When I first started Shopify in the build mode, I named my store something different from the URL I have used elsewhere for 16 years. Now I’m ready to redirect old site to new and I am unable to change the domain name to the correct one.. I would be forced to buy a new domain name and not sure if it’s available. I have spent 14 months rebuilding a new platform. What do I do now?? Can tech support or someone at Shopify make the needed change? Thanks.
Hi @ron44124
Since this is a deeper domain issue, I highly suggest that you reach out to Shopify support team so, they can further check the status of the domain that you are trying to connect. You can reach out to them by going through their Shopify Help Center and enter your concern on AI chat box, respond to it until the “I still need help” or “chat with a support advisor” option appear.
Thanks. I did contact support and the help I received was not good.
Hi there, @ron44124 . Thanks for taking the time to reach out to the Shopify Community with your domain situation here. My name is Imogen. It’s good to meet you!
I’m sorry to hear that you were unhappy with the support you received when reaching out to our Team. Do you mind sharing with me the details of your interaction, as well as the specific request you made for support? I’d love to see if we could take another swing and lending you a hand!
When you first create your Shopify account, you’re provided the ability to create a free URL that ends with ‘.myshopify.com’. This URL cannot be changed, as it’s used in our authentication practices to ensure we’re speaking with the correct folks regarding the correct businesses. If this is the domain you’re looking to change, then you’ll instead need to consider purchasing a custom domain directly through Shopify, or via a third party domain host, to be able to have your desired domain for your business.
Thank you for your reply. I have spent nearly 16 months moving product from
my current website to Shopify. I spent nearly $300 for a theme and paid the
monthly charges to Shopify in order to accomplish this. I named the
development site different from the URL I am using. My current website is
Needleguy.com. I was unaware once a domain was set up with SHopify it could
not be changed. In my thinking there has to be a way to make the
correction. I do understand it can be a problem if people could change
whenever they wanted, however I am sure this has happened to others as
well. I have had websites on other platforms and never had an issue
changing domains. I am sure if this issue was referred to the right person
a change can be made, otherwise I have wasted hundreds of dollars
and hundreds of hours. The rep informed me to buy a new domain, after I
repeatedly told her I already have one and it has been used for 18 years.
That would be impossible at this time. I have customers that buy on a
regular basis and to change domain names would put me out of business. By
the way I named the domain on Shopify needleguyelectronics because I did
not want it confused with my current domain. I did not want Google looking
at Shopify and seeing the domain being used elsewhere. If nothing can be
done this experience will certainly have a negative impact moving
forward. Thank you. Ron Keane
I do not need to purchase a domain. I merely want to use the domain I have NOW! I don’t understand why I have to continually repeat this! Your rep sugested I purchase another domain. If that’s the case why I cannot transfer the domain I currently have I’m not allowed to do, but I can buy one from Shopify! Really?? I have had the same domain for 16 years! I am extremely disappointed with the support I have received now and in the past! It would have been helpful to receive the correct information in the beginning which I did not receive. Furthermore after reading online reviews and comments I am not surprised! I regret EVER doing business with Shopify and will not recommend it to anyone!! By the way I requested my issue be referred to upper managment and my request was ignored. Am I angry, absolutely. Hundreds of dollars wasted and hundreds of hours adding product to a platform I can’t use! I promise you ths is not the end! I WILL use social media platforms to voice my concerns, You can bet on it!!
Hi, @ron44124 .
Thank you for that information!
You can definitely transfer a domain to your new site. Imogen was explaining that your .myshopify.com domain can not be changed as it is your unique identifier on Shopify, however you don’t need to use that domain.
I was led to believe this could not be done. I will say this, Shopify tech support will be the cause of Shopifys demise. Absolutely poorly trained without a clue. Perhaps management thinks this platform can run forever on autopilot, not so! Others like myself will get rid of Shopify and find something better. By the way Shopify was recommended to me by a President of a multi million dollar company. They use Shopify for all their projects. I intend to inform him of the disappointing experience I have had since day one! I will be gone by the next billing period, however I will not forget! BYE!!
Thank you for following up with us here, @ron44124 ! I appreciate you taking the time to outline for us that your goal was to bring a third party domain that you already own to your Shopify Store! As my colleague Emily outlined, this is absolutely possible, and it appears that Emily has shared with you the help document that explains how to do this. I definitely recommend consulting that help doc for guidance on pointing your third party domain to your Shopify Store!
I apologize for any confusion that may have arised from my mentioning of the ‘.myshopify.com’ domain, and the inability to change that. From the information you had provided before my initial response, I had thought that you were referring to trying to change this domain/URL, and not connecting a domain that you had already owned. With that extra context you provided, it’s clear you’re looking to connect a third party domain to your store for us, and that is certainly something possible with Shopify.
I recommend giving the steps outlined in the help document a go if you’re looking to transfer your domain to Shopify for hosting. If you’d like to keep your domain hosted on a third party platform, and instead just connect it Shopify instead of transferring it to Shopify, you can follow along with the steps outlined here.
Thank you for your reply. I believe my original request was very clear. I repeated what I needed to do several times and received a poor response. I had also inquired about the domain issue several weeks ago and received a poor response also. Due the poor support I have decided NOT to do any further business with Shopify. I have a business to run and do not have time to waste . As I stated in a previous post, I will not under and circumstances recommend Shopify to anyone and I also notified the individual who recommended Shopify of my decision. I will say I did like the design and found Shopify easy to use however I find tech support to be useless in my opinion. As I stated before I will not renew after the current billing period. My decision is final!!