Do You Need a Domain, a Website, and Shopify for Your Candle Business?

Short answer: you almost certainly do not need to pay for a separate website builder and Shopify at the same time. A domain, a website platform, and an ecommerce platform like Shopify are three different things, and a lot of new makers end up paying for all three by accident. Let me break down what each one actually does so you can figure out what you really need and stop any extra money from going out the door.

This comes up a lot. Someone signs up for a domain through one company, signs up for Shopify to sell, and then sees two charges hitting their card every month and panics. Nothing is broken. It is just that the pieces got stacked on top of each other. My husband Chad and I hit the same confusion when we set up garsnettbeacon.com in the early days, so I promise you are not the only one.

The three pieces, in plain English

Think of your online store like a physical shop. There are three separate things you might be paying for, and it helps to keep them straight.

1. Your domain. This is your address, like garsnettbeacon.com. It is what people type in to find you. A domain is almost always billed once a year, and it is cheap, usually somewhere around 12 to 20 dollars for the whole year. You buy it once, you renew it once a year, and that is it. If you are seeing a monthly charge for something labeled as a domain, something else got bundled in with it.

2. Your website or hosting platform. This is the actual building, the thing that displays your pages. Squarespace is a website builder. Shopify is also a website builder, but one that is built specifically for selling products. This is where most of the double paying happens, because Squarespace and Shopify can both be your website. You usually only need one of them to be your store.

3. Your ecommerce platform. This is your cash register, the part that takes orders and payments and tracks inventory. With Shopify this is baked in, so Shopify is both your website and your checkout in one. That is exactly why, for most candle makers, we point people to Shopify. You can read our full take on platforms in Etsy vs Shopify, and everything a candle site should have in 10 must-haves for a candle website that converts.

Do you need Squarespace and Shopify? Usually not.

Here is the part that saves people money. If Shopify is your store, you do not also need to pay Squarespace to host a second website. Pick one platform to be your actual storefront. For a candle business selling physical products that wants simple shipping, inventory, and checkout, Shopify is the one we use and recommend. Squarespace is lovely for a brochure site or a blog, but you do not need both running at once when you are just starting out and watching every dollar.

The domain is the piece that trips everyone up, because you can buy your domain from Squarespace, from Shopify, or from a standalone registrar, and then point it at whichever store you choose. The domain and the store do not have to come from the same company. So you can absolutely keep a domain you already bought and simply connect it to Shopify.

What it actually costs

Real numbers, so you know what normal looks like:

• Domain: about 12 to 20 dollars per year, billed annually.
• Shopify: the Basic plan runs around 39 dollars a month, and less if you pay for the year up front. That includes your website, your checkout, and your inventory.
• Squarespace: roughly 16 to 23 dollars a month if you use it as your site. Worth it only if it is your one and only platform, not a second one stacked on top of Shopify.

So if you are seeing something like 26 dollars a month for Squarespace plus 41 dollars a month for Shopify, that is two full website platforms running side by side. That is the bleeding you want to stop.

How to stop the bleeding

1. Pull up both invoices. Log into each account and look at exactly what you are being billed for. Monthly charges you thought were annual usually mean an add-on got selected during signup.
2. Decide which platform is your store. For most candle makers, that is Shopify. Commit to one.
3. Cancel the overlap. If Shopify is your store and you are also paying for a full Squarespace site you are not using, cancel the Squarespace plan. Keep only the domain if your domain happens to live there.
4. Point your domain at your store. Connect the domain you are keeping to Shopify. Both platforms walk you through this in their settings, and it usually takes a few minutes.

When Chad and I were starting out, every subscription felt like it mattered, and it did. Trimming one unnecessary monthly platform is the kind of quiet win that keeps your candle business lean while you are still figuring out what sells.

Quick questions makers also ask

Can I just buy a domain and skip the website for now?

You can own a domain without a live store, but a domain by itself does not sell anything. It is only the address. If you want to take orders, you need a platform like Shopify connected to it. If you are not ready to sell yet, you can park the domain and build the store later.

Where should I buy my domain?

It honestly does not matter much. You can buy it right inside Shopify so everything lives in one place, or through a standalone registrar. Buying it through your store platform is the simplest path when you are starting, because there is nothing to connect by hand.

Is Squarespace ever the right choice for a candle business?

Sure, if it is your single platform and you like the way it looks and works. The mistake is running it and Shopify together. One store, one monthly bill, plus your annual domain. That is all you need.

If you want the full walkthrough of setting things up the right way from day one, our free 10 step guide to starting a candle business lays it out, and you can see the rest of the tools we actually pay for in the tools and software we use to run our candle business. And if you just want a human to sanity check your setup, come ask in our free Facebook group. Somebody there has made the exact same mistake and already fixed it.