GoDaddy Payments Help

Online Pay Links error: Your domain could not be connected

If you own a domain through GoDaddy, you can connect it to Online Pay Links (a feature of GoDaddy Payments) to create a professional-looking subdomain to send to your customers, such as pay.mycoolnewbusiness.com.

If there's an issue with the domain you're connecting, you'll see the following error: Your domain could not be connected.

Generally, this can happen if the domain wasn't registered through GoDaddy, is no longer active or needs an updated CAA record. Here are some ways to fix this:

Step 1: Make sure the domain is still active and was registered through GoDaddy

Note: If your DNS is registered with an external third party, you won't be able to connect it to your account.
Currently, you can only connect domains that were registered through GoDaddy. Double-check the domain name to make sure it's in your Domain Portfolio and that it hasn't expired.

  1. Sign in to your GoDaddy Domain Portfolio. (Need help logging in? Find your username or password.)
  2. Locate the Domain Name and Expiration in the list.
  3. If the domain doesn't appear or if it has expired, you'll need to register or renew it through your GoDaddy account.
  4. Once it's active in your Domain Portfolio, try connecting the domain to Online Pay Links.

Step 2: Verify that only GoDaddy can issue SSL certificates for the domain
If your domain has a Certification Authority Authorization (CAA) that allows a certificate authority (CA) other than GoDaddy to issue SSL certificates for the domain, you'll need to edit or remove the CAA. Here's how:

  1. Sign in to your GoDaddy Domain Portfolio.
  2. Locate the Domain Name in the list.
  3. Select alt name for the image Domain Edit Options next to your domain and then select Edit DNS. You may need to scroll down to see the Edit DNS option.
  4. Locate the CAA record for the domain. You can update it to point to GoDaddy or you can remove it entirely.
    • Update the CAA record: Select screenshot of the icon for editing a dns record Edit next to the CAA record and update the fields as follows. When you're finished, select Save. DNS changes can take up to 48 hours to update globally.
      • Type: CAA
      • Name: Either @ (applies to entire domain) or pay (applies to pay subdomain only)
      • TTL: Any timeframe you prefer
      • Flag: 0
      • Tag: Issue
      • Domain: godaddy.com
      • CAA RDATA: Automatically auto-fills
    • Remove the CAA record: Select screenshot of the icon for deleting a dns record Delete next to the CAA record to delete it.
    • No CAA record appears: You don't need to change anything. If you're still unable to connect the domain, there may be another issue.
  5. Try connecting the domain to Online Pay Links.

Step 3: Contact customer support
If you've tried the steps above, and you're still not able to connect your domain, please contact us for assistance. Our GoDaddy Guides are here to help.

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