Advice, please? Someone has taken my business name.

It appears you registered here today in order to have your say.
Merry Christmas!

 

If she really doesn't have her Etsy shop up and running , definitely contact legal@etsy NOW. I've been selling there for a couple of years and I think you would win w/ all of the stuff you've said . I understand how u feel about your shop name being very personal to you . Go for it ! And I loved hearing all of the feisty words the gals said to support you !
I'm sure Etsy will be interested to see the ''entertainment website '' too !!
Cynthia

 

So sorry about this. I completely understand how you'd be upset. Our shop name is so personal and usually selected after expending all sorts of extensive mental (and emotional) energy!

The Etsy person probably didn't bother to check. I doubt she'd actually try to "steal" your name or trade off your established reputation. It's probably more a case of poor planning and slack ethics. She didn't know going in, and once you pointed it out, she just didn't care. I suppose she feels she's put the same amount of time and energy into coming up with the name as you did, and so what that you'd come up with it first? Definitely not how I would proceed (can't think of another way to describe except "bad karma!"), but some people are grabbers. They want. They take.

I'm not sure what I'd do in your situation. Not helpful, but honest ; ).

The idea of starting fresh isn't a bad one, and it's not as if your customers won't follow you if you make the switch known to them. New customers are new.

One thing I might do is go in and take screen shots of all your existing feedback. Sounds weird, but you just never know when stuff on the internet is going to disappear or become inaccessible. You earned that feedback. Create a permanent record of it.

I use 1and1.com for my domain names and email address.

I registered my business in my county (not cheap, but not terribly expensive, and a one-time fee), so there's legal proof showing "I had it first," were anyone to try to nab it (unlikely). I had to do that to get a Tax ID, anyway, so I could establish my sole proprietorship. I have not "trademarked" my name (much more expensive), but lawyers have told me it's not actually necessary, as the registration provides all the proof I'd need that I had claimed the name first, and I'm not on a big enough scale to worry about the stuff that trademarking would get me (can't even remember what that was, truth be told).

As to the Internet presence, I took the advice of a trusted Etsy seller who recommended I register the name of my Etsy shop (without the etsy.com, of course), just in case. My main site and etsy site have different names. Anyway, if my etsy shop is ever closed (by me or by Etsy), I can move everything to another location and point the URL there without changing shop names. Worth the very slight expense to have that "insurance."