The Fascinating Domain Story Of FaceGreatness.com

The following is a true story, based on whois data.

FaceGreatness.com

The domain name was registered by Brenda Amendola on 9/20/2007 and she owned the domain until 9/21/2008 when it had reached it’s expire date. FaceGreatness.com was registered with the domain name registrar Register.com . Register.com is a know warehousing domain name registrar.

The domain FaceGreatness.com then switch to Register.com as the “owners” in whois and stayed that way until 5/20/2011 when whois switched to Register Internet LP [email protected] but the domain retained the “This domain facegreatness.com is for sale !” in whois with a link to search/purchase. This whois change may have something to do with Web.com buying Register.com in June/Aug 2010.

7/29/2011 whois record shows “Register.com” as the registrant and remained this way until 9/19/2012, 4 years after Brenda when the registrant changes to:

Registrant:
New Ventures Services
New Ventures Services
PO BOX 459
Drums, PA 18222
US
Phone: +1.9027492701
Email: [email protected]

This domain facegreatness.com is for sale !

To buy it, visit http://www.register.com/domain/searchresults.rcmx?searchOrigin=parkedPage&domain=facegreatness.com or call 1-877-865-1770

9/23/2012 whois record returns BACK to Register.com as the owners of the domain. Remember that registration date of 9/20/2007, well these registrant “changes” are showing up when the Expire Date happens each year!

This time, Register.com allows the domain name to really expire for good and the domain is removed from the registry, but caught on the drop by GoNames.ca / IntrustDomains.com (SnapNames registrar).

A Christmas Day whois record in 2012 displays the new owner of FaceGreatness.com, Brenda Amendola! She really wanted her domain back, but Registrar.com was holding it ransom for years and she didn’t want to pay the price Register was willing to sell it to her for! (my words, not hers)

Way to go Brenda! Well Brenda transfers the domain out of GoNames.ca to NamesBeyond.com but once again, the expired domain process bites Brenda on 12/9/2013. Not again…. The domain is once again removed from the registry.

Well, this time around Brenda has used either a backorder or simply hand registered the domain on 2/26/2014 at GoDaddy.com, again according to whois records .

This is where the story “could” have gotten really interesting. I tried and tried and tried to get a hold of Brenda. I sent emails, left her a voice mail but sadly never heard back from her. Let me continue the story but I will touch back on this.

Fast forward five months from being registered again to mid July 2014 and a large company secretly contacts Brenda and likely purchases the domain name from her! The domain transferred from GoDaddy.com to CSC Corporate Domains on August 5, 2014. By August 7, 2014 whois records displays who the “buyers” are.

The company was The Procter & Gamble Company, who was getting ready to use the domain name for it’s Braun brand, also using the #FaceGreatness hashtag with Super Bowl winning quarterback Russell Wilson and others for an advertising campaign.

I had seen the sponsored ad above on my Facebook page, days after P&G was shown in whois records as the owners of FaceGreatness.com

This story again is solely based on whois data records and my many years of knowledge of who and what happens with “register.com” domains.

The 2/26/2014 registration of FaceGreatness.com holds a  potential that “Brenda” didn’t really register the domain name. The story above is really amazing considering how domain names are registered, drop auctions, quick sales and so on. Brenda could have registered the domain for the 3rd time, but there is also potential that CSC Corporate Domains who registers and purchases domain names on behalf of clients, used Brendas information in whois from an old record to “hide” who was behind the 2/26/2014 registration of FaceGreatness.com . I have seen them use different names, email addresses, move domains to privacy and simply leave whois unchanged AFTER they have obtained ownership of the domain and CSC does register domains at GoDaddy. Even the Christmas Day 2012 record holds the potential Brenda really wasn’t behind the registration.

I really wish I could have talked with Brenda because this interesting domain story of FaceGreatness.com really could have been more interesting than the already amazing story via whois records it is.