How evil is Ebay?

[TheBulldog]

I was thinking of opening up one of those ebay affiliate sites and was wondering how badly I would be pounded by them if I threw the ebay name in the url.

It's still driving business to them, so not sure what their stance is on it.

Yes, I know it's a trademark, just curious about it is all. Haven't bought anything.

 

[Peter]

eBay are very protective over their trademark. I would avoid it at all costs to be honest.

Most companies do not like other people making money from their trademark even if they are forwarding business to them. The reason? Quite simple, the people that know the mark would conceivably know the marks site so would have ended up their anyway.

 

[TheBulldog]

Yeah, I figured as much. That explains why there are some VERY tasty ebay names available for registration.

 

[Dave_Z]

How evil is eBay? How evil are some people doing what you're asking? :D

 

[TheBulldog]

How evil is eBay? How evil are some people doing what you're asking? :D

Honestly, I don't know or even pretend to have a good argument.

When I grew up, I always heard the phrase "any advertising is good advertising."

So in my opinion, a site like ebayaffiliates, that tells you how to be an ebay affiliate would be an ok website. Ebay on the other hand, wants to shut it down to either a) get the name for themselves, or b) protect their tm name.

I can see both sides, and that is why I asked about ebay. I thought ebay might be a little more lenient, but I guess I was wrong. Although over the last few days, my guess is they don't pursue a lot of c_d orders because there are a TON of ebay sites out there with the ebay name.

Again, don't care, have found better names that fit my niche.

 

[verbster]

Although over the last few days, my guess is they don't pursue a lot of c_d orders because there are a TON of ebay sites out there with the ebay name.

It is curious as to how or why ebay pursues some domains for infringement but leaves others alone. A simple search on Sedo showed 2640 domains with "ebay" in them.

 

[Ben42]

It is curious as to how or why ebay pursues some domains for infringement but leaves others alone. A simple search on Sedo showed 2640 domains with "ebay" in them.

I think it all comes down to traffic and popularity. They don't have the resources to chase ever single infringing domain owner. However, if you get popular, expect an email and then a phone call and most likely some lawyers at your door.

 

[cjbay]

I think its a matter of how you represent the trademark. If you have their name in your site, and you are doing something with the site that makes them look bad in any way, or something they wouldnt do if it was their domain name, of course they are not going to be too happy.

 

[Peter]

I think its a matter of how you represent the trademark. If you have their name in your site, and you are doing something with the site that makes them look bad in any way, or something they wouldnt do if it was their domain name, of course they are not going to be too happy.

You obviously have had no dealings with eBay. They are protective over their trademark and are quite happy to send a c&d regardless of the intentions of the domain owner.

Of course eBay cannot chase every domain infringing their trademark. They would be forever in legal disputes which would eat up $millions if not $billions. Therefore they will only chase the ones that they feel more strongly about.

 

[Ronald Regging]

Its really a win/win situation for a company to go after sites that have become popular. Why? They know the person is pulling in money, which they can collect in damages. Plus they get a domain with nice targeted traffic that they can redirect to their site.

 

[AdoptableDomains]

Phishing is another reason ebay is probably concerned with when fighting ebay containing domains. Some who use ebay in a domain name are doing so to confuse people into thinking it is part of ebay to steal credit card and personal information.

 

[MadAboutDomains]

Are you sure it wasnt "All Publicity is good publicity" that you heard?

I would also advise against it, I'm sure that the domain isnt worth that much to you, you could probably make more money from parking.

But even then, ebay might have advertising set up with the company managing that advertising for that parking company.

 

[Sleepys]

Before thinking about registering a domain with ebay in it, check out the article here:
http://www.tgdaily.com/content/view/34746/118/

As people have said on here, they probably won't come after you unless the site gets big, but it sounds like you plan on making it as big as you can.
Also, in a completely unrelated matter, yes ebay and paypal are pretty evil.