DNS & email deliverability troubleshooting

Every domain and email identity you connect on Sellerlane is checked continuously, and each check surfaces as a colour-coded status badge in Settings → Domains (the screen titled Domains and email). When a domain won’t connect, a certificate won’t issue, or branded email won’t authenticate, the badge tells you exactly which record is at fault — this page explains how to read each one and fix the underlying DNS.

Where the statuses live

Tab	What it shows
Storefront	Per-domain Status plus a Setup column summarising DNS and Certificate state.
DNS records	Every record across all domains and email identities, each with its own Status and Last checked time.
Email	Per-domain Status, a Deliverability level, and the DKIM status; the SPF, DMARC, and bounce-domain records each appear (with their own status) on the DNS records tab.

The Storefront, Email, and Sender tabs also have an Actions menu per row, and the page has Claims and Activity tabs for ownership transfers and the check history.

Hover any badge to see its full message. The colour is a quick read: green means done, blue means in progress, and amber or red means action is required.

Reading the DNS status badges

In the DNS records tab each row carries one of these:

Detected (green) — the record is live and matches what Sellerlane generated. Nothing to do.
Missing (amber) — the platform can’t find the record yet. Confirm you saved it at your registrar, in the right zone, then refresh.
Mismatch (amber) — a record with that exact name exists but its value is wrong. Usually a leftover parked-page, old-host, or duplicate record. Edit it to match the value shown.
Pending (blue) — the record hasn’t been confirmed yet. DNS is likely still propagating; give it time and refresh.
Invalid — the record exists but is malformed (for example a TXT value that didn’t paste cleanly). Re-copy the exact value and overwrite it.
Ignored — the record is no longer needed and isn’t being checked.

At the domain level (the Setup summary on the Storefront tab) you may also see Propagating — a record has been detected but is still spreading across the global DNS, so the domain isn’t fully ready yet. This clears on its own.

Common causes behind a stuck record

Most “Missing” or “Mismatch” badges trace back to one of these:

Typo in the record. A trailing space, a missing dot, or the relative vs. full name confused. Copy the Name and Value straight from the row (both are copy-to-clipboard) rather than typing them.
Wrong zone. You added the record on a subdomain or a parked DNS zone instead of the registrable domain. Confirm which zone your registrar is actually serving.
CNAME at the root. Most registrars reject a CNAME on the apex (brand.com). Use the apex A / AAAA records Sellerlane provides for the root (shown as Storefront Apex A and Storefront Apex Aaaa on the DNS records tab), and keep CNAME for www and other subdomains. If your provider supports CNAME flattening, that’s an alternative.
A CAA record blocking certificate issuance. If your domain already publishes a CAA record that doesn’t list Sellerlane’s certificate authority, the certificate can’t be issued. Add the certificate CAA record (the Certificate Caa row on the DNS records tab), or remove the conflicting CAA.
Registrar splitting long TXT records. DKIM, SPF, and verification values are long. Many registrars split them into multiple quoted strings — that is valid DNS and resolves correctly. Paste the whole value and let it wrap; don’t break it up by hand.
Slow propagation / high TTL. Changes usually take minutes but can take a few hours, especially if an old record had a long TTL. Wait and refresh rather than re-adding.

Refreshing checks

Sellerlane re-checks records on its own schedule, but you can force a check after editing DNS. The available controls are:

Refresh on a single DNS row re-checks just that record.
Refresh all DNS (button in the DNS records tab) or Refresh DNS (button in the page header) re-checks every record at once.
For email, use Actions → Refresh verification on a domain or sender row.

After you edit a record at your registrar:

Save the change at your DNS host and wait a few minutes for it to publish.
In Settings → Domains, click the relevant Refresh control above.
Wait for the DNS checks queued confirmation, then re-load the list to see the updated badge.

Certificate stuck on “Pending” or “Expiring soon”

The certificate status appears in the Setup summary on the Storefront tab:

Pending — the certificate is being issued. This is automatic and follows ownership verification; you only need to act if it stays pending for an extended time, which almost always means a CAA record is blocking issuance or the ownership / validation record still reads Missing. Fix that record, then refresh.
Active — the certificate is live and the domain serves over HTTPS.
Expiring soon / Expired — renewal is handled automatically as long as the required records stay published. If you see these, check that you didn’t remove the certificate-validation or storefront records — renewal needs them. Re-add anything missing and the domain renews on its own.
Failed — issuance was rejected. The usual cause is a CAA record; add the certificate CAA record (the Certificate Caa row on the DNS records tab) and refresh.

If a previously connected domain regresses (a record was removed, a certificate lapsed), it moves to Needs attention on the Storefront tab and the row is flagged. Use Refresh DNS to re-run the check once you’ve fixed the record.

Email authentication: DKIM, SPF, DMARC

The Email tab surfaces the DKIM status next to each domain’s Deliverability level. The SPF, DMARC, and bounce-domain records each appear on the DNS records tab with their own status. Like every DNS check, each can read Valid, Missing, Mismatch, Pending, or Failed.

DKIM “Missing” — the DKIM record isn’t published yet. It’s the one required record for branded sending. Confirm you added it on the registrable domain (brand.com), not a subdomain, and refresh.
DKIM “Mismatch” — a DKIM record exists but its value doesn’t match what Sellerlane expects. An old or partially-pasted value is the usual cause. Re-copy the exact value from the DNS records tab and overwrite the record. (The DKIM status itself is shown next to the domain on the Email tab.)
SPF “Mismatch” — your domain already has an SPF record and the sending service isn’t authorised in it. SPF allows only one record per domain, so merge Sellerlane’s include into your existing SPF rather than adding a second one. The SPF record is the Email Spf row on the DNS records tab.
DMARC “Missing” — DMARC is recommended, not strictly required to send. Add the DMARC record (the Email Dmarc row on the DNS records tab) to tell receivers how to handle unaligned mail.

Bounce domain not validating

A custom bounce domain (bounce.brand.com) adds its own MX and SPF records. If the bounce-domain status won’t go Valid:

Confirm both bounce-domain records are published — the Email Bounce Domain Mx and Email Bounce Domain Spf rows on the DNS records tab.
The bounce domain sits on a bounce subdomain — make sure the records are on that subdomain, not the apex.

You can always fall back: a custom bounce domain is an upgrade, not a requirement. Mail still sends on the platform bounce domain while you sort the records out.

Senders “stuck pending”

A sender or domain shows Pending while its records propagate. Verification re-runs automatically, but Actions → Refresh verification re-checks sooner. If a sender stays pending well after the records read Valid in the DNS records tab, refresh the sender itself — the domain authentication and the per-sender authorisation are tracked separately.

Use the platform fallback while you fix records

You’re never blocked from sending or serving while DNS is being sorted out:

Storefront: the free yourstore.sellerlane.io (and any platform subdomain) keeps serving your store while a custom domain verifies. Make the platform domain primary if you need a stable public URL in the meantime.
Email: until a sender is verified, mail goes from Sellerlane’s shared, pre-warmed sending domain — the Platform fallback deliverability level. It’s DKIM-signed and SPF-aligned, so your mail still lands; it just isn’t branded. Each sender purpose falls back independently, so you can migrate one purpose at a time and leave the rest on the fallback until their records verify.

The Deliverability column climbs as you authenticate: Not ready → Platform fallback → Email address verified → Domain DKIM → Domain DKIM and custom bounce domain. Aim for at least Domain DKIM.

Provider-specific notes

Cloudflare. If you proxy DNS (the orange cloud), set the storefront and verification records to DNS only during setup so the platform can validate them and issue the certificate. Cloudflare also flattens CNAMEs at the root, which can work for the apex.
GoDaddy / Namecheap / Hostinger. These split long TXT values into multiple strings — expected and fine. Watch for an auto-appended domain suffix on the Name field; if the tool adds your domain automatically, enter only the relative name.

Still stuck?

If a record reads Detected / Valid everywhere but the domain or sender still won’t go live, or a claim/ownership step is involved, gather the affected domain and the record statuses and reach out via Contact support.

Next steps

Custom domains

Connect a storefront domain or platform subdomain — Custom domains.

Email & deliverability

Authenticate branded sending with DKIM, SPF, and DMARC — Email & deliverability.

Domain transfers & claims

Move a domain between stores — Domain transfers and claims.

Go live

Finish launch once your domain is connected — Go live.