When should one buy an SSL certificate for ones site?

Amongst the various sales pitches you get here, the one aspect that has not been addressed in the most basic - compliance.  Whether that's compliance for PCI, data breach avoidance or internal security policies, SSL will help you achieve compliance and avoid hefty fines, reputation damage if you start transmitting sensitive data and credit card transactions over insecure http.

Well, if you own a website, you should go for an SSL Certificate immediately.Let's first see what SSL Certificate really is. SSL Certificate helps us in encrypting and decrypting all the communication that takes place between a user/web browser and website/web-server. Thus whatever communication gets transmitted through a browser/website/server is encrypted and decrypted in such a manner that only the sender and the recipient gets to see it in the decrypted form. This makes the communication secure...You should remember that cyber-criminals and hackers are always on the prowl. They can attack your website anytime with malware and do away with data that's transmitted through the site. Moreover, since yours is an e-commerce site, it’s the sensitive personal data of many others (your customers) that’s at risk. Hackers could also get your system or network infected with malware. In this scenario, it's always advisable to have SSL Certificates for all websites as soon as you start them.

As you said you are managing an early stage e-commerce site, so I assume your website is live and you are doing financial transactions on the website, so according to me do it as early as possible and also go with Extended Validation (EV) SSL/TLS Certificates.I’ve written an answer for another question which is same to this answer also. For that go over the link of answer which I’ve written.Link: By going through this answer you will get to know why SSL/TLS Certificate is important especially when website is dealing with sensitive information like related to money.

Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) is one of the most important tools for maintaining a secure internet connection. In order to ensure privacy, SSL software encrypts messages and network connections between web browsers and web servers. An SSL Certificate is an electronic document that holds information about a website owner in order to verify that he/she is connected to the site in question. Only those web servers deemed trustworthy are provided with the keys for decryption, in turn ensuring that only certified, secure sites are accessed. SSL Certificates are necessary tools for virtual authentication. https://www.rapidsslonline.com/blog/ssl-certificates-is-a-powerful-tool-for-virtual-authentication/

SSL  Certificate is best and latest security protocol that secures online  transactions, Credit card details and many confidential data which you  don't want that  hackers to find it.If you have an Ecommerce  website then you must encrypt your website with Secure Socket Layer  .It  will enhance your customer's trust towards your website  and will also help you to generate better reputed online business.You can get the SSL certificate from the  site http://www.thewebpole.com/ at low cost.

Since you are running an ecommerce website, you need to set up ssl certificate for your website. As you mentioned, you are in early stage now, you can try free ssl of certificate authorities.  On Comparision, you can see comodo provide free ssl certificate for 90 days. You can check the features over here  https://www.instantssl.com/free-ssl-certificate.html Also having ssl certificate installed in your website, gives the user an view that your website is secure to process any transactions. So the ecommerce websites obviously need ssl certificates for their website

Any time you take any secure information from the user, ensure that the connection used to send the data to the server is secure.  SSL is used to secure credit card transactions, data transfer and logins, and more recently is becoming the norm when securing browsing of social media sites.

Many ecommerce businesses run their website without HTTPS; even Google has also recommend SSL certificate to secure communication. When your ecommerce website is on HTTP (without HTTPS), then website can be hacked and attackers can steal credit card detail, social security number or other private information. Customers are also aware about online security. Before ordering anything online, they check security padlock and assures that website is safe to complete transaction. Without HTTPS, you can lose your prospective customers. I recommend https://www.ssl2buy.com to get ssl certificate at valued price and best installation support.

When should one buy an SSL?When you are really serious about your website security and want to create a trusted environment.As you said you are managing an Ecommerce Website, so possibly you are also storing user’s information like username, password or credit card information etc. So, you must go for SSL Security. For any ecommerce website, trust and security is an essential component. An SSL Certificate not only provides website security, but also enhances user’s trust and confidence. For Ecommerce Website, EV SSL Certificate is the ideal solution that offers highest level of encryption security. It turns address bar green along with organization name. And remember green means safe. Also HTTPS is now considered as a ranking signal. Read SSL Certificate benefits here:https://comodosslstore.com/blog/ssl-certificate-benefits.html