WristletPurses.com Vs. WristletPurse.com

I was bidding on two domain names this week on Snapnames – WristletPurses.com Vs. WristletPurse.com.   Both domain names had relatively little bidding until the final day. WristletPurse.com ended a couple of days ago and WristletPurses.com ended today.

Neither domain name was especially interesting to me, but it’s a product (and a plural) so I figured they’d probably be worth a couple hundred dollars or more to someone.   I locked in both bids, and I wasn’t surprised when I was outbid on WristletPurse.com. I was very surprised when I saw the final price was $1,450.

With the singular auction done, I figured I didn’t have a chance at the plural, so I left for the airport without even looking at my Snapnames account. I logged onto the Wifi network on Delta, and I was even more surprised to see that I was the winning bidder on WristletPurses.com for under $100.

Doing some quick research, here’s a brief comparison of the two terms:

Wristlet Purse – 33,600 Google results (lots of advertisers)
Wristlet Purses – 40,300 Google results (lots of advertisers)

Wristlet Purse – 3,300 Google exact match monthly searches (US)
Wristlet Purses – 720 Google exact match monthly searches (US)

Clearly, people are searching more for the singular but in my opinion, it doesn’t really justify such a huge price differential. When I see a name sell for over $1,000, I know there has to be a pretty good reason. However, I don’t understand the reason for such disparity between the two domain names.

What are your thoughts on the price differential for these domain names?

Elliot Silver
Elliot Silver
About The Author: Elliot Silver is an Internet entrepreneur and publisher of DomainInvesting.com. Elliot is also the founder and President of Top Notch Domains, LLC, a company that has closed eight figures in deals. Please read the DomainInvesting.com Terms of Use page for additional information about the publisher, website comment policy, disclosures, and conflicts of interest. Reach out to Elliot: Twitter | Facebook | LinkedIn

22 COMMENTS

  1. In this case, the singular has significantly more search volume but I think you got a much better deal.

    It’s unlikely either will receive much type in traffic so development will be necessary to bring out the potential in both domains. From a development standpoint, I don’t feel the singular version will have that much of an advantage over the plural in terms of an “exact match” keyword bonus for the term “wristlet purse.” You can have a fully developed site for the same price as they paid for the singular version.

    I also think the plural looks and sounds better for an e-commerce site containing a variety of wristlet purses.

    However, I do think a “wristlet purse” search represents “I’m ready to buy” while “wristlet purses” feels more like “I’m ready to browse.”

    I own a variety of product domains and single vs plural is very inconsistent in terms of search volume. Sometimes the plural gets the higher search volume and I’m not talking about items like boots, gloves or other paired items. It really depends on the product as to which domain will best serve your needs.

    Cars.com just seems better than Car.com but how often are people looking to buy more than one car at a time. I think the plural conveys the notion of a large selection and that’s why I prefer it for e-commerce sites.

    -Bill

  2. Bill/NameClerk

    I’m sure you see dozens of product domains with similar exact match search frequency dropping every day. I pick up at least a handful each day for reg fee.

    The bulk of the mega domainer portfolios are comprised of names like these. I assume they’re still worth picking up even if they don’t get much type-in traffic if at all.

  3. We buy and develop both types. It is in the development that you get more bang for the buck. If you are selling something with either singular or plural is how you make it work.

  4. IMHO, the differential isn’t justified. Period. You got a good deal, and the buyer of WristletPurse.com didn’t necessarily overpay, but that’s not reseller pricing. The buyer should have snapped up the plural for $100.

    On a related note…..

    What surprises me more than the pricing differential is that names like BlackWristlet.com and LeatherWristlets.com are still available for hand-reg.

    They’re not as good as either of the WristletPurse(s).com names, but if you’re into statistics, both names have equivalent/better stats than WristletPurses.com…………

  5. Elliot,

    No doubt, the singular is overpriced compared to the plural.

    To domainers who care about CPC and search frequency, the singular should be about 5x more valuable than the plural. 15+x is a bit too much.

    To an end user, the plural might be more valuable as they would be selling more than one obviously.

  6. Even though singular might get more exact searches, plurals are much more marketable. Marketable domains will always have a higher resale value to the end user than singular product domains.

    The key is to buy both, and whoever bought the singular for that much without buying the plural is foolish.

    I’d take the plural over the singular in a heartbeat 99% of the time if it is a product domain regardless of exact match searches vs the singular.

  7. Elliot,
    If you consider Google’s auto suggestion WristletPurse.com is the best domain name. As visitors will start typing the name in search box, there are more chances of selecting from drop down. But if you are considering for development then I guess “WristletPurses.com for under $100” will be the best bet. This will give you better ROI.

  8. Since the auctions ended a few days apart, maybe the other winning bidder forgot to come back and bid, and anyone else who bidded in the first auction didn’t bother with the second (thinking the price would go to xxxx). You may have just got lucky from a series of events. Based on the number of searches per month, and how many sites google returns for the search, you have a good chance to get a developped webpage on this domain ranked high. Your page could show up whether someone searched the singular or plural, so it’s almost like you are benefiting from 73k monthly searches, and not just the 40k.

  9. I think I got my search figures reversed in the previous post, but even 33k to 40k google returns is fairly low, so you have a chance to rank well with a website on this domain.

  10. Elliot,

    When (if) people use direct navigation to find products, they’ll type in the plural form of the item. They don’t want to see just one item, they’re looking for many. You got the better deal on this one my friend! This isn’t the case in all names. Look at Candy.com, would you type in “Candies.com”????

    Johnny

  11. EL,

    This is clearly a case of “overthinking” the reasoning behind the price difference of a singular and plural version of a domain name.

    It comes back down to semantics, and something that no AI service, or hard-and-fast rules apply. Only one rule applies:

    How does the domain name look and sound as a brand generically?

    Who says “purses”? How well can “purses” be used as both an adjective and a noun? “PursesWorld.com” vs “PurseWorld.com”, easy answer on which is best. However, I think if the word “purses” is used as a noun, as what you’ve indicated here, there is value in it.

    On the other hand, I think Eyes-Man stated it clearly – the singular appeals to the visitor as “I want a purse” where the plural states “I’m looking to browse for purses”. But again, that’s only one variable.

    The price disparity also shows that not everyone sees what’s up for auction, and the buyer of the singular wasn’t considering the importance of grabbing that original.

    I can’t wait until “SolarPurses.com” matures… showing that I can be a hypocrite when gambling on domain purchases… lol

    This debate can go on forever!

  12. When I search I always type in plural .

    I want to see more offers on everything before I buy .

    If you type in House you don’t want to look only for one house you want to see more houses before you buy one .

    The bider should bought both names .

    That is my point of view .

  13. I think it’s best to own both as a package. If developed, one could redirect to the other. A well priced combo deal would be attractive to an end buyer.

  14. One guess is that the new owner of WristletPurse.com was myopic and didn’t consider the singular.

    We all have blind spots and perhaps that was their situation. I have to think that they would have snapped it up if aware of purchase of the pleural for a relatively small sum.

  15. oh wow, owner of WristletPurses.com definitely got the better deal – even though Google’s keyword tool suggested a lower search volume, WristletPurses.com is in good position to grab top position of both singular and plural form.

  16. I always think it is best to grab both the singular and plural forms of a domain name, especially when dealing with product names.

    I would develop the plural and if the buyer of the singular develops…you would have the advantage from a search engine ranking standpoint.

    Or you could drop an e-mail to the buyer of the singular letting them know how much value he or she could have my owning the plural. Flip it.

  17. This is very strange that someone would have bid up on the singular but not the plural. They must have their cut-off for screening drops at a higher search volume than the plural had or entirely missed it. For development purposes, I have to agree that the plural makes much more sense. As a female who has a collection of purses/handbags, I have to say when I search I never use the plurals. I rarely refer to them in the plural either. But as a female buyer if I saw the singular ranked in #1 for search vs the plural on #2 for search, I’d go to the plural first because I’m typically expecting a selection.

    You got a deal IMO.

  18. Plural is always worth 5x – 10x minimum.

    First of all, it gets exact match benefit for the singular and plural keywords.. The “S” at the end makes all of the difference in the world.

    Secondly… Building a standalone business on a plural makes much more sense.

    Hit me up and we’ll develop this one for you for FREE 🙂

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