Why can't customers access my online store?

Technical Q&A
1

We’ve had 2 customers reach out to us stating they get errors or nothing when going to our website.

1 customer had the error “This Site Can’t Be Reached and The Connection Was Reset.”

Another one just has a blank website.

We don’t want this to persist as we’re losing sales with this error.

2

Hey, @ktownhoney ! Welcome to Shopify Community!

From the error message you shared, it sounds like you’re experiencing an issue with your domain. Have you checked it to ensure it’s active and connected? Your domain might have expired or it may not have the proper DNS records. If you have a Shopify domain, you may check the domain’s expiration date by following the steps below.

  1. In your Shopify admin, go to Settings > Domains.

  2. Click the domain in question.

  3. The expiration date will appear on the next page, below your domain name.

    10-28-95508-59130.png
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If it has expired while the auto-renew setting wasn’t turned on, then your domain needs to be manually renewed. You may visit https://bit.ly/3cJkx8V and create a support ticket so we can manually renew your domain. Please ensure you enable auto-renew to prevent any downtime in the future.

For third-party domains, you may contact your domain provider for assistance with checking the domain and renewing it if needed.

If your domain is still valid and hasn’t expired, there’s a likelihood your domain doesn’t have the DNS records required for it to be connected to your store. A domain should have the following DNS records to be successfully connected to your Shopify store:

  • A record:
    • name: @
    • value: 23.227.38.65
  • CNAME record:
    • name: www
    • value: shops.myshopify.com

If you have a Shopify-managed domain, you can access your domain’s DNS settings in your Shopify admin to ensure the records are present. Feel free to follow the steps below to do so.

  1. In your Shopify admin, go to Settings > Domains.
  2. Click the domain you want to configure.
  3. Click Domain settings > Edit DNS settings.
  4. You can do the following if needed:
    • Add a record: click Add custom record, and then select the record type that you want to add. Enter the required details for the record, and then click Confirm.
    • Edit a record: click Actions > Edit for the record that you want to change. Edit the details for the record, and then click Confirm.

Alternatively, if your domain doesn’t have or need additional DNS records, you can reset the DNS settings for your domain. Doing this will delete all your DNS records except the A record and CNAME record, which are reset to point to Shopify. If you wish to reset your DNS settings you can refer to the following guide.

  1. In your Shopify admin, go to Settings > Domains.
  2. Click the domain that you want to configure.
  3. Click Domain settings > Edit DNS settings.
  4. In the Advanced settings section, click Reset DNS settings.
  5. Click Confirm.

Domains take up to 48 hours to propagate so your domain may still present issues within that time frame. If your Shopify domain still doesn’t work properly after 48 hours, please create a support ticket by visiting https://bit.ly/3cJkx8V so we can take a look at your domain and help you fix it.

If you have a third-party domain, again, please contact your domain provider for assistance in ensuring you have the required DNS records.