Connecting a Custom Domain (Hosting)

Your site is live on its free address immediately. To use your own domain, add one CNAME record at your domain provider — HTTPS turns on automatically once it verifies.

Your site is live on its free *.sites.billionbiz.store address immediately. To use your own domain (e.g. www.yourbrand.com), you add one DNS record at your domain provider — the company you bought the domain from. HTTPS is then issued automatically; you never upload a certificate.

Screen: Online Store → Domains (under storefront → Domains in the new admin sidebar) → Scope → your site's name. The selector replaces the store tabs with the selected site's domain panel. You can also open the Domains tab inside that site's detail page.

The selector appears only when you have hosting access and at least one hosted site. Store selects your ecommerce storefront instead; return to your site's name before adding or removing a hosted-site domain. Changes apply to the selected site, not every site in your account.

To register a new name, use Scope → Store → Buy a domain, available when enabled for your store. See Buy a domain for owner access, eligibility, checkout, and order progress. The connection guide in the site's domain panel also carries a Buy a domain from BillionBiz link (two places: under its introduction and under its steps) that opens the Buy a domain tab. It is shown only to the store owner on a plan that can buy domains. A purchase does not attach itself to a site; to put a domain you bought on this site, use Use a domain you bought at the top of the panel, described in Use a bought domain on a hosted site.

If your account has hosted sites but no online store, you reach the same domain pages under Hosting → Domains and can buy and manage domains there; see Hosting-only accounts. Renewing and DNS stay available while a subscription is suspended, and automatic renewal can be turned off but not on; see When your subscription is suspended.

The record to add

Open your site's Domains tab, add your domain, then create this record at your registrar. The target is shown — and copyable — right in the panel.

Step by step

Troubleshooting: why don't I see X?

Why does the domains list say it failed to load?

What you see: on a site's domain panel, the new skin replaces the list with a panel titled Failed to load domains, with the line Something went wrong while loading. Check your connection and try again. and a Retry button. In the classic skin the same failure shows as a red toast reading Failed to load domains and no list.

What it means: the request for the site's domains failed, so BillionBiz does not know your list; it is not telling you that you have no domains. The list is never shown as empty on a failed load.

What to do: click Retry (classic skin: reload the page). If it keeps failing, check your connection, then contact support.

Why don't I see Scope or my site?

Scope is shown only with hosting access and at least one hosted site. Check that you are in the correct store and have permission to manage hosting. If no sites exist, create a site first; the selector otherwise stays hidden.

Why don't I see the store's four tabs?

Choosing a hosted site intentionally shows that site's domain panel instead of Overview, My domains, Connect a domain you own, and Buy a domain. Choose Scope → Store to return to those tabs. The site's Add, Verify DNS, Test configuration, and delete controls apply to that site.

Verify DNS said my domain is still connected, but DNS could not be confirmed

That is the already-verified case, explained in When a re-check fails on a domain that was already verified: the warning message appears only for a domain that had verified before, and the site keeps serving. Fix the record at your provider (it may have been changed or removed) and click Verify DNS again.

Why don't I see Verify DNS or the delete icon?

Verify DNS is shown on a custom domain until it is Active and is disabled while a check is running. The free default address has no verify or delete action. A custom domain's delete action is disabled while removal is in progress. Test configuration diagnoses the saved custom hostname; use Verify DNS separately to update its status.

Where to find DNS settings

Good to know: a domain can be connected to only one site at a time, and not to a site and your online store together. If you already use the domain for email or another website, only add the one record for the subdomain you're connecting. If you remove a domain here later, delete its DNS record at your provider too.

If adding a domain says This domain is connected to your online store. Go to Online Store > Domains, open it and choose Disconnect from store, then add it here., the store still uses that address. Follow Moving a domain between your store and a site below.

Using a domain you bought from BillionBiz

Everything above (the CNAME record) is for a domain you bought elsewhere. A domain you bought with BillionBiz needs no CNAME step: BillionBiz manages its DNS and writes the records for you when you attach it.

Troubleshooting: still setting up after a while

• Wait a few minutes, close the dialog, and check the status chip in the site's domain list; the DNS line is a snapshot from the moment you clicked Attach.
• Do not add a CNAME record yourself for a bought domain; BillionBiz writes the records.
• If the dialog instead shows Your domain is linked to the site, but we couldn't finish setting up its DNS records. Try again — nothing is lost., the button reads Retry; click it to run the attach again.

The DNS setup warning on a bought domain

If BillionBiz gives up finishing a bought domain's DNS records in the background, a yellow warning appears under that domain's row in Use a domain you bought (the section in the site's domain panel; it shows only on the site the failed attach was for, and on every site when BillionBiz has no record of which site it was, such as after a failed detach) and at the top of the Overview tab of the domain's details page (Online Store → Domains, open the domain from My domains). It reads: We couldn't finish setting up DNS for your-domain. Try attaching it again, or contact support.

The warning also appears straight after an attach that fails, not only after the background retries give up.

1. Open the site's domain panel (Scope → your site's name, or Hosting → Domains on a hosting-only account) as the store owner.
2. If the warning is on a domain attached to this site, click Retry setup, which sits beside Detach from site. The attach dialog opens with this site already selected. Click Attach; if it fails again the button reads Retry. Retry setup appears on the site where the domain is attached when a DNS failure is recorded for that site, or when no site was recorded for the failure. On a site the failure was recorded against a different site, you see neither the warning nor Retry setup.
3. Otherwise, if the domain is still attached, click Detach from site on its row and confirm, then click Attach to a site and attach it again. If it is not attached, click Attach to a site directly.
4. If the warning is still there after a few minutes, contact support with the domain name.

The warning clears by itself once a later attach or detach of that domain finishes its DNS work. The panel keeps showing the latest outcome, so a failure followed by a successful attach no longer shows. Nothing is needed at your domain provider. See also Domains for the same warning on the details page and the notice after detaching.

After you click Detach from site, a blue notice at the top of the section may read Domain detached. We're still removing its DNS records — no action needed. The detach has worked; the notice only says DNS clean-up is still running. Close it with its x, or ignore it.

Moving a domain between your store and a site

A domain you bought from BillionBiz serves either your online store or one hosted site, never both. Four controls move it. Each is shown only to the store owner; a team member or support user in read-only view sees the panels but the buttons are disabled or hidden.

Free a domain from the store, then put it on a site

If BillionBiz cannot clear every DNS record it created, the panel shows a warning instead of the plain success. These records still point to your store. Remove them in the DNS tab: lists the records and links Open the DNS tab. If your domain uses other nameservers the warning reads Your domain uses other nameservers. Remove these records at your DNS provider: and you delete them at that provider. If the dialog itself shows Your store is disconnected, but we couldn't remove the old DNS records. Retry to finish., the store link is already gone; the confirm button becomes Retry and finishes the cleanup.

Take a domain off a site

On the site's domain panel, click Detach from site next to the domain in Use a domain you bought and confirm Detach this domain?. The domain stops serving the site and its site DNS records are removed; if that removal fails the dialog shows We couldn't remove the site's DNS records. Try again. and the button becomes Retry. A detached domain is not on the store either: attach it to another site, or connect it to the store from its Store connection panel.

Use on store

A domain bought on a hosting-only account is held as Not attached yet — attach it to your site and serves nothing. If the account later gets an online store plan, that held domain shows Use on store in the Store connection panel and on its order screen. Click it, read Use your-domain on your store? (it connects the domain to your store and, while connected, it cannot be attached to a hosted site) and click Use on store to confirm. The dialog closes, the order refreshes and the store connection starts; follow the status in the Store connection panel.

Troubleshooting: why don't I see Disconnect from store or Use on store?

• No Disconnect from store. The domain is not connected to your store (it may be free, held, or on a site), you are not the store owner, or your account has no online store. A domain on a site shows the Detach it from the site first note instead; a hosting-only account has no Store connection panel at all.
• Disconnect from store is greyed out. Another change is running on the domain, or you are in a read-only view. Wait for it to finish and refresh.
• No Use on store. It is offered only for a domain that is waiting for a site. A domain you disconnected from the store is not waiting, so it offers Connect to store instead. A held domain stays held after Detach from site, so it offers Use on store again as well as Connect to store. Connect to store is disabled unless the domain uses BillionBiz-managed nameservers (the panel shows a nameserver warning when it does not), or while verification or expiry blocks connecting. It is also hidden for non-owners, for a domain on a site, and on accounts without an online store plan, where the action is refused with You need an online store plan to use this domain on a store. (ECOM_PLAN_REQUIRED): the domain can only be moved onto a store once the account has an online store plan; see Plans & billing to add one.
• Use on store says it is already set up. This domain is already set up for your store. means the domain is no longer waiting for a site; open its Store connection panel to see its state.
• Attach says the domain is connected to your store. Disconnect it from the store first; the row's Disconnect it from your store link opens the domain's Overview.

Domain status

Each domain on the Domains tab shows a status chip:

Verify DNS stays available on every row until the domain is Active — on a DNS Verified row, clicking it re-checks the certificate and promotes the domain to Active.

When a re-check fails on a domain that was already verified

A failed Verify DNS click does not take a verified domain offline. If the domain was already verified and the re-check cannot confirm your DNS this time (a momentary lookup error, or a record you changed), BillionBiz leaves the domain connected: its status chip keeps its verified state (DNS Verified or Active) instead of dropping to Failed, and no "verification failed" email is sent. In the admin you see a warning message instead of the success one: We couldn't confirm your DNS this time, but your domain is still connected. Check your DNS record and try again.

Nothing changes on the site itself, but the message means the live DNS check did not pass, so look at your record. Compare it with the values in The record to add, correct it at your domain provider, and click Verify DNS again. A domain that was never verified behaves differently: a failed check there shows the informational DNS not yet propagated — try again in a few minutes message and the domain stays Pending DNS or Failed.

"Test configuration says my DNS is correct, but the domain isn't verified"

Both things can be true at once. Test configuration reads live DNS from the internet; the status chip reflects what's confirmed in our records. A domain only becomes verified when Verify DNS runs — either because you clicked it, or because the background re-check picked it up. Until then no HTTPS certificate is issued, so the domain shows a security warning or fails to load. Press Verify DNS; if the diagnostic dialog says "Domain hasn't been verified yet", that is exactly what it's telling you.

"Test configuration shows my root domain with an Info note"

When your registrar forwards the bare root (yourdomain.com) to www.yourdomain.com, the root row is reported as healthy: Points to us correctly passes, the certificate row reads SSL not needed here — the www address carries the certificate, and an Info item under Good to know titled Root domain forwards to www — nothing to change lists the forwarding service's A records. Leave those records as they are and do not replace them with a CNAME. A root that points elsewhere with no forward to www still shows the red A-record points to the wrong IP address error.

Which target value should I use?

proxy.sites.billionbiz.store is the value to copy, and sites.billionbiz.store is accepted too. Beyond those two names, we accept any record that actually resolves to our load balancer — which covers the older proxy.sites.billionbiz.in and sites.billionbiz.in targets (they still point at the same servers) and the intermediate hostnames some registrars' ALIAS/ANAME shims use. A correctly-working record won't be rejected just because your provider spells it differently. If you are setting a record up for the first time, use the .store value.

Removing a domain

Every custom domain (not your free *.sites.billionbiz.store address, which can't be removed) has a delete icon next to its status chip. Clicking it opens a confirm dialog: "Remove <domain> from this site? This action cannot be undone." Confirming detaches the domain from your site immediately — remember to also delete the CNAME record at your domain provider, or the record will keep pointing at BillionBiz with nothing to serve it.

Next steps

• Analytics, SEO & Security — set your site's meta tags and social cards once your domain is live.
• Forms & Newsletter — start capturing leads and subscribers from your new site.