"I’ve been speaking with the owner about SSL before I invest in becoming a member, but she’s been told by the dev of the platform (it’s a franchise system called ShopCity.com) that SSL is more about Google’s monopolizing visibility of content, and less to do with security" This is an interesting observation of how Google's technical crusades often align with its profit interests. The main threat that HTTPS everywhere…
Perhaps, but it's fairly easy to un-Google your life nowadays.
Until recently, I had no idea that manufacturers actually PAY Google to have the services on Android... Talk about idiocy.