I own a domain which contains the term “ebay” in it. Although I feel anyone looking at the domain probably wouldn’t mistake it for an eBay property that a name like eBayMarketing or eBaySupplies might convey.

Nonetheless, I received an email from enforcement@ebay.com from “Edith, eBay Legal Department” which however nicely written, amounts to a cease and desist notification, and I am supposed to “Please confirm in writing that you will agree to resolve this matter as requested. If we do not receive confirmation from you that you will comply with our request, we will have no choice but to pursue all available remedies against you.”

“Edith” further mentions that “We have filed several successful federal court actions in the United States against companies and individuals employing the famous eBay trademark in their domain names, as well as more than six proceedings before the United Nation’s World Intellectual Property Organization’s arbitration panel. eBay prevailed in each case and the domain names at issue were all ordered to be transferred to eBay.”

And “the United States Patent and Trademark Office (“USPTO”) has recently denied registration of the mark “ebaysecurities” by a third party. Like your domain name, “ebaysecurities” incorporated the entire eBay trademark, adding only a generic term to eBay’s famous mark. The USPTO recognized that eBay is a famous trademark and denied registration of ebaysecurities. eBay is concerned that any use of the domain name in question, will cause confusion as to whether you or your companyâ€s activities are authorized, endorsed or sponsored by eBay when, in fact, they are not. ”

The domain is one in my portfolio and I haven’t developed it yet, so letting it expire isn’t a major issue.

I would think that eBay would be more forward in replying to the email seeking clarificatons I’d sent about 2 weeks ago, to date I haven’t received a reply.

Having dealt with lawyers previously, I would guess that sending this notification gives them “just cause” should they proceed with legal action later, having taken the pre-requisite step of issuing a legal warning.

So whether you’re a product owner or even an eBay affiliate, registering a domain containing “eBayProfits” or “eBayInsider” could bring a flurry of legal letters.

Some copyright holders are more lax than others in enforcing their trademarks, especially if you’re an affiliate.

From the affiliate perspective however, how do you think an “eBayTips” domain would compare against an “AuctionTips” domain?

It really wouldn’t be any fight at all.

On another note, I’ve been watching a number of domain auctions, and have seen a domain containing “eBay” recently exchanged hands for a four figure sum.

Imagine buying such a domain and receiving a lawyer’s letter shortly after…

Not very fun at all.

Whatever you do, do be careful.

Let’s look at this scenario:

You’re a new affiliate marketer starting out, and you want to generate some sales. What do you do?

Maybe you could start a free blog at blogger or wordpress.com. If you’re smart, you’ll register your own domain and get your own webhosting, so you’ll have more control over your web property.

But do you stop at just one blog or website?

Not if you want to have massive success in your affiliate campaign.

What’s to stop you from creating 5 or 10 blogs or websites promoting the same product?

It’s not only an opportunity to occupy multiple positions on the SERPs (search engine results pages), but you will edge out your competition if you push them off page 1 too.

Bear in mind, I’m not asking you to post 10 mirror image copies of the same website. That would be very foolish.

Instead if you can generate content easily, tightly focused around that specific niche, for example, weight loss, you’ll create a virtual fortress centered around the product.

The guys on the Wicked Fire affiliate forum have announced the June discount code for domain registrar NameCheap.com where I’ve been buying the bulk of my domains from.

Domains also come with free privacy protection (so your details aren’t easily available).

Here’s some advice regarding domain names:

.com domains aren’t always the most desirable.

If you are creating a content site, a .info or .org could be equally useful and in some cases be more effective.

If you provide content on a .info site and collect the visitors details, you could easily direct them towards your .com affiliate site later and close the sale. People also tend to place more trust on .info and .org sites because there is a perceived belief that these types of domains are less commercial than .com domains.

At the same time too, there are spam marketers who create .info sites filled with spam.

What you can do instead is create a genuine content site with 10-20 pages of content on a .info site and drive traffic to the affiliate sales page through an autoresponder sequence from aweber or getresponse.

You’d be surprised how much higher your conversions will be.

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I’ve registered a number of new domains just a short while ago and will be pointing them at my Bluehost webhosting account which now comes with hosting for unlimited domains.

It’s a shared hosting account, so I get live chat and prompt email support, compared to reseller hosting accounts which support multiple domains, but the tech support tends to be lower grade.

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Resources:

NameCheap domain registrar (coupon code: junebugz)

Bluehost: $6.95 per month webhosting, hosting unlimited domains