LilFirecracker Posted February 10, 2022 Share Posted February 10, 2022 I understand that when selling, you should be renaming trademarked scents. When selling online (ex: your own Etsy store) how do you make it known to potential customers that THIS particular scent is the one they're wanting when they're searching for... Let's say Pink Sugar. If you rename it Pink Diamonds, they will never know that this is actually what they're looking for unless they read the item description and you explain it in there. Because of having to rename it, if this potential customer gets on and does a search for Pink Sugar wax melts, you're kinda S.O.L. even if you would show up in search because they're not seeing Pink Sugar, they're seeing Pink Diamonds. How are we as sellers suppose to handle this? Are we allowed to say "Pink Sugar dupe" in the title? Or something to that effect? Mine will be called "twins" but it all amounts to the same thing. I'm just at a loss how to handle all of the dupes that people will be specifically searching for that will never be found if they're having to be renamed without any reference to the original by B&BW, VS, etc.... Those who choose to follow the rules, how do we make this work for us? Thank you so very much for any insight you can give me. This has really been worrying me to the point where I get anxiety over it. No joke.... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TallTayl Posted February 10, 2022 Share Posted February 10, 2022 Mostly, I’ve seen “type” as the recommended naming convention. “ Pink Sugar (Type)”. It feels awkward, as that weird distracting disclaimer “(type)” would need to also be on the pretty label. Many retailers of fragrance dupes use “compare to Pink Sugar by Aquolina”. On your label will be Pink Diamonds, but the title of the listing would be, “Pink Diamonds, compare to Pink Sugar (type) by Aquolina.” The body of the description would also have the type, and compare to for added SEO presence. either way, Aquolina (the originator of the fragrance) could at any time issue a C&D, so there’s always going to be a risk. given all that, if someone is looking for a particular scent the type clause might keep them in the ballpark, but Types/dupes are VERY different from the original. Sometimes they don’t even come close to the same depending on the source. So, you can get a potential customer to zoom in on their favorite fragrance, but risk it won’t be what they want after all. I find staying original in my naming to be the safest all around. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LilFirecracker Posted February 11, 2022 Author Share Posted February 11, 2022 @TallTayl Thank you! Until I figure something else out I'll probably do something similar to the "compare to" scenario and just roll with the punches! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laura C Posted February 11, 2022 Share Posted February 11, 2022 Good questions @LilFirecracker. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laura C Posted February 11, 2022 Share Posted February 11, 2022 Interesting @TallTayl, thanks for explaining. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cynna Posted February 18, 2022 Share Posted February 18, 2022 I've been hit with "copyright infringement" notices on Etsy more times than I can count. It's frustrating - if an oil manufacturer doesn't indicate it's a trademarked name, how are you supposed to know that? I got hit for Clean Cotton, which I thought was the most ridiculous one of all. I also got hit for one that had "type" in the listing too so I'm not so sure that always works and Etsy never gave me a straight answer when I challenged them on that, so this is what I do - name it something similar but in your tags use the original name that way if someone's looking for Pink Sugar your listing for Pink Diamonds will still come up. Use the heck out of the tags, every variation of the product/name as you can. It works. Even just spelling it slightly different gets you off the hook, too. Kinda like all those designer perfume knock-offs that were popular in the '90's. FYI - don't ever use Cuban and Tobacco in the same listing on Etsy. They don't even check to see what the product is, they just immediately deactivate it. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LilFirecracker Posted February 18, 2022 Author Share Posted February 18, 2022 16 hours ago, Cynna said: I've been hit with "copyright infringement" notices on Etsy more times than I can count. It's frustrating - if an oil manufacturer doesn't indicate it's a trademarked name, how are you supposed to know that? I got hit for Clean Cotton, which I thought was the most ridiculous one of all. I also got hit for one that had "type" in the listing too so I'm not so sure that always works and Etsy never gave me a straight answer when I challenged them on that, so this is what I do - name it something similar but in your tags use the original name that way if someone's looking for Pink Sugar your listing for Pink Diamonds will still come up. Use the heck out of the tags, every variation of the product/name as you can. It works. Even just spelling it slightly different gets you off the hook, too. Kinda like all those designer perfume knock-offs that were popular in the '90's. FYI - don't ever use Cuban and Tobacco in the same listing on Etsy. They don't even check to see what the product is, they just immediately deactivate it. LOL yeah I imagine Cuban & tobacco go over well there lol. Sorry you got hit with all the IP dings. And you've had no problems using it in tags? I've read in other forums that they'll get you there too. I'll give it a shot, but the first IP infringement I get hit with, they're all gonna be gone! Already I'm worried about just opening because I'm seeing so many stories of people opening and getting suspended right away. CS takes forever and you can only go thru email. Then they don't know why it was suspended, it was done by the bots that troll the new accounts, and magically reinstate their store. Then there's the reserves they're putting on new accounts. They're suppose to release it once you enter the tracking number, but for a lot of sellers it's not being done. That worries me because I'm gonna need that money to reinvest in supplies. Guess I'll take it as it comes and as I say....just roll with the punches. I'm gonna make it a point to work on my own website and try to sell elsewhere also - just in case. Thanks so much for letting me know of your experience. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cynna Posted February 19, 2022 Share Posted February 19, 2022 They're hitting up people on tags? That's just mean. If you put a tag for pink sugar on a product that isn't named pink sugar, that seems kind of overreaching for them to ding you on it. Well it's Etsy. I heard they were getting really gestapo-ish for new sellers. They're finding new fees to stick us with too. It seems so counterproductive; you're just going to drive off your sellers, and if we've learned anything with this cancel culture, when you drive people away they will go out and build their own platforms/sites and realize they're better off without you. I was hoping Gab's new marketplace was going to be a competitor for platforms like eBay and Etsy, but it's nothing like them. I guess it's something to try, but I can't see it really working out for the kind of stuff we do especially if you have a lot of product to move. TallTayl did have a good suggestion by using "inspired by" especially in the header, because no one reads descriptions in the listings. Best of luck to you! And don't worry, if they do come at you with a copyright infringement thing, it's just a warning message and they deactivate your listing that you can't reactivate, so all you have to do is make a new listing with a different name. You're not going to get fined or sued or anything. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
asr Posted February 19, 2022 Share Posted February 19, 2022 I actually had a positive experience as a new seller on Etsy. I have been selling crochet items for years locally but finally started on Etsy last fall. I use Pirate Ship and pretty much as soon as I pay for the label it is marked as shipped within Etsy with the tracking. I received all the notices from Etsy in the beginning about how they would hold my money, but in my case they usually released within 3 days. I like your idea of working on your own website along with Etsy. You can always list a few items on Etsy and see how it goes for you. The traffic is certainly nice…wishing you luck! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LilFirecracker Posted February 20, 2022 Author Share Posted February 20, 2022 On 2/19/2022 at 7:08 AM, asr said: I actually had a positive experience as a new seller on Etsy. I have been selling crochet items for years locally but finally started on Etsy last fall. I use Pirate Ship and pretty much as soon as I pay for the label it is marked as shipped within Etsy with the tracking. I received all the notices from Etsy in the beginning about how they would hold my money, but in my case they usually released within 3 days. I like your idea of working on your own website along with Etsy. You can always list a few items on Etsy and see how it goes for you. The traffic is certainly nice…wishing you luck! Thank you! 😃 I know it'll take some time and a lot of effort, but I'm very determined. And stubborn! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
birdcharm Posted February 20, 2022 Share Posted February 20, 2022 I wonder if you can call it "Pinkish Sugar" ... and for the other example in this thread "Cleanish Cotton" ... sort of joking. 😉 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LilFirecracker Posted February 24, 2022 Author Share Posted February 24, 2022 On 2/20/2022 at 4:49 PM, birdcharm said: I wonder if you can call it "Pinkish Sugar" ... and for the other example in this thread "Cleanish Cotton" ... sort of joking. 😉 LOL that's funny... Wonder if that would work? 🤣 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.