Congrats, you just finished your online store! Now you need one last thing Domain name, here you might be confused about where to purchase a domain name from Shopify or other third-party registrars.
So, let me clear your doubt.
Should I Buy a domain through Shopify?
Shopify offers two ways to connect a domain with your online store. If you purchase a domain name from Shopify it will automatically connect your store with domain and its very easy to maintain, on the other hand, if you purchase your domain from another registrar you manually have to connect your domain to Shopify store with its only 50% cheaper (5-10$) than Shopify domain.
Pros and cons of buying a domain through Shopify
Pros:
- It is easy, especially for beginners – they do everything for you and the whole process is just simpler
- You will get the domain plus the ability to create email accounts for that domain included.
Cons:
- It is a bit more expensive, it is cheaper to just buy your own domain and email hosting from places like domains for the equivalent of $5 a month.
- Your domain is tied to Shopify hosting – when you start an e-commerce store you should always separate your domain and business from your e-commerce platform. Shopify is a platform for e-commerce, you should always allow yourself the flexibility to move the whole business to a different platform for any reason in the future e.g. You become big enough that it makes more sense to self-host to get more flexibility in your store, theme, website look and feel.
- When Shopify shuts your store down, they shut down your domain too.
I personally think it totally worth manually configure your domain with Shopify because:
- You learn something new!
- It’s cheap
- Its more flexible
But buying a domain through Shopify is also fine if you are a newbie and want up and running the Shopify store as fast as possible!
I hope you get the point I am trying to make!
So if you follow my opinion and buy the domain from any other domain registrar, you might think like: well, now what to do? How to configure it?
Don’t worry I will guide you.
Here is a video tutorial
Here is the official docs on how to connect other domain to Shopify.
Or you can simply search “how to connect [YOUR_DOMAIN_REGISTRAR] domain to Shopify”
Here is some other Question that you guys may have.
What about the Shopify FREE domain? Does Shopify provide a free domain?
With Shopify, you get a FREE “sub-domain” of the “myshopify.com” domain.
A FREE sub-domain is good for testing but when you are ready to lunch your online store you should have your own professional domain name.
Actually, .com domain name pricing on Shopify starts at $14 per year but this amount will depend on the domain extension you choose. For the exact price of your domain name and availability, use Shopify’s domain name generator.
Typically, renewal fees are higher than the registration rates and will depend on the type of domain you opt for such as .com, .ca, or .biz. Except the renewal fee to be somewhere between $18 – $25.
Can you transfer your domain name from Shopify to another domain registrar?
Yes, you can move your domain name from Shopify. The process is called domain name transfer but moving the domain from Shopify is quite complicated, confusing, and time taking process.
It’s due to the stress of moving your domain from Shopify that we recommend that users register their domains through a domain name registrar. Your business could really grow in the future and you might want to move from domain Shopify for more control and flexibility in your store, theme, website, feel, and so on.
