Help

[socalcardude]

I need some advice. I started a website in 1994 called GAPA.Com and sold automotive parts online for 10 years until some big competitors got into the market and I closed it down in 2004. Since then it has been sitting until recently when my son designed a bare bones eBay affiliate site to drive the existing traffic (700 unique visitors per month) to eBay’s automotive parts pages.

Anyway, we have decided to research the idea of selling it and I have no idea where to start. I also own MercedesCarParts.com, SaabCarParts.Com & VolvoCarParts.com that don’t get much traffic, but I would like to consider selling them as well

Any expert advice out there?

 

[npcomplete]

I suppose you know that these are all trademarked names (except gapa). I don't know how rigorously they defend their marks, but these are *very* strong marks.

Here is the tarr status page for Mercedes. You can do the homework on the others:

http://tarr.uspto.gov/servlet/tarr?regser=serial&entry=76553910

drawing code: (1) TYPED DRAWING
reg date: January 3, 2006

Some mark holders allow licensing of their name. Check first to avoid a lawsuit. I try to avoid strong TM's like the plague. Your own mileage may vary...

Marc

 

[abcproductions]

Marc is right that it is best to avoid registering TMed names, however, you do have some rights as well.

keep in mind, a domain name dispute made through ICAAN is much different than a federal lawsuit filed against you.

in most cases that are similar to yours, the large company will threaten legal action against you until you cave in. if you believe you have not violated their rights and decide to stand up against them, they will likely use their deep pockets to force you to defend your position. this is usually too much work (and expense) for an individual so they give up and give in.

as a TM owner myself, i feel very strongly about protecting TM owners rights. conversely, as a domainer, i feel equally as strong about defending the rights of domain owners who get pushed around by TM owners.

for you, i recommend getting legal help from knowledgable counsel in this area. that said, you can certainly begin by doing some research yourself to become familiar with your rights.

 

[socalcardude]

Domains

Ok I understand the problems with the trademark domains, but what advice do you have on my main site, GAPA? I understand domains with 4 letters might be worth more? Is that true?

Thanks for helping me out.

 

[Spade]

Fortunately for you, this year was the year of the LLLL.com - atleast the Summer of LLLL.com - theyve shot up in value and especially domains that follow a CVCV pattern (C = Consenant, V = Vowel). Because GAPA is premium letters and pronounceable that follows the pattern, you could expect to fetch several thousand dollars for the domain name based on that alone. Depending on how well traffic could be converted, you might see a few extra dollars to that.

My guess - if you sold to a reseller you would expet to see 2-4k - if you posted it for sale and made it available (marketplaces, forums, ect) you could see 10-15K.

So, depends how quick you want to make money? The End-user approach can often take a while. However if thats the route you want:

Use: Afternic.com Expanded Promotion / Sedo.com / Moniker.com's Marketplace / and this could potentially be accepted into a TRAFFICs auction - which is always a fun place to sell.

Good luck,
Justin A