Some verified certificates are not free. As far as I know, Let’s Encrypt does not offer any ev/ov certs. I’ve worked for e-commerce sites that could not use standard dv certs like you would get from Let’s Encrypt.

Granted this is still not a good reason to give money to GoDaddy.

The company pays for it. Not my dime. The expense doesn’t seem onerous and is just to name one example probably a small fraction of what we spend on pens in a year.

And we get everything of that ilk from one vendor with one bill. It’s all managed in one place. The renewals all happen at the same time. They like that.

Edit: It’s hilarious y’all are acting like you’re salty with me like this is my decision. I do what my boss tells me to do. Certainly there are better options for a lot of our business practices but at the end of the day if my recommendations are shot down it’s not my call. I hold the passwords and the keys, I do not hold the purse strings.