Any questions I answer that are ranked as the "best answer" I am going to repost here. Generally it's a quick question and a reply that is thoughtful and informative. Great quick reads for sure.

My most recent question was:

When you shop online stores, are there any affiliations or authentications you look for - i.e. clickable SSL seals - and are they make or break points for giving the company your business?

Are there any affiliations or authentications that lent more validity, even if they aren't make or break? I.e. BBB, Hackersafe, etc.

My answer:

For me, it must have the SSL Cert and my browser must identify it as secure. If it's a site I trust (brand loyalty) and they keep stating on the site they are secure it makes me question whether or not this is a cloaked version of the website and not really the site I intended to use (hacked version of the page, a phantom).

From my experience in website optimization I have personally performed multi-variable experiments with hacker safe logo's part of it and they