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Woo.com Acquired by WooCommerce

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This morning in my DomainTools Domain Monitor alert email, I saw a change in status for Woo.com. The domain name had been registered at Network Solutions under Whois privacy, and the domain name status changed. Woo.com is still registered at Network Solutions, but instead of Whois privacy, the domain name registrant information shows “REDACTED FOR PRIVACY (DT),” likely due to California privacy laws.

When I visited Woo.com this morning, I was forwarded to WooCommerce.com. The domain name had previously been registered to someone whose last name was Woo. WooCommerce is an open-source ecommerce plugin for WordPress. WooCommerce was acquired by Automattic, the development company that operates the WordPress platform.

How I Track My Domain Names

I saw a poll on NamePros asking visitors what tool they use to track their domain names. Domain investors can use anything from a Microsoft Excel file, to specialized domain name management tools, a parking provider management tool, their registrar’s management tool, or nothing at all in some cases.

I primarily use Microsoft Excel for my domain name management needs. I also use the GoDaddy Domain Management tool as well, but it is only helpful for domain names registered at GoDaddy.

Domain Brokers Need to Have a Website

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There are many people who call themselves domain brokers. It’s an easy business to get into, and the self-regulated nature of the business makes it pretty easy for someone to say “I am a domain broker,” without much pushback from anyone. Of course, there is a big difference between good domain brokers with experience and others who don’t have experience, but that’s a different topic.

I recently received an inquiry email from someone claiming to be a domain broker working on behalf of a buyer. Their email address used a custom domain name, and since I had never heard of the person before, I visited the domain name. I was not impressed. I didn’t respond to the email, and it was deleted.

“Catch-All” Email Pitch Leads to Losing UDRP

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I’ve heard differing opinions about setting up a catch all email for domain names owned by investors. What this means is that any email sent to any email address for that domain name will be delivered to an inbox controlled by the domain registrant. Whether emails received are typos or spam messages, everything gets delivered. I have never been a fan of doing this, and a recent UDRP loss illustrates why it can put a domain name in peril.

A UDRP was filed against Magna.CO at WIPO. The complainant, Magna International Inc.,  uses the Magna.com domain name for its website. When I saw that the Magna.CO domain name was lost in the UDRP, I was curious to see what happened. In my opinion, without considering the usage of the domain name, Magna seems like a generic term. As such, Magna.CO should conceivably be safe to own.

5 Times I Get That Tiger Woods ‘Sinking a Putt’ Feeling

I saw this tweet from Recky and could immediately relate to the feeling:

I think the tweet perfectly encapsulates the feeling I get when scoring a better deal than I expected on a domain name purchase. There are other times when I get the ‘sinking a birdie’ feeling from something related to domain names. Here are five of them:

NFT.ai From 3 Figures to 6 Figures in Less Than a Year

Someone I trust shared a swath of private .ai domain name sales with me. Among them was the six figure sale of NFT.ai. The sale price is impressive, but the ROI was even more notable. I was told that NFT.ai was acquired in an expiry auction for $100 in August of 2020. It was reportedly resold earlier this month for $105,000. The domain name was bought via Namecheap. Paying $100 for a domain name and selling it for more than $100,000 less than a year later is an eye-watering flip.