StartSSL is great. I'm able to role and go live with SSL certs, now i've written down the process, in less than half an hour, with checking and all other stuff involved.
I'm intrigued to know how the process for a 8$ cert is different to that of a basic free StartSSL cert. The last paid for certificate I got was a year ago, and getting a StartSSL certificate is just as streamlined a process as the paid one. The only thing I can think of is if you are talking about certificates with wild-card matching, which will save time on the individual certificates you have to get when free. But for $8, is it possible to get a wild-card matching one?
I can have a basic SSL certificate in 15 minutes at the outside for like $8. My time at work is worth a lot more than $8/hr.