Do I have to pay both my domain provider and Square to use my own domain name?

[Malibu]

I've just registered with Square and have been given two options for my domain:

Connect your domain to your Square site and continue to manage it through your domain provider. It can take up to 24 hours for this change to take effect.

Transfer your domain to Square to manage your domain and site through Square. It can take up to a week for this change to take effect.

My question is: Do I still have to pay my domain provider to register my domain as well as paying the Square annual fees for hosting my site if I continue to manage it through my domain provider, or if I transfer my domain to Square to manage both the domain and my site, is that (domain and hosting) all included in the annual fee?

[Seamus]

Hey @Malibu,

If you have a domain registered at another provider the easiest thing to do is keep it registered there and point the domain at your Square Online website. This means the domain would still be managed by the original provider and you'd continue paying for domain hosting there rather than Square Online.

Domain hosting is a separate cost to a Square Online subscription plan. If you're currently on a paid Square Online plan, regardless of if the domain is pointed or transferred your website will appear as the domain (eg www.domainname.com) in the address bar.

If you're on the free Square Online plan then customers can still reach your website via the domain (eg www.domainname.com), though with the free plan this domain would direct to your Square online site default URL (eg businessname.square.site).

Hope this helps, let me know if you have any questions!

[Malibu]

Hi Seamus,

Thanks again for responding to my questions. As I said before, my domain is only registered with the provider, it's not hosted by them and I don't wish to have it hosted by them. I just pay to have my domain name renewed every time it's due whilst we've been waiting to set up our business. The whole point of going with Square was so that I'd be able to run my entire site from Square and not have to pay for two different companies for hosting which would then make this a costly site to have. 

I also can't see how the hosting on both platforms would work or am I'm just not getting this? If I host on my domain provider it means I have to upload everything to them as well as Square and will be double the work just to have a Square website. 

If your explanation means I just continue to pay for my domain name (no hosting) and then the actual website is completely hosted by Square Online, that's what I'd be interested in, and that's what I'm trying to find out. 

Thank you so much for your patience and time. It's much appreciated.

[Seamus · Accepted solution]

Hi @Malibu,

I think there's a bit of confusion occurring here based around the word "host" and what that means. To try and put it a little more clearly:

- You domain provider (eg GoDoddy) "hosts" your domain (this is the equivalent of "my domain is only registered with the provider").

- Square Online "hosts" your actual website - the pages, text, content, images, order pages etc.

So you wouldn't be hosting a website in two places! You domain provider takes care of registering and maintaining your domain registration, Square Online takes care of hosting and managing your actual website. The word "host" is commonly used to describe both of these things - but they are different things 👍

The things that connects the two together is the process of pointing the domain from your domain host to Square online.