Transferring a domain from Squarespace to Shopify takes about five to seven days and involves unlocking the domain, getting an authorization code, and initiating the transfer from your Shopify admin. The process is straightforward, but a few timing rules and DNS details can trip you up if you’re not prepared.
Before You Start: Eligibility Requirements
ICANN, the organization that governs domain registrations, enforces a 60-day lock after certain events. Your transfer will be denied if any of these apply:
- New registration: The domain was registered less than 60 days ago.
- Recent registrant changes: You updated the domain owner’s name, organization, or email address within the last 60 days. This triggers a “Change of Registrant” lock.
- Recent transfer: The domain was transferred to Squarespace from another registrar less than 60 days ago.
If any of those apply, wait until the 60-day window passes. You can still launch your Shopify store in the meantime by connecting the domain without transferring it (more on that below).
Step 1: Unlock the Domain in Squarespace
Every domain registrar locks domains by default to prevent unauthorized transfers. You need to turn that off before Shopify can accept the domain.
In Squarespace, open your domains dashboard and click the domain you want to move. Scroll down and switch the Domain Lock toggle off. Then click “Request transfer code.” You’ll need to re-enter your password or complete two-factor authentication if you have it enabled.
After you confirm, Squarespace sends an authorization code (sometimes called an EPP code or auth code) to the email address listed in your domain’s contact information. The email comes from customercare@squarespace.com with the subject line “Auth code for [yourdomain.com].” It can take up to 24 hours to arrive, though it usually shows up much faster. Check your spam folder if you don’t see it.
Step 2: Save Your DNS Records
When a domain transfers to a new registrar, the DNS records that control where your email, website traffic, and other services point can be overwritten or lost. If you use Google Workspace, Microsoft 365, or any other email service tied to this domain, this step is critical.
Before starting the transfer, log into Squarespace and navigate to your domain’s DNS settings. Copy every record you see, especially MX records (which route your email) and any TXT records (which handle email authentication and domain verification). Paste them into a document you can reference later. You’ll re-enter these records in Shopify once the transfer completes.
Skipping this step won’t break anything permanently, but it can cause email delivery to stop working until you manually add the records back. If your domain only points to a website and you don’t use custom email, you can skip this.
Step 3: Initiate the Transfer in Shopify
In your Shopify admin, go to Settings, then Domains, and select “Transfer domain.” Enter your domain name and the authorization code you received from Squarespace.
Shopify requires a one-year domain renewal as part of the transfer. This is an ICANN requirement, not a Shopify-specific fee. The renewal cost extends your domain’s registration by 12 months from its current expiration date, so you’re not losing any time you’ve already paid for. If the transfer fails for any reason, Shopify refunds the renewal charge.
Step 4: Approve the Transfer
After you submit the transfer request in Shopify, ICANN’s process kicks in. You may receive a confirmation email asking you to approve the transfer. Click the approval link to speed things up. If you don’t respond, most transfers will still go through automatically after a waiting period, but confirming it keeps things moving.
The full transfer typically takes five to seven days. During this time, your domain continues to work normally. Visitors to your site and people sending you email won’t notice anything happening behind the scenes.
Step 5: Verify DNS After the Transfer
Once the transfer completes, your domain now lives in Shopify’s system. Shopify automatically configures the records needed to point the domain to your Shopify store. However, if you had custom DNS records for email or other services, you need to add those back manually.
Go to Settings, then Domains in your Shopify admin. Click on the transferred domain and look for the DNS settings. Add back the MX records, TXT records, and any other entries you saved earlier. Changes to DNS records can take up to 48 hours to fully propagate, so don’t panic if email takes a little while to start working again.
Connecting Without Transferring
You don’t have to transfer the domain to use it with Shopify. The alternative is to keep the domain registered at Squarespace and simply point it to your Shopify store by updating the DNS records. This approach makes sense if your domain is still within the 60-day lock period, if you prefer managing your domain separately from your store, or if you just want to get your Shopify site live quickly.
To connect without transferring, you’ll update two things in your Squarespace DNS settings: add an A record pointing to Shopify’s IP address, and add a CNAME record for the “www” version of your domain. Shopify’s domain setup page shows you exactly which values to enter. The downside is that you’ll continue renewing and managing the domain through Squarespace, which means logging into two platforms instead of one.
A full transfer consolidates everything in Shopify, so you renew your domain, manage DNS, and run your store from a single dashboard. For most store owners, that simplicity is worth the few days the transfer takes.