Have I done wrong with my eBay auctions ? (TM issue)

[HDmarketing]

Hello everybody,
I've started domaining last month and I am reading a lot. But I'm also taking action and I think I've already made several mistakes. Here are some, just for fun :

- went on a buying frenzy, hand regged many "color ninjas" (goldninjas.com and the likes... don't ask, it was late and I had had too many GD coupons...)
- hand regged many "brandables", which seem to appeal to me only
- bought some names on flippa auctions without any research on them like "ValidFor.com" (cheap but useless), "WordpressPlanet.com" (may have value but bought high)
- listed a probably not-so-premium brandable with premium auction on flippa
- ....

All this until I finally found something that seemed to work.

I discovered that ebay.com has a domain names category (I'm French, and ebay.fr does not have such a category). I went there and checked the last sold domains and I saw a clear trend : "Apple Watch" and "Viagra" domains were selling constantly the last weeks. So here's what I did :

- went to expiry and closeout
- bought a few "Apple iWatch", "Buy Viagra" domains
- listed them
- saw the auctions get there first bidders and some entering in bidding wars
- got my first sales and BIN.

Now I have 9 items sold.

2 of them to domainers, already transfered smoothly.
7 of them have issues : most of people think they are bidding on REAL OBJECTS (viagra pills, or watches !), even though I listed in DN category, specified on the image, listing title and description that the item is a DN, not an object !

Plus now I realize that in my enthusiasm of having found a reproducible procedure I have probably crossed the TradeMark line !

Here are the apple watch domains I listed :

• AppleiWatchRepair.com
• AppleIpodWatch.com
• WatchAppleTv.com
• AppleWatchJobs.com
• AppleiWatchBuy.com
• FreeAppleiWatch.com
• AppleiWatchForSale.com
• AppleMobileWatch.com
• AppleiWatchBattery.com
• AppleiWatch.biz
• AppleSmartWatch.biz
• Appleiwatches.info
• AppleiWatchPrice.com

Then I read about TM issues.
Now I think that I shouldn't have registered "AppleiWatch.tld" : it is the name of a product (at least very close to it) so it must belong to the maker of the product.

I wonder about domains like "AppleiWatchRepair.com" and "AppleiWatchPrice.com". Do they have the same status? To me they are more like a search phrase about the product and could be used for a price comparison site for the second one.

How do I draw the line between what is acceptable and what's not?

In google france results, there are two developped websites that have "apple watch" names :

• applewatch-france.fr
• demoapplewatch.com

On Flippa you can find many auctions for domains with product names like

• IwantAppleWatch.com
• AppleWatchgear.com
• AppleWatchster.com
• AppleWatches.repair
• AppleWatchNews.net
• AppleWatchTech.Net
• theiPhone6.com

Do all of these have TM issues according to you ?

Should I drop all the "apple" domains I registered, or are some of them OK to keep and sell ?

You can be blunt, I'm here to learn...
Thanx for your time reading!

 

[gilescoley]

Drop them all and take it as a lesson learnt

Stay far away from TM names, it can cost you a fortune in legal fees

 

[Theydon]

Drop them all, clear ™ not worth the risk.

 

[hawkeye]

"You can be blunt, I'm here to learn"

Good, then heed the above advice, drop them and consider it a lesson learned!

 

[HDmarketing]

OK,
thank you for the advice : I'm going to cancel the auctions in a way or another and drop them.

Same with "Viagra" domains I guess ?

Is it common to see TM on auction sites like Flippa and GD ? That doesn't make the names free of TM issues, I should stay away from acquiring those also ?

 

[Kate]

People sell TM domains, and other people buy them out of ignorance. But TM domains are liabilities.
It's like junk bonds. Most of the time they will underperform or fail. Sometimes you find a buyer, then you are lucky: you've found another bigger sucker. Then it's not your problem anymore. Sometimes you get sued of UDRPed.
In between you make no sales. Your assets are worthless.

There are circumstances where owning a TM domain is okay: for example developed fan sites (bona fide usage) or being a reseller/dealer for some product/service.
The fact that you were able to move a few TM domains on ebay shows that it is not a good place for domain names, and that bidders are uneducated.

 

[HDmarketing]

@sdsinc : thank you, I guess that the concept of "bona fide usage" is what I missed in order to understand the existence of the two websites I mentioned in my original post.

I agree with your comment on eBay, even with only a very short experience with it. But what about Flippa ? Isn't it supposed to be a websites / domains marketplace ? How come there are so many TMs on it. Do they all fall uner Bona Fide usage ???

 

[Theydon]

that is the disappointing thing with a lot of the marketplaces but I suppose they do not have resource to properly filter, they could do more though imo.

 

[Beezy]

In regards to your wordpressplanet.com purchase: https://wordpress.org/about/domains/

Sorry.

 

[TravisS]

Take a closer look at the "viagra" listings next time around. They aren't bidding on the name, they are bidding on the pills