much is "trust" worth?

[enigma1]

is that an EV SSL you're looking for? those are the expensive ones, they do display the green status on the browser address bar and many people are looking for when they buy stuff online.

Don't know the specifics of your sites, perhaps if you use one ssl on one domain for all the secure page transactions will reduce the expense. Do they customers have to register on different domains since you control all of them?

[httpwebwitch]

woot. I've found that to cover three subdomains, I don't need to buy a wildcard. Instead, I got one that is intended for up to 5 domains, and it's OK that they're actually subdomains. For a fraction of the price of that wildcard I had last year.

A bit more economical, and my users get the green status and encryption goodness they expect.