About Secure Forms as an ecommerce Tool |
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What is a secure form? |
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All shopping cart software includes secure forms to receive the client information but a secure form doesn't have to be part of a shopping cart. |
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How will I know a form is secure? |
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A secure form uses SSL technology to encrypt the communication between the browser and the server and so you will see the lock symbol in the lower right hand corner of the browser. To implement SSL you need a security certificate. |
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What happens after someone fills out the form? |
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What happens to the results depends on how the form was coded and the actions of the page the results are sent to. Some forms are sent to a database for later retrieval by the webmaster. Some forms are sent as an email to the site owner. Some
forms are sent to a text file for later retrieval. As a web browser filling out a form, it can be very difficult to know what is happening to the results unless the web site has informed you. |
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Is it safe for the results to be emailed? |
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There are a mixture of opinions on this. The email that is generated travels to the mail server very quickly and so the risk of it being intercepted is minimal. Once at the mail server, in order to retrieve it the web site owner needs
to enter a user name and password, so there is a basic level of security. Generally though the email travels in plain text and so is not encrypted and should someone gain illegal access then the information is readily available. |
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When is it appropriate to use a secure form instead of a shopping cart? |
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Generally it is only appropriate if you have very few items to sell or you are certain that the buyer will only buy one type of item on a given visit to your site. |
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