Trading Assistants!   Choose an eBay ID and Shop Name to Draw Traffic to Your Listings

On the Internet, more than on the high street, you really need a good business name, one that is memorable and clearly describes your business. On the high street people can find you by walking up and down rows of shops or asking passers-by for your business type. You can call yourself pretty much whatever you like and you will still be found.

On the Internet it's not so easy, not easy at all. But your operating costs are much lower too on the Internet and you have the world to target with your offers, unlike the high street shop that costs a fortune to run and rarely attracts shoppers from more than a few miles away. So you must spend some of those savings on promoting your Internet business to maximise your profit potential.

One of the best ways to attract visitors to your online shop is by choosing a descriptive trading name, one search engines will recognise and display for web users seeking someone to sell their products online, in this case on eBay.

Your name must be descriptive, such as 'Durham eBay Trading Assistants' or 'Wesellyourstuffonebay' or similar, but not 'Jay's Shop' or 'Sellersparadise'. Those latter names say nothing that will cause search engines like Google or Yahoo to return your site to web users seeking someone to sell their goods on eBay.

More good examples for a Trading Assistant business include Durham Auction Selling Services, Selling4U and XYZ Drop-Off Shop. They all sound good, also being short and snappy, and say clearly what the business is about. Not so good are Icon (I Con!!) Worldwide, Billy’s Business, AMC and Co., and other similarly non-descript and even derogatory compilations.

When you’ve chosen a business name, have a bank account opened in that name, and be sure to reserve an applicable domain name, preferably the dot com version, so you can more effectively market your business online.

RULES ABOUT CHOOSING A BUSINESS NAME

You can choose almost any name you like, with the following exceptions:

* You must not deliberately choose the name of another business in the same field, or a name that is confusingly similar, with the intention of benefiting from that other company’s goodwill or standing in the business world. This is called ‘passing off’ and is actionable at law. To avoid inadvertently breaking the rules, check names in telephone directories, business guides and advertisements for possible conflicts. Make sure the name you choose isn’t already registered to some other business.

* Check the dotcom (.com) version of your business name in search engines and domain name registries. If your chosen business name, with .com suffix, has not been reserved, chances are the name isn’t being used, although a few simple checks will still be worthwhile. Try typing the words of your business name into search engines to see if any sites appear for ventures with names similar to yours. If there is another company with the same name, it isn’t always breaking the law to use the name yourself, as long as the name isn’t legally registered and isn’t protected by trademark and copyright law and you are not using that other firms’ goodwill to benefit your own business (Passing Off!).