Free guide for shop owners
How to buy a domain on Namecheap and connect it to your website
Your domain (smithappliance.com) is your address on the internet — the website, your business email and the links in your text messages all build on it. Buying one takes about 10 minutes. Here's the purchase screen by screen, which add-ons to skip, and the one setting that connects the domain to your MeraFix website.
Which name to pick
Short, easy to say over the phone, no hyphens or numbers, and ending in .com — customers trust it and carriers treat links on it best (avoid exotic endings like .repair — text messages with such links can get filtered). Your business name, or business name + city, is the classic choice: smithappliance.com, smithappliancemiami.com. Not sure? Ask us — we'll suggest a few names that are free.
Purchase and setup, screen by screen
- 1
Search for your name
Go to namecheap.com, type the name you want into the search box and click Search.
Next to a free name you'll see Add to cart. Add the .com. If it's taken, try adding your city or trade (smithappliancemiami.com) rather than switching to an exotic ending.
Namecheap: how to register a domain - 2
Skip the add-ons
When you add the domain, Namecheap offers extras: web hosting, a PositiveSSL certificate, an email hosting trial, EasyWP, a VPN, business cards. Skip all of them — if your website runs on MeraFix, hosting and the SSL certificate (the padlock) are already included.
Click View items, then Checkout. On the Checkout page skip the “Improve Your Site” offers too.
- 3
Check the two switches on Checkout
Domain Privacy — leave it ON. Namecheap adds it free with every registration; it keeps your name, home address and phone out of the public domain records (WHOIS).
Auto-renew — turn it ON. An expired domain takes your website and email down with it. Leave PremiumDNS off — you don't need it.
Look at the renewal price shown for the domain: that's what you'll pay every year after the first.
Namecheap: free Domain Privacy - 4
Create the account and pay
Click Confirm Order. If you don't have a Namecheap account, create it on the same page — use your work email.
Pay by card and tick “Use for auto-renewal”. Automatic renewal doesn't work with PayPal — pay with a card if you want the domain to renew by itself.
Namecheap: automatic renewal - 5
Confirm your email within 15 days
Namecheap sends an email from [email protected] or [email protected] with the subject “Action required: Verify your contact information for your domain(s)”. Click the link inside.
If you don't confirm within 15 calendar days, the domain is suspended and stops working. Didn't get the email? In Domain List click Verify Contacts next to the domain to resend it.
Namecheap: contact verification - 6
Connect the domain to MeraFix
In your Namecheap account open Domain List and click Manage next to your domain.
Find the Nameservers section and choose Custom DNS from the drop-down.
Enter these two lines, one per line: malcolm.ns.cloudflare.com and paislee.ns.cloudflare.com — then click the green checkmark to save.
Tell us you've done it. We set up everything else on our side: the website, the padlock certificate, and the records for your business email.
Namecheap says a nameserver change can take up to 24–48 hours to spread. Until then the domain may not open yet — that's normal.
💡 Already use this domain for email or anything else? Before switching, send us a screenshot of the Advanced DNS tab. After the switch Namecheap no longer uses those records and doesn't copy them over — we recreate them on our side so your email keeps working.
Namecheap: point a domain to custom nameservers
Want to keep DNS at Namecheap? (only if agreed with us)
Some owners prefer to manage records themselves. It works, but then a failover to our standby server can't switch your domain automatically — agree it with us first. Steps:
Domain List → Manage → Advanced DNS. In Host Records, delete the two parking records with the trash-bin icon (URL Redirect on @ and CNAME on www → parkingpage.namecheap.com).
Add New Record: A Record · Host @ · Value 155.138.193.161 · TTL Automatic. Add New Record: CNAME Record · Host www · Value ingress.merafix.com · TTL Automatic. Save with the green icon — usually about 30 minutes to apply.
Google business email: in Mail Settings choose Custom MX and add Host @ · Value smtp.google.com · Priority 1. Then in Host Records add TXT Record · Host @ · Value v=spf1 include:_spf.google.com ~all.
Never put a CNAME record on @ — Namecheap warns it overrides your MX records and breaks email.
Namecheap: how to set up host recordsIf something goes wrong
The site doesn't open on my domain
After a nameserver change, give it up to 24–48 hours. If it's been longer, check in Domain List that Nameservers shows Custom DNS with our two lines exactly, and send us a screenshot.
The domain stopped working entirely
Most likely the contact-verification email from step 5 wasn't confirmed — Namecheap suspends unverified domains after 15 days. In Domain List click Verify Contacts, open the email, click the link.
My email broke after switching nameservers
Namecheap doesn't copy existing records to new nameservers. Send us your old records (a screenshot of Advanced DNS, if you still have it, or what your email provider asks for) and we'll add them.
I don't see Host Records in Advanced DNS
That's expected once the domain uses our nameservers — records are managed on our side. Ask us for any change you need.
I want to move the domain to another registrar
Possible, but not in the first 60 days after registration — Namecheap requires waiting at least 60 days.
This guide is general information. Namecheap's screens and prices are Namecheap's and may change. Every step above was checked against the linked Namecheap knowledge-base articles: September 2026.
Domain ready? Everything builds on it
Website, business email, text-message links — MeraFix sets up the whole customer-facing side on your new domain: a booking website with 150+ local SEO pages, a 24/7 AI receptionist, automated texting, estimates and invoices. You switch two nameservers; we set up the rest with you.