Kestrel acquires seven Barn2 plugins!

We are thrilled to share some big news with you all: our friends at Kestrel have acquired seven of our beloved plugins here at Barn2.

Kestrel is a new venture by the former co-founders of SkyVerge (now part of GoDaddy), creators of some of the most popular WooCommerce extensions like WooCommerce Memberships. Kestrel products help Woo stores grow and sell the way they want, with no compromises. The plugins that Kestrel is acquiring from Barn2 are a welcome addition to their growing suite.

The plugins joining the Kestrel family are:

• WooCommerce Variation Prices - Gives store owners full control over the display of variable product prices.
• WooCommerce Express Shop Page - Supercharges your main shop pages by allowing customers to select quantities and variations directly - no need to visit individual product pages.
• WooCommerce Shipping Calculator - Allow customers to view shipping costs for their location exactly where they want it - on the product page. No more abandoned carts from customers adding products just to check the shipping cost!
• WooCommerce Product Sample - Boost sales by allowing customers to order free or paid samples of your products, and then send reminders to purchase the full version.
• WooCommerce Discontinued Products - The only plugin that lets you manage end-of-life products while maintaining their SEO value.
• Plus the free plugins WooCommerce Custom Add to Cart Button and Better Recent Comments.

This strategic move marks a significant milestone for both Barn2 Plugins and Kestrel. Keep reading to learn all about the change and what it means for you.

Why are Barn2 selling 7 of their plugins?

Now, you might wonder: Why the change? 🤔

Since we started selling plugins in 2016, we have enjoyed developing new ideas whenever we saw a gap in the market - particularly the WooCommerce market. I love the fact that when you’re as immersed in WooCommerce as we are, it’s easy to discover opportunities for new products that will help store owners to grow their success more and more.

Before we knew it, we got to the stage where we had 24 premium and 7 free plugins. That’s a lot for a small company!

While we’ve worked hard to continue maintaining and adding features to all of the plugins, it makes sense to put the most resources into the plugins which have the biggest user base and which fit best with our other plugins.

As a result, in early 2024 we made a team decision that we should sell some of our plugins to a company who will give them the attention they deserve so that we can concentrate our efforts on providing even greater value and support for our remaining suite of plugins.

What about existing customers?

If you're already using any of the plugins being sold, then I want to assure you that your experience with these plugins will only get better. The people behind Kestrel are renowned for their commitment to excellence, unwavering support, and dedication to enhancing user experience. They will continue to provide full support and future updates for these plugins.

For existing annual subscribers and lifetime customers, your investment in these plugins will remain as valuable as ever. As part of the acquisition agreement, we have guaranteed that existing annual and lifetime customers will continue to receive full support, updates and maintenance.

Here are some details of how this will work:

• Customers who purchased the plugins from Barn2 can access support and updates from Kestrel for as long as their license key remains active.
• If you have an existing annual subscription then future renewal payments will continue to be taken as usual.
• If you upgrade or change your plan in future then you can do this on the Kestrel website.
• If you have cancelled your annual subscription and choose to renew manually in future then you will do this directly with Kestrel.
• About one-in-five of the customers using these plugins bought them as part of a 2-plugin bundle with one of our other plugins. Since these bundles will no longer exist, we have arranged for you to continue getting the deal as follows:
  • We will reduce the cost of your annual subscription renewal so that it only covers the main plugin.
  • We will send you a discount code so that you can purchase a new license key for the second plugin at 50% discount for the first year. You won't need to do this until your current license key expires.
• Since they will no longer be part of the Barn2 suite, the 5 premium plugins will unfortunately no longer be available in our All Access Pass. If you have an All Access Pass then we recommend that you download the current version of these plugins from your Account immediately. If you don’t do this then anyone who held a valid All Access Pass on 1 March 2024 can contact us to request the final version from before the acquisition.

What’s next?

This acquisition signifies a new chapter of growth and innovation for both Barn2 and Kestrel.

I’m excited to see the plugins continue to thrive under Kestrel’s capable leadership. I’m equally excited to be freeing up resources to continue improving and perfecting our remaining plugins.

We deeply appreciate your trust and loyalty - thank you for being part of this exciting journey 🚀