Why am I getting a 403 Forbidden error on my Google Domain?

Shopify Discussion
1

Hello!

Thank you for taking the time to help me!

I connected my Google Domain to my Shopify, and it was working fine for a few hours, but now I am getting a 403 Forbidden error.

My website is chasesommer.com

What should I do?

Thank you so much!!

2

Hey, @ChaseSommer !

This is Moira from the Social Care team at Shopify. Thanks for posting! I understand you are receiving a 403 Forbidden Error after connecting your third-party domain to your store, I know how frustrating it can be not being able to access your site but not to worry, you have me on this and I’ll do my best to help you out today.

Thank you for sharing your website URL with us, I was just able to access your store with no trouble at all which is a good sign! See the image below:

new.gif

The 403 Forbidden Error happens when the web page (or another resource) that you’re trying to open in your web browser is a resource that you’re not allowed to access. It’s called a 403 error because that’s the HTTP status code that the webserver uses to describe that kind of error. You usually get this error for one of two reasons. The first is that the owners of the webserver have properly set up access permissions and that you’re really not allowed access to the resource. The second reason is that the owners of the webserver have improperly set up permissions and you’re getting denied access when you really shouldn’t be.

I’ve got a few things for you to try out so we can pinpoint where the issue is stemming from:

1 ) Double check the address - the most common reason for a 403 error is a mistyped URL. Make sure that the address you are trying to access is for a web page or file, not a directory. A regular URL would end in .com, .php, .org, .html, or just have an extension, while a directory URL would usually end with a “/”.

2 ) Incognito/private mode on your browser - login to Shopify once you’ve done this and see if you’re able to access anything. If it works, it means your browser likely needs its cache cleared.

3 ) I suggest clearing your browser cache and make sure you are operating on the latest version of Google Chrome. When you use a browser, like Chrome, it saves some information from websites in its cache and cookies. Clearing them fixes certain problems, like loading or formatting issues on sites:

4 ) You can try using a different browser or device (like a phone) to see if you can make the changes. If it works in one browser and not the other, it’s a browser issue and the cache needs to be cleared.

5 ) If you can confirm that the website in question is working for others but not for you, then it’s possible that the public IP address your Internet service provider (ISP) provided you has been blocked for some reason. You can try contacting them and letting them know about the problem.

If none of the solutions we’ve talked about so far work, you can always wait a while and come back later. Since most of the time, 403 Errors are caused by issues with the website in question, it’s likely someone is already working on the problem.

As a side note, I just want to say how much of a great job you have done building your store, it is very commendable — clean, polished, and easy to navigate, you should be so proud! How have you found running your business so far? Certain products like the Techwear 2021 Hoodie stand out to me because of the great job you’ve done with the product images and description. Have you thought about who your target customer is for your website? Our blog post on Building a Buyer Persona talks about narrowing down who your ideal customer is. This process is good to go through so that you can get the most out of your marketing.

I do hope this helps! Let me know how you get on with the suggestions above and feel free to let me know if I can clarify anything further.

Cheers,

1 Like
3

Moira,

Thank you for the thoughtful response. I know it will help many others in the future!

..So it randomly started working after reading your post!

Question: it still says the site is unsecure. Is that a waiting solution? In the domains section of my store it says SSL pending.

ChaseSommer_0-1627941058523.png

ChaseSommer_1-1627941083264.png

Thank you for your time Moira!

-Chase

4

Hi @ChaseSommer ,

Thanks for getting back to us,

It’s great to hear your site is up and running again, sometimes the gift of time solves these issues!

Normally if you’ve not purchased the domain through Shopify there may be a delay in provisioning SSL certificates to the domain due to different reasons. These usually stem from some DNS settings that you can easily access through your domain host (where you purchased the domain).

  • The domain points to Shopify

  • The domain does not point to Cloudflare

  • The CAA list is empty

  • DNSSEC not active

  • There are no AAAA records

  • Waited 48 hours for the DNS settings to provision

If all of those are set up and correct as well as any remaining requirements in our help center guide here, it looks like we’ll need to access your account in order to resolve this issue. While we’re not 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.

In order to save some time, and help the Support Advisor you speak with to pick up from where you and I have left off, I am going to provide you with a summary of the issue as I understand it. You can share this summary at the beginning of your conversation with the agent to bring you both up to speed and help to get your answers as quickly as possible.

Issue Summary: Third-party domain connected, SSL still pending after 48 hours, please manually provision certificates via Shopify internal.

TIP: If you’re looking for the next steps to grow your business further, you may be interested in our video courses on Shopify Compass! This is a free resource for you to learn about anything from marketing to store design. I highly recommend taking advantage of this as you’ll find many tips and strategies from experts in different fields.

If you have any questions please feel free to thread those below.

1 Like
5

Even I am having this issue with my website - www.dailyreminders.org

Please see to it

6

Hey @DailyReminders ,

I was just able to access your store with no trouble, are you still facing issues on your end?

7

Dear Moira,

I am running into a similar issue. I believe bluehost has improperly set up permissions and and I’m getting denied access when I shouldn’t. My domain name is ola-ette.com
I have made sure to set up my A name server and CNAME www correctly to point to Shopify.
Your assistance is greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

8

Hey @ettekidsstudios ,

Were you able to resolve this? I was just able to access your store with no trouble!

9

I am having the same issue as the original poster. Can you please check my site?

Mythosandmoonlight.com

Thank you

10

Hey @MythosMoonlight ,

I checked your domain configuration and everything is correct, I was also able to access your store with no trouble, are you still facing issues on your end?

11

Even I am having this issue with my website - www.cutecubs.store

Please see to it

12

Hey @IvanDK ,

What issue are you facing? I checked your DNS records, and they are all setup correctly.

13

Hola Moira,

Genial los aportes a estas discusiones. Gracias.

Ahora tengo el mismo problema pero no logro aĂșn hacer la creaciĂłn de la nueva instancia, me aparece el mismo error cĂłdigo 403.

He realizado los intentos desde varios navegadores y desde modo incĂłgnito y me sigue apareciendo el error.

Mi sitio web es: www.soloio.com

14

Hey @peti1 !

I would love to help you out but can only reply using English, do you mind translating?

15

Hey

I am having this issue with my website - https://americanbatterystore.com/

Can you please see it

16

Hey @HaroonSiddique ,

Your website is password protected, so I am unable to see past that page.

Are you still seeing a 403 error? I checked your domain records and they are all set up correctly.

17

Hello Moira,

Great contributions to these discussions. Thank you.

Now I have the same problem but I still can’t create the new instance, I get the same error code 403.

I have made attempts from several browsers and from incognito mode and the error continues to appear.

My website is: www.soloio.com

18

Hey @peti1 ,

I took a look at your domain records, and they are all correct which is a great sign.

When you say you “can’t create the new instance” what are you referring to? I will do my best to replicate the issue on my end.

Look forward to hearing from you!

19

Ok, thank you very much for your review.
My problem is that when creating the new Shopify instance in my ERP system to connect to the store (website) that I have in Shopify, the error with code 403 is appearing.

It is an error that begins, like this:

Response(code=403, body=“b’{“errors”:”[API] Invalid Username provided for Basic Auth API access"}‘“, headers={‘Date’: ‘Tue, 07 Nov 2023 22:10:30 GMT’, ‘Content-Type’: ‘application/json; charset=utf-8’, ‘Transfer-Encoding’: ‘chunked’, ‘Connection’: ‘close’, ‘X-Sorting-Hat-PodId’: ‘318’, ‘X-Sorting-Hat-ShopId’: ‘72613167423’, ‘Vary’: ‘Accept-Encoding’, ‘Referrer-Policy’: ‘origin-when-cross-origin’, ‘X-Frame-Options’: ‘DENY’, ‘X-ShopId’: ‘72613167423’, ‘X-ShardId’: ‘318’, ‘Strict-Transport-Security’: ‘max-age=7889238’, ‘Server-Timing’: ‘processing;dur=39’, ‘X-Shopify-Stage’: ‘production’, ‘Content-Security-Policy’: “default-src ‘self’ data: blob: ‘unsafe-inline’ ‘unsafe-eval’ https://* shopify-pos://; block-all-mixed-content; child-src ‘self’ https:// shopify-pos://; connect-src ‘self’ wss:// https://*; frame-ancestors ‘none’; img-src ‘self’ data: blob: https:; script-src https://cdn.shopify.com https://cdn.shopifycdn.net https://checkout.shopifycs.com https://api.stripe.com https://mpsnare.iesnare.com https://appcenter.intuit.com https://www.paypal.com https://js.braintreegateway.com https://c.paypal.com https://maps.googleapis.com https://www.google-analytics.com https://v.shopify.com ‘self’ ‘unsafe-inline’ ‘unsafe-eval’; upgrade-insecure-requests; report-uri /csp-report?source%5Baction%5D=show&source%5Bapp%5D=Shopify&source%5Bcontroller%5D=admin%2Fshops&source%5Bsection%5D=admin_api&source%5Buuid%5D=97a22fe7-6c81-4b97-a838-02250a2eaddc”, ‘X-Content-Type-Options’: ‘nosniff’, ‘X-Download-Options’: ‘noopen’, ‘X-Permitted-Cross-Domain-Policies’: ‘none’, ‘X-XSS-Protection’: ‘1; mode=block; report=/xss-report?source%5Baction%5D=show&source%5Bapp%5D=Shopify&source%5Bcontroller%5D=admin%2Fshops&source%5Bsection%5D=admin_api&source%5Buuid%5D=97a22fe7-6c81-4b97-a838-02250a2eaddc’, ‘X-Dc’: ‘gcp-us-central1,gcp-us-east1,gcp-us-east1’, ‘X-Request-ID’: ‘97a22fe7-6c81-4b97-a838-02250a2eaddc’, ‘CF-Cache-Status’: ‘DYNAMIC’, ‘Report-To’: ‘{“endpoints”:[{“url”:“https:\/\/a.nel.cloudflare.com\/report\/v3?s=cavX7%2FgxA7JuCeXDH67CYOWbIaBeL1I9jtZQyQh%2BSz%2BF2HQuPyuNXZODoNUeNQG8XFu%2FbqbXVagVUQkqp2y%2F%2FwFdoslbY2KPL%2BjXhsp%2BbWMU08M6bj5nMHYFdEfuyC9WTrNYxar3cyj4s4k%3D”}],“group”:“cf-nel”,“max_age”:604800}’, ‘NEL’: ‘{“success_fraction”:0.01,“report_to”:“cf-nel”,“max_age”:604800}’, ‘Server’: ‘cloudflare’, ‘CF-RAY’: ‘8228e81b8f4a61c2-ORD’, ‘alt-svc’: 'h3=”:443"; ma=86400’}, msg=“Forbidden”)

20

Thanks for sharing!

The error message you’re encountering is related to the authentication process with the Shopify API. The error message “[API] Invalid Username provided for Basic Auth API access” suggests that the username you’re providing for Basic Authentication is incorrect or not recognized by Shopify.

Make sure that the API key and password you are using are correct. You can verify this by logging into your admin panel, going to Apps → Manage private apps and then checking the credentials of the private app you’re using to connect to the API.