This Week in M&A Issue #258

Walmart Marketplace sellers can now access Walmart-negotiated shipping rates directly through ShipStation, giving them a new way to cut fulfillment costs without changing how they manage orders.

The new Ship with Walmart integration lets sellers purchase eligible Walmart shipping labels alongside their existing carrier accounts. They can also manage Walmart orders in the same ShipStation account as orders from Amazon, TikTok Shop, Shopify, eBay, and other channels.

The biggest draw may be the potential savings. Walmart says its negotiated rates can save sellers up to 60% compared with market rates, although the actual discount depends on the shipment and service. Walmart says standard services within its carrier network average around 55% below market rates.

Sellers also get added protection on eligible shipments. Orders shipped on time can qualify for up to $100 in lost-package protection, with Walmart handling the customer refund and carrier claim when a package is eligible. ShipStation can also recommend carrier and service options based on the seller’s delivery promise, while bulk label purchasing can speed up fulfillment.

The move comes as Walmart Marketplace continues to grow. Walmart said marketplace sales were up 20% earlier this year, with some categories growing more than 30%. The retailer has also expanded its seller base and now carries hundreds of millions of SKUs.

For sellers already using ShipStation, the integration makes Walmart’s shipping rates and protections available without adding another fulfillment workflow.

The service is currently available for U.S. domestic shipments.

The latest AI-related buying frenzy is happening around a domain extension that has nothing to do with artificial intelligence.

Demand for Slovenia’s .si domain names surged 2,199% in September, with around 44,000 registrations compared with fewer than 2,000 in August, according to Registry SI.

The spike followed President Donald Trump’s push to replace “artificial intelligence” with “super intelligence,” or “SI.” Trump first teased the change on September 19, followed by an executive order on September 29 directing US federal agencies to use the new terminology.

Registrations jumped to 11,000 on September 30, with nearly 20,000 more recorded during the first two days of October.

Domain buyers are rushing to register .si names while they are still relatively inexpensive and can potentially sell them later if demand continues.

Hostinger said .si became its second-most popular domain extension after .com. More than half of its recent .si registrations came from buyers in the US and India.

Interestingly, only about 3% of those domains were explicitly related to AI, suggesting much of the activity is speculative rather than companies building around the new terminology.

This looks similar to the earlier rush for .ai domains, which turned Anguilla’s country-code extension into a major source of revenue as AI companies began adopting it. But Slovenia is unlikely to see the same financial impact.

A .si domain costs roughly $12 per year through Hostinger, while .ai can cost around $90 per year and requires a two-year commitment. More importantly, Slovenia’s domain fees go to the registry rather than directly to the government.

For now, .si looks less like a replacement for .ai and more like a cheaper second option for companies, founders, and domain investors betting that “super intelligence” sticks around.