Custom Domain

Setting up a custom domain

Every store has a free address on your-store.mycartly.pro with HTTPS. You can also connect a domain you own, such as yourstore.com or shop.yourstore.com. Custom domains work on every plan, including the free trial. A store has one custom domain at a time.

Before you start

• You own the domain at any registrar (for example GoDaddy, Namecheap or Cloudflare).
• You can edit the domain’s DNS records.

Step 1: Add the domain in Cartly

Go to Settings → Domains, click Connect Custom Domain, enter the domain without https://, and click Add Domain. The page then shows the DNS records to create for that domain. Only the store owner and admins can add or remove a domain.

Step 2: Create the DNS records

At your registrar, create the record for your domain:

• A root domain such as yourstore.com: an A record for @ pointing at the IP address shown on the page. The page also lists a www CNAME row; Cartly does not serve www (there is no certificate for it), so skip that row and forward www at your registrar instead (see below).
• A subdomain such as shop.yourstore.com: one CNAME record for shop pointing at the target shown on the page.

Copy the values from the Domains page rather than from this article: they depend on where your store is hosted. No TXT verification record is needed.

If your DNS is on Cloudflare, set the record’s proxy status to DNS only (grey cloud). With the proxy on, the certificate cannot be issued.

DNS changes usually take a few minutes, and can take up to 48 hours depending on your registrar.

Step 3: Verify

Back on Settings → Domains, click Verify Connection. Cartly checks that the domain points at your store and, if it does, issues a free SSL certificate from Let’s Encrypt. While the certificate is being issued the domain shows Issuing SSL…; this usually takes under a minute, and the page updates by itself. When it shows as verified, your store is live on the domain.

Nothing is checked in the background: if you click Verify before DNS has updated, wait a little and click it again. Clicking it more than once is safe.

What happens next

• Your mycartly.pro address keeps working and sends visitors on to your custom domain.
• Cartly renews the certificate automatically. You never buy or upload one.
• Cartly serves exactly the domain you added. If you connect yourstore.com and also want visitors who type www.yourstore.com to arrive, set up forwarding from the www name to https://yourstore.com at your registrar.

Changing or removing the domain

To switch to another domain, click Remove next to the current one first, then add the new one. Removing a domain disconnects it and deletes its certificate; your store stays available on its mycartly.pro address.

Troubleshooting

• Verification fails. Check that the record type, name and value match the Domains page exactly, and that no other A or CNAME record exists for the same name. Then allow time for DNS to update and click Verify again.
• The certificate is not issued. Usually the domain still points somewhere else, or a Cloudflare proxy is on. Fix the record and click Verify again.
• Mixed content warnings. If the browser warns about insecure content, check that images and links you added by hand use https:// URLs.