Domain was refunded after purchase

[bakedandraised]

Help please!

I purchased a custom domain name on shopify yesterday and received the email confirmation and bill, however I can now see that my payment for registration has been refunded and I am unable to use the name. When I try to go back and buy it again, it says the name is unavailable. I really needed that domain name. Can anyone help me with this please?

Thanks,

Natasha

[Finley]

Hey @bakedandraised!


This is Finley from the Social Care team at Shopify. Thanks for reaching out today.

I completely understand that you'd like to ensure you can purchase the custom domain that you need for your business.

Am I correct in understanding that you didn't see a particular error message when you originally purchased the domain name?

Usually, if there is an issue with the domain, you would receive an error when trying to purchase it. For example, domains with special characters or accents would show an error message: Your domain name can't include any special characters

Some top-level domains may also not be available for purchase through Shopify.

Instead, you can purchase it through a website like GoDaddy and then follow our guide to connect the domain to your Shopify account.

However, from what you shared, it sounds like something else may have occurred here during the purchase process. I'll need to take a look into your account to understand what happened and how you purchase that domain.

I've sent an email to your Shopify Community email address. Please respond with your .myshopify.com URL and we'll be able to have a look into this together!

Cheers,

[bakedandraised]

Hi there Finley,

Thanks for coming back to me. Here is my current shopify url... bakedandraised.myshopify.com

And to answer your questions below... no error message came up when I tried to purchase, however after I had selected the custom domain name I wanted to buy, which was... bakedandraised.co.nz and entered my credit card details and other information for payment, I went to press the buy now button, and then received a message saying I had to update my details. However, I also received a confirmation email at this time, that had the billing information for the domain name I had purchased. So I assumed I had bought the domain name successfully. When I saw I had been refunded, I went to try to purchase the domain a second time and the same thing happened, I received the email with billing information but was automatically refunded. So i had a third attempt to purchase the domain, it this time it said it was no longer available.

I see in your message you also mentioned trying to purchase the domain on GoDaddy, so I tried to do this as well after being unsuccessful with Shopify but it says the domain is no longer available.

So I'm thinking something went wrong during the purchasing process in Shopify and the domain has now been reserved after my trying to buy it yesterday... but for some reason I'm unable to change the primary domain to the one I purchased.

I hope this all makes sense, just trying to provide you with as much information as possible to help get this sorted 🙂.

Thanks!

Natasha from bakedandraised

[Finley]

I really appreciate your detailed response, Natasha!

That is very helpful, and I agree that this sounds like something we'll need to look into a bit further on our end here.

Thank you for sharing your .myshopify.com URL as well. The last step we'll need to take is that I see a reply to the email I sent to your email address.

It should have come to your inbox a few minutes before I replied to your original forum post.

Once that's complete, we'll be able to take the next steps to have this resolved.

Thank you!

[flockofknitters]

Hi

I have had basically the exact same situation with me buying a domain for my also .co.nz site.

Im at a point where ive tried 5 times and been charged and refunded 5 times. Now the domain is saying its unavailable. Could you let me know what was the outcome of this previous issue and how i can proceed to get the domain name i am after.

Urgently wanting to find a solution for basically the exact same issue!!

thank you

[flockofknitters]

Hi

I have had basically the exact same situation with me buying a domain for my also .co.nz site.

Are you  able to share what your issue was and how it was resolved. im so desperate to keep the domain I had in mind.

[Finley · Accepted solution]

Hey @flockofknitters!

Thanks for reaching out. I understand that you want to have this domain issue looked into as you can.

We’ll need to access your account to resolve this issue. While we’re no longer able to provide account-specific support via the Shopify Community at this time, we’d be happy to continue assisting you through live chat, email, or callback. Please visit https://bit.ly/3cJkx8V and log in to your account to create a support request.

Since this is the next step, I've marked this reply as the solution for the benefit of others who may discover this topic.

Thank you!