[intro]EKM Domains is where you can purchase and manage domains and email addresses. You can only open an EKM Domains account if you have an Obodo shop account. [/intro]

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You can open an EKM Domains account to purchase domains and email addresses from directly from your Obodo shop. Purchasing your domain and emails from EKM Domains means that if there are any issues, our Customer Support Team will be able to investigate them for you. If you purchase your domain and emails from a different provider, you can still point the domain to your Obodo shop, however, if there are any problems with them, you will need to contact the provider yourself. 

Opening your EKM Domains account

1. Log into your Obodo shop and click the Settings tab:

2. Click Domain Name:

3. Click Signup:

4. The field will automatically be populated with the Account ID for your Obodo shop. Click the green Signup button:

5. Click the green Log In button:

6. You’ll then see the EKM Domains dashboard:

Cancelling your EKM Domains account

If for whatever reason, you’d like to cancel your EKM Domains account, the procedure will differ according to what you services you have added to the account.

Domains

1. Technically, domains cannot be cancelled with immediate effect; when the domain name is purchased it will have a specific period of time attached to it before it will need to be renewed again. On the EKM Domains platform, this is typically one year. With this in mind, you can prevent the domain name from renewing by logging into your EKM Domains account and clicking the Domains icon:


2. You’ll then see your domain listed with the Renewal and Expiry dates, and you’ll notice in this case that Auto Renew is on. This means that on the 3rd February 2019, my domain will renew for another twelve months. To turn off Auto Renew, click the domain button on the far right:

3. Then click the Renewal Settings button on the bottom left:

4. Tick the box for Auto-Renewal Off and then click the Save button:

5. This action will prevent your domain from renewing. You can leave your domain pointed at your EKM online shop for this period of time. If you cancel your EKM online shop too, the domain will automatically point to a default holding page. You will receive up to three emails on or around the renewal date, advising you that there is still time to renew the domain. If you still do not wish to renew the domain, simply ignore these emails.

SSL Certificates

Like domains, SSL Certificates have an expiry date too. You can see the expiry date of your SSL Certificate by logging into your EKM Domains account and clicking the SSL icon. SSL Certificates cannot be cancelled however you can simply let them expire, as above with a domain name.

Emails

To cancel any email accounts set up on your EKM Domains account, you will first need to save any emails you’d like to keep on your computer, before contacting the Customer Support Team. They will be able to cancel the email accounts for you and ensure you are not billed for this service in the future.

FAQs

Q1. I have just purchased my domain and when I test it in my browser, it does not take me to my Obodo shop. Why?

When you purchase a domain or make any changes to the settings of the domain, you have to allow between 24-36 hours for propagation. Therefore, if you purchased the domain and pointed it at your Obodo shop today, you will need to wait for propagation to occur before your domain successfully displays your Obodo shop.

Q2. I have transferred my domain to EKM Domains from another provider several days ago, however, the domain is still not pointing correctly. Why is this?

When you transfer a domain from one provider to another, the settings that the domain had on it with its previous provider are sometimes transferred over too. Please contact the Customer Support Team and they will be able to help you correct the settings on your EKM domain.

Q3. When I type my domain name into a search engine, my Obodo shop does not display in the results. Why is this?

This is because it can take search engines between 6 and 8 weeks to crawl your EKM online shop. You can speed up this process by submitting your shop details to Google and creating a strong social media presence, which will create lots of links which point to your Obodo shop. This will help you be more visible in searches for keywords other than your own domain name too.

Q4. My domain was working fine yesterday, however, when I have checked this morning it is not working and I’m losing custom!

There are two common answers to this question. Firstly, you need to log into your Obodo shop and from there, log into your EKM Domains account. Click the Billing icon on the top right and if one of the blue buttons to the right of the screen reads ‘Pay’, you need to settle the payment by pressing that button.

This is usually caused when a change in credit/debit card has not been updated on your EKM Domains account and the renewal fee on your domain was due.

The EKM Domains platform will send you emails to inform you that a payment is overdue. If your email address on the Details page is correct, you need to ensure that any payment reminder emails from EKM Domains are on your email white list to prevent them being accidentally sorted into spam folders. Once the payment has been made, your domain will display normally within 8-12 hours.

However, if the issue is not due to an outstanding payment on your EKM Domains account, it may be an issue with ICANN. If you have recently changed your address or contact details on your domain, you will receive an email from ICANN, who are independent of EKM Domains. ICANN monitor and effectively police domain names and ensure that the contact details on them are correct. You can read more about ICANN by clicking here.

Take note of your email address and log into it. Search for ‘ICANN’ within your email inbox, and don’t forget to search your junk/spam folder too. You are looking for a plain text email from ICANN - at this point, you may have had several - which includes a link for you to click and confirm the contact details on your domain. If you find the email, click the link within it and your domain will be displaying normally within 24-36 hours. However, if you cannot locate that email, please contact our Customer Support Team who will be able to request that another ICANN email is sent to you to action.

Q5. My website is down- when I try to visit it via the domain name it does not work!

Log into your Obodo shop in the usual manner. If you can log into your Obodo shop as normal then there is not an issue with the shop, this issue lies with the domain itself. See Q1 or Q4 above.

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[contact]If you need our help with your Obodo shop, contact our Customer Support Team, who will be able to point you in the right direction. We're open from 8am-6pm weekdays and 9am-5.30pm on the weekends. If you have a non-account specific question ask the Obodo Team, join us in the Obodo Community on Facebook. [/contact]