Premium Feature | Available to US-Based Platinum & Diamond Plan Sellers
A custom domain lets customers visit your Big Cartel shop at your own web address, like yourshop.com, instead of your default yourshop.bigcartel.com address.
Custom domains make your shop easier to share, easier to remember, and more connected to your brand.
What is a custom domain?
A custom domain is a web address that you own and connect to your Big Cartel shop.
For example:
- Your Big Cartel URL: yourshop.bigcartel.com
- Your custom domain: www.yourshop.com
Once your custom domain is connected, customers can use your custom domain to visit your shop.
Your original yourshop.bigcartel.com URL will still exist in the background. That’s normal — it stays connected to your shop even after your custom domain is live.
Buy a domain
If you don’t already own a domain, you can buy one while setting up your custom domain in Big Cartel.
- Go to Shop settings to the Shop domains section.
- Select + Add a custom domain.
- Choose the option to buy a new domain.
- Follow the prompts to search for and purchase your domain.
After purchase, you’ll be redirected back to Big Cartel. In many cases, your domain will connect automatically.
Connect a domain you already own
If you already bought a domain from a provider like GoDaddy, Squarespace Domains, Namecheap, Cloudflare, Porkbun, Hover, IONOS, Hostinger, Bluehost, or DreamHost, you can connect it to your Big Cartel shop.
Start in Big Cartel:
- Go to Shop settings to the Shop domains section.
- Select + Add a custom domain.
- Choose Connect a domain you already own.
- Enter your domain name.
- Follow the setup steps shown in Big Cartel.
Depending on your domain provider, you may be offered automatic setup. If automatic setup isn’t available, you’ll need to update your domain’s DNS settings manually.
Protips on selecting a domain name
- Keep it short, unique and memorable.
- Stick with top level domain extensions like .com unless an extension like .shop really works well.
- Avoid numbers and special characters - it’s more difficult to remember those.
- Make sure it matches your brand and use relevant keywords - again it should be easy and memorable.
- Research your domain name so you avoid any trademark or branding issues down the road.
Requirements
Before connecting a custom domain, make sure:
- Your Big Cartel plan includes custom domains.
- You own the domain you want to connect.
- You can sign in to your domain provider account.
- Your domain is active and not expired.
- Your domain is not locked because of a recent transfer, ownership change, or verification issue.
- You can edit DNS records or domain forwarding settings at your domain provider.
If you recently bought or transferred your domain, your provider may require extra verification before DNS changes work.
Before you begin
A standard Big Cartel custom domain setup usually has two parts:
- Point www to your Big Cartel shop using a CNAME record.
- Redirect the root domain to www so visitors who type yourshop.com end up at www.yourshop.com.
These are separate steps.
That means your www version might work before your root domain works. For example, www.yourshop.com may load your shop while yourshop.com still shows an old site, an error, or a “not secure” warning.
If your domain was previously connected to another website — like Square, Squarespace, Wix, Shopify, Hostinger, or another host — remove old records that point to that service before adding the Big Cartel records.
What you’ll need from Big Cartel
When connecting a domain manually, Big Cartel will ask you to use your shop’s Big Cartel URL as the DNS target.
That usually looks like:
yourshop.bigcartel.com
Do not include http:// or https:// in the DNS value.
Next steps
Once you understand the basics, follow Setting Up Your Custom Domain for automatic setup, manual setup, DNS records, and setup timing.