your trading name

blue_monkey_2

Why do you not pop over to another board, or even ask here, and ask for suggestions for the name of your business. You do not have to say exactly what you sell just what kinds of things you sell.

When I first started I did not have a clue what to call myself and ask friends and family to suggest something for me. I was selling lingerie for larger ladies back then and was selling on eBay. Between them I got a name I'd of never thought of myself.... hands full. LOL!!

What have you got to lose by asking?? Some people are so imaginative, me I do not have a clue!! The other thing as well is that if you are going to be selling on eBay see if the name is free so that people browsing for you will find your website.

I am kind of assuming that you are web trading too. You would need to check the domain is available too so thaty everything links up.

I have to be honest, you have done the right thing, knowing what my friend is going through it is so not worth the hassle and additional stress, especially with you being a new business, they would say that people did not know where to find you so it would have no effect of your business if you changed the name.

wheresmydoshat

i'm actually an ebay trading assistant (tho i don't like that term, and rarely use it)

what i want to avoid is all the cheesy "[EMAIL="wg8@selling4u"]selling4u[/EMAIL]", "cashitin4u" etc etc (both of which i am sure are taken...!)

unfortunately a lot of what i come up with has "bay" in it, or sounds like those above.

my website is coming together nicely, all it needs now is a good name ! the current one, we have the domain, and draft of the logo, but not to reveal it completely, it would attract both ebay, and stelios's attention.

until yesterday i had only worried about ebay being bothered by it !!

blue_monkey_2

Well, I guess I can guess what it is then. YOu are probably playing with an even bigger fire and pouring petrol on it by the day!! I'd see if there is something else available.

Without sounding rude, why on earth did you not wonder why this far into eBay/Easy... being a household name that it was still available?? Because people realise that they'd be bankrupt through solicitors fees the minute they launched. And to have 2 huge companies on your back? It does not matter that the Easy... one is nothing to do with easy... it is more the mention of the words and retailers know they would not touch it. There is no way I'd go for easy-undies (although kind of has a nice ring, LOL) because I know I'd ast 5 minutes against their lawyers. If you saw the letters my Oz friend had got then you would understand, but she has been trading for 4 years with her name and if she disappears she'll lose her clientle.

I am sure that there are loads more names out there and someone with a good imagination will help you out. Go make another thread 'eBay trading assistant needs a website name' and I am sure that someone will give you an idea tht you can ewither use or play with that you probably would have never thought of before.

Remeber, it is NOT your website/domain name that gets you the hits but the meta tags you use within your listings. I am a small business with my own website (sole trader), if you want an example look for 'Miss Sixty Madison' and see what you find and find our where I rank. Nothing to do with my domain name at all.

Make sure that in your site you say you are a trading assistant as it is this that gets you the hits. And do not use it too many times else you'll be picked up as a spammer, I think you can use it 5 times. But you set 'meta tags' within your site and google searches these to find them, Google does reward longetivity though and I've spent 4 years to get where I am - although I am not that far up in everything I am in a lot of categories, and it is still tough.

Remember, it is nothing to do with the domain name at all, you can be called Joebloggssellstat.co.uk but as long as you have within your meta tags that you are an ebay selling assisant and every single variation of this phrase that you can find or think of then you'll be found in all the major search engines and more. Does that make sense. When it asks for your 'site description' on the set up pages - which it should do - it is here that you add that you are an eBay trading assistant and that you are happy to sell xxx on a commission basis on eBay (and possibly on a website?? It is dead easy to set up an ecommerce site like mine, I am a novice and I have done everything on my site single handed) and list everything you are preapred to selling within those meta tags. That is everything as it will pick up on it for you, the longer you keep your site going the higher you'll get. And if there is only you on the market you'll be top!

blue_monkey_2

I have googled 'ebay trading assistant' have a read through the results http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&q=ebay+selling+assistant&meta=

If you are solely going to be using this site to get business to sell stuff on eBay then maybe you will not have a problem using the name eBay in the title. This is why we asked you to be more specific in your business details. We could have sorted this out yesterday, LOL. However, should you then choose to navigate that business away from eBay this is where you will find the trouble Remeber they employ people to trawl through the sites for them and pick up people who are doing something wrong. The easy bit I would not touch with a bargepole though, I think you'd get in more trouble than with eBay for definate.

I am trying to think of a name that might be suitable but I have as much imagination as a flea.... LOL!!

Just what are you prepapred to sell for people and in what locations would you be prepared to travel. Please ask, you'll be surprised who will offer their help and imaginations, if you have the domain no-one can nick it off you and if you are worried about easy finding out then they will already be keeping a check and waiting for that website to go live and then you'll hear from them. You can buy it but until you use it you'l not get into any trouble.

Oh yes, and one more other thing, as well as buying the .co.uk site also buy the .com and .org site and link them all so no-one else can get them and set up a business with more or less the same name. It is very annoying when that happens that is for sure!!

wheresmydoshat

thanks for the advice, have made some notes.

i'm lucky in that i have a friend who does web optimisation for a living, and an even better friend who is a graphic designer, who happens to work for a very good web design company in town !

"Without sounding rude, why on earth did you not wonder why this far into eBay/Easy... being a household name that it was still available??"

i only came up with the name a few weeks back, and tbh it hadn't occured to me about easyjet/brand. have been concentrating on site content since and only just come back to the name (tho web domain was purchase for a few quid).

so far input from "loved ones" (!!) has been:

"Baywatch" (!!!!!)
and
"Flogfest" (!!)

wheresmydoshat

"Just what are you prepapred to sell for people and in what locations would you be prepared to travel."

we are pretty localised, about a 25 mile radius in kent.

wheresmydoshat

ps. have a quick look down that google search, there is a company called "auctionpeople" who claim to be the cheapest around, when in fact if you read the small print and do the math they are the most expensive !

i found them a few weeks back when looking at competition.

blue_monkey_2

Yes, I totally understand where you are coming from and LOL at the name suggestions.

how about {your area}auctionhelper or auctionmaid/made {yourarea}ebaytradingassistant You must have a name already to be trading but if this is the case you are going to be tied to selling on eBay (forever) maybe you could buy one that is your eBay user name co.uk and .com and then you have this to fall back on later should you decide to go it alone or get someone who wants you to sell for them. You can also link the other sites you have to the main trading assistant site. If you saw mine try changing .com to .co.uk and you see what happens. You can do this with all of your sites.

I hope all of this helps, please don't feel defeated because at least you asked before you got burnt and this is the main thing. I have a VAT return to be getting on with and all I've done is number the invoices. Does not look like I'll be getting to the gym today then. Shame!!

Just to add that there is nothing stopping you buying as many sites as you can that might be related to the same thing and then leading them back to your one main site where you have everything listed. If you know what I mean.

The other thing I was going to suggest is using the name you have already so username-ebaytradingassistant.co.uk/com and then buying username.co.uk/com as it'll mean you'll have more chance of people finding you.

The name of my website was also my eBay username, if you search eBay you'll find it, which is how my customers knew where I was, you have to look into everything first to make sure it works for you. I changed my eBay name when I got my website to ensure that both would be the same for people googling it!!

wheresmydoshat

i've made the mistake of using the area as part of a business name, it becomes awkward when you start looking to move !

blue_monkey_2

Yes, true, but you could always change your name now before you start looking to change your website name. Are you talking about your Trading As name or your user name? Are you registered as a sole trader with business bank accounts and the like? If you are a sole trader then changing is not as hard as you think really. Especially if you have no suppliers as such. I used to use my own name to trade with then when I got a business account and relaunched on eBay stores I changed my name then and decided to get something I could stick with.