Domain Seller

[superdav42]

From original roadmap
The ability to sell domains to your customers right at the registration form or at a later stage, with OpenSRS, GoDaddy, and Namecheap as supported registrars.

Would really love to see this sooner than later! Hoping the new community fork will allow us to plug all the other leaky holes in the plugin while expanding the codebase with new features like this. We have a great community of devs with this code currently in use on production sites - we should be able to eat, walk, and chew gum at the same time if everyone chips in and contributes what they’re able! 🫶🏼

[mredodos]

I think that before this, there are quite a few other things to fix. Basically, the entire code needs to be reviewed, optimized, bugs resolved, and unnecessary features removed. Just my 2 cents.

[macbaydigital]

I’d like to break this enhancement down into two milestones:

1. Integrate a Domain Availability Checker

The domain checker by WP24 works extremely well, especially for WaaS setups using WooCommerce for selling sub-sites. The checker allows users to not only check the availability of a domain, but also to initiate the "registration" of a new domain or the "transfer" of an existing one. The domain name is then added as custom meta to the WooCommerce order and displayed in the WooCommerce checkout. AFAIK it supports HPOS set-ups too. After the purchase, the sales/support team can be notified about the domain request, allowing them to manually register a new domain and assign it to the sub-site.

In previous versions of WP Ultimo, it was not possible to integrate the WP24 domain-checker shortcode into the checkout form, or at least the checker did not render correctly. However, I would consider the deployment of the checker to be less complex compared to implementing a fully automated domain registration solution, so this could serve as a viable intermediate solution.

That said, since the domain registration/transfer functionality requires WooCommerce, and the current WooCommerce integration does not fully align with the user dashboard (i.e., the WP Ultimo User Dashboard vs. the WooCommerce My Account page), it may be beneficial to first explore how to better integrate the new WPMU WaaS Dashboard with the WooCommerce My Account pages.

2. Automate Domain Registration & Transfer via Registrar API

To further streamline the domain ordering process, WPMU WaaS should support an API integration with domain registrars, allowing WaaS providers to automatically register new domains or initiate transfers upon checkout.

Key Features & Workflow

• After checkout, the system should automatically send the domain registration or transfer request to the configured registrar API, using the reseller’s account credentials.
• The system should check whether the customer’s contact details (handle) already exist in the registrar’s database:
  -- If the handle exists, a confirmation message should be returned, allowing the user to either proceed with the existing handle or update their details if needed.
  -- If no handle exists, a new one should be created based on the customer’s provided contact details and linked to the domain.
• The domain should then be automatically assigned to the corresponding sub-site.

Additional Considerations

• Domain as a New Product Type in WP Ultimo?
  -- Should domains be introduced as a new product category within WPMU WaaS, where different TLDs (e.g., .com, .net, .org) can be offered as variations?
  -- Currently, none of the existing product types ("Plan," "Package," or "Service") support such variations—they are only suited for time-based options.
  -- Would it be easier to extend the "Plan" type to accommodate domain purchases, or should a dedicated "Domain" product type be created?

• DNS Zone Management for Email Setup
  -- Should we provide an option for customers to easily configure DNS records to support email setup on their new domain?
  -- Email hosting is a complex topic, but it’s an essential consideration when selling domains.
  -- A guided setup or pre-configured DNS templates could help users manage MX, SPF, DKIM, and DMARC records for email functionality.

By addressing these aspects, WPMU WaaS could provide a seamless domain purchasing experience while considering future scalability and additional services like email hosting.

Looking forward to hearing your feedback on this idea