Connect your own domain

You can put your website on a domain you already own, like www.yourshop.com. Add it in Website look and pages → Custom domain, then add the DNS records it shows you where you bought the domain.

Only the shop's owner can add or remove a domain. Helpers can see its status and use Check now.

Your free address, yourshop.lotmaster.app, keeps working the whole time. Once your domain works, the free address sends visitors to it.

Add your domain

1. On a computer, click Website in the sidebar. On a phone, go to the More tab and tap Website.
2. Scroll to Custom domain.
3. In Your domain, type the domain you bought, like www.yourshop.com.
4. Tap Add domain.

You'll see "Added. Now add the DNS records below." Each shop can have one custom domain. If you see "That domain is already connected to a shop.", another Lotmaster shop is using it.

Add the DNS records

Under DNS records to add there's a short table with a Type, Name and Value for each record.

1. Sign in where you bought the domain (GoDaddy, Namecheap, Cloudflare, Squarespace or similar) and find its DNS settings.
2. Add each record exactly as shown.
3. Remove any other A or CNAME records with the same name. They'd send visitors somewhere else.
4. If your provider asks for a TTL, leave it as it is.

What the records are:

• A records for the bare domain (yourshop.com). In the Name column, "@" means the domain itself. Some providers want it left empty, or the whole domain typed in.
• A CNAME record for www.yourshop.com, or any other name in front of your domain.
• Sometimes a TXT record, to prove the domain is yours. This shows up when the domain was used on another website before.

Each record says Done once it's working, or To do until then.

www or not

Type whichever you want visitors to see. If you type www.yourshop.com, the bare yourshop.com is set up to send visitors to it, and the other way round. You'll get records for both. Any other name in front of your domain, like shop.yourshop.com, works on its own.

What the statuses mean

• Waiting for DNS: the records aren't showing yet. Changes can take a few minutes, sometimes a few hours, to reach everyone. We check every few minutes.
• Verified: your DNS is right. The secure certificate (https) is being set up, which usually takes a few minutes.
• Active: your website is live on this domain, and your free address sends visitors here.
• Problem: the domain couldn't be connected. The reason is shown under it.

Tap Check now to check straight away instead of waiting.

Once it's Active, Lotmaster checks it once a day. If a check can't reach the domain for a moment, it stays Active. If your DNS records are changed to point somewhere else, it goes back to Waiting for DNS.

If it says Waiting for DNS for a long time

• Check each record marked To do against what you typed at your provider, letter for letter.
• Make sure there's no old A or CNAME record left with the same name.
• If the name is "@" and your provider didn't accept it, try leaving it empty, or typing the whole domain.
• Give it a few hours, then tap Check now.

If it says Problem

Read the reason shown in red under the domain. If you're not sure what it means, ask us through Help & chat: at the bottom of the sidebar on a computer, or on the More tab on a phone.

Remove your domain

Tap Remove domain and confirm. Your website goes straight back to its free address, and visitors to your domain won't find it. To use a different domain, remove the old one first, then add the new one.

Related

• Your website: what buyers see
• Publish your website
• Pick a theme and make it yours