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:
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:
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Click here for instructions on clearing your cache
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Click here for instructions on launching an incognito browser
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,