When you connect a custom domain, you're telling the internet to point your domain to our servers. This involves DNS changes that can take a little while. Here's what to check if your domain isn't loading your shop.
1. DNS hasn't propagated yet
Nameserver changes can take anywhere from a few minutes to up to 48 hours to fully take effect across the internet. The first few hours are the slowest.
Fix: if you set up the domain less than a few hours ago, just wait. Try clearing your browser's DNS cache (or use a different browser/incognito) — the change often shows up faster on a fresh connection.
2. Nameservers weren't changed correctly
The most common cause of "site can't be reached". You may have changed the wrong setting at your domain provider, or only changed one nameserver instead of all of them.
Fix: go back to your domain provider and verify both nameservers exactly match what we showed you when connecting the domain. Save and wait again.
3. The "Not secure" warning
This means DNS is working but the SSL certificate (the padlock) hasn't finished setting up yet. We provision SSL automatically — usually within 10–15 minutes after DNS resolves.
Fix: wait 15 minutes and refresh. If it persists for more than an hour, go to your shop's domain settings, disconnect the domain, and reconnect — this triggers a fresh SSL request.
4. "This domain is already in use" when adding
The domain is connected to another shop on our platform. If you own the domain and didn't set this up, contact our support so we can help free it up.
5. Subdomain instead of main domain
Custom domains must be a main domain like myshop.com — not a subdomain like shop.mysite.com. If you only have a subdomain, you'll need to either buy a domain or use the free shop link we give you.
How to check if DNS is working
Open dnschecker.org in a new tab. Type your domain and look up its NS (nameservers) records. If the nameservers shown match what we gave you, DNS is correctly pointed and you just need to wait for the SSL.
Still stuck?
Disconnect the domain from your shop, wait 5 minutes, and reconnect it. This restarts the whole process and resolves most stuck states. If the issue continues after that, contact our support with:
- Your domain name
- Where you bought the domain
- Approximately when you connected it