Add singular to existing plural generic domain? Cost/benefit?

[workingtechnology]

Hi,

I wonder if anyone could provide any thoughts on this subject.

We already own the plural of single word generic term that describes our product area.

However the singular form has come to the market and been offered to us, but the price is quite high (four zero's). Ironically it would likely not have such value if it wasn't for our work on the plural version of the domain.

The product area is a little bit niche but still reasonably applicable to a good sized market.

I could probably be likened to the relationship between example.com and example#.com (not the domains in question).

We've built the current site over 10 years and it now has fantastic position within the SERPs. I am concerned that someone could aggressively develop the singular form and take away some of our traffic and add confusion to potential and previous customers.

In a way I would rather spend the money (not that I'd planned to spend it at all!) on another single word domain that complimented what we already had and offered usable value.

Has anyone else had a similar dilemma and how did it work out for you? Ultimately it's about brand protection and it's a lot of money to spend just to take something off the market based on speculated outcomes.

Thanks.

[edited by: Webwork at 11:47 pm (utc) on Aug. 15, 2009]
[edit reason] We prefer to use Example.com since it can never be owned [/edit]

[IanTurner]

If you can afford to buy it, do so - the investment may not repay itself in the first few years but it will be a long term asset to the company.

You could always ask the seller to provide traffic stats (preferably verified by a third party - such as one of the domain auction houses) for type ins and see how this stacks up for you in terms of an ROI.

Also don't necessarily pay the asking price straight off - make a counter offer.

[IanTurner]

I had a similar position when someone offered to sell me the .com of a developed .co.uk site (the .com had been in use in Japan prior to this and foolishly I hadn't seen the expiry so couldn't get it that way.)

I negotiated on the price and bought the domain.

[workingtechnology]

Thanks Ian,

I can see the advantage, but in terms of ROI this is very difficult to measure as I'm essentially paying to take it out of harms way.

While the domain has been registered for a while it hasn't been used so has little appreciable traffic I can benefit from.

While a memorable domain name is a benefit, someone could very likely do similar damage to us with countless other domains with the right content.

I can see a few hours lost sleep on this one!

[IanTurner]

The domain may well have type in traffic, most generic single word domains will have some from people just typing in example.com to the address bar.

Also there will be type in traffic from people who may have seen your site and want to go back to it and forget that your name is the plural (more likely if the plural is just an additional s rather than a variant of the word).

You also have to consider that the domain itself is an asset to your company and will retain its value long term (unless it is an item that is likely to become obsolete e.g. sata drive)

[Disco Legend Zeke]

I have found that many offers to sell me the singular or unhyphenated version of my domain names are from guys that did not buy the domain name, but will buy it if you express any interest.

If i feel the new domain is worthwhile, i just wait till it falls out of the registry (usually exactly 40 days to the second after expiration) and then register it myself at normal prices.

There are also services that will attempt to do the same thing for you automatically, i have never tried one of them, but the price is fairly low. It is rather like getting a rare campsite or concert ticket, you must submit the request after deletion, but before anyone else trying to buy.

If it is an extremely good single word, and owned by someone, you may have no choice but to pay the price if you want it.