QUESTION: What authorized concerns are there in chosing the vendor name for my online retailer? I do not wish to use another person’s name or a prohibited name.
ANSWER: Technically, there are some authorized necessities for naming your business, however many of those guidelines are out of date (and unobserved and unenforced) for online sellers.
In most counties in the US, you are required to acquire a “fictitious name” allow in the event you’re working a business utilizing a name apart from your full authorized name. (In some counties they name it a “doing business as” allow.)
In my county, as an illustration, the allow prices $20. After you submit the applying, a clerk merely searches the county’s information to make sure no different business is utilizing the identical name. Proper off the bat, you may see this observe has restricted worth at the moment — as an online vendor, you might be transacting worldwide, not simply in your home county.
The unique rationale for these laws was to guard customers from fly-by-night companies. If somebody bought a product or service that turned out faulty, the client would possibly must get hold of the real name of the business proprietor to get a refund or sue.
With at the moment’s marketplaces like Amazon and eBay, resolving issues is normally a lot easier. If a purchaser is sad with a purchase order, they e-mail the vendor. If the vendor does not reply appropriately, Amazon or Paypal makes the client complete. If a vendor (or purchaser) will get into disputes typically sufficient, their trading privileges are revoked.
Another excuse for “fictitious name” permits is to forestall new companies from by accident (or purposefully) utilizing the name of an present company, creating confusion. For instance, within the Amazon context, if somebody tried opening a vendor account with the name “Barnes And Noble,” that may be inappropriate — they’d be making the most of an present business name. On the opposite hand, any person might in all probability open an account utilizing the name “Joe’s Place” regardless that there are in all probability 5,000 eating places utilizing that name — however there is no probability anybody would confuse the online bookseller with the eating places. And if somebody on Amazon is already utilizing the name “Joe’s Place,” Amazon’s system would merely stop new sellers from utilizing the identical name 아마존셀러.
In case you’re a part-timer, I would not lose an excessive amount of sleep over the selection of a vendor name. A Google search on the name inside citation marks will in all probability present whether or not it is getting used. In case you by accident started utilizing an present business name, you would possibly obtain a “stop and desist” letter from the company’s lawyers, threatening to take you to courtroom until you stopped utilizing the name.
Another consideration: In case you assume you would possibly wish to function a retailer by yourself Web web site sometime, it’s best to examine now to see if the area name is out there. You may seek for out there area names on the Web websites of many host suppliers, together with Register.com. Even in the event you do not determine to launch a Web web site now, you may register the area and pay a nominal payment to maintain the name till you launch your web site.