[guan]

Paying Class 2 customers, like myself, are also charged the fee.

Their basic free Class 1 certificates are advertised on their website as “No Charge, Unlimited + 100 % Free” and “No Kidding 100% FREE”.

It wasn’t hard for me to find the provision that revocations cost $24.90 in question 72 of the FAQ, but it’s not exactly highlighted either. It’s probably not something that most people think about; they probably assume that StartCom provides free certificates (and have the automated infrastructure to do so) for publicity and/or to up-sell paid services. And I did actually go to a paid StartSSL service, which I probably won’t renew.

This isn’t to say that I have a “right” to a free revocation, and I should read the fine print, but I think I’m justified in lowering my opinion of their business practices a few notches.