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Themes are important for your business. You may be thinking, “What are themes?” Do you remember when every show on TV had a theme song? If you watch a lot of the reruns on Nick-At-NightÒ, TV LandÒ or The Cartoon NetworkÒ, you’ve likely heard MASHÒ, Mighty MouseÒ, Happy DaysÒ, Lavern & ShirleyÒ, etc. Pretty much every TV show prior to the 21st Century had a theme song. The minute you heard that familiar tune, you immediately linked it to the show, and perhaps even thought about previous episodes you had seen. Your eBay business should work in the same way. When people see your Seller ID (User ID of your Seller Account), they should immediately recognize your product or business. This is what is commonly referred to as branding. In the same way that cowboys brand their cattle to identify them, your Seller ID identifies YOU from a host of businesses out there competing for the attention of the auction viewers! If possible, you’ll want to use this same name as your website name if you plan to have an online presence outside of eBay.
As your business grows, you may choose to expand into other product offerings. If the product offering is unique from your other products, consider opening an eBay account with a name that reflects the aspects of that product, and a corresponding internet website. This is where themes become really important. Your Seller ID, website URL, About Me page, newsletters, and backend product offerings will all be tied to a single unique theme. This way of doing business with a commonality of branding and product identification lets customers know that you are serious about what you are doing and you are working to provide a real service to those who are visiting you in one of the ways offered by your business.
Now the bad news. Good names are hard to come by; that is, someone has likely thought of the name that you believe would be perfect for your Seller ID. This wouldn’t be so bad, but most of the folks that choose these really good names end up not doing any business with the name they have chosen. As a result, many serious business owners are stuck with doing a lot of head scratching, or just give up and add a number in front of or behind the name they want to use. I personally would avoid the number game if you can as I think it looks like you just weren’t smart enough to come up with something unique. It’s kind of like you weren’t smart enough to figure it out on your own so you just copied someone else’s name.
You can investigate potential names by going to the eBay page that allows you to search by User ID. If you plan to match your internet ID (URL) to your eBay Seller ID, then you’ll also want to identify an available website URL name and get it registered at the same time as you setup your eBay Seller ID. For more information on researching available Internet URL Names, see Pick a Website Name. Once you are on the search by User ID page, enter the name you would potentially like to use and it will show you if the name is in use, and a number of close matches as well.
Let’s suppose that an individual is a librarian and wants to sell books as they have access to a number of books that are removed from the shelves each year due to obsolescence. After brainstorming a bit and they come up with a few possibilities:
Book-Seller
Pulp-For-You
Books-for-Sale
Books-R-Us
Book-King
The-Librarian
Unique-Books
Used-Books
After looking over the list, they think a name such as “The-Librarian” would be a wonderful Seller ID. After searching using the search by User ID, you discover the following:
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Notice that the original user has not done any business in over 6 years, but at least one other variation is doing well.
I personally like the way that one user used the “ * ” character in their name (the*librarian). Using the “_”, “*”, or “-“ character in your name adds to the readability of the name, as well as providing an opportunity for uniqueness that might not normally be available. However, use of these characters in a URL name is probably not a good idea as you will want the URL name to be one that is easy to remember. BUT, a Seller ID of “The-Librarian” and a URL name of “thelibrarian.com” would be a perfectly acceptable method of branding.
This example should give you some ideas for what variations in name usage look like. Choose something that will not only identify who you are, but will make your name stand out. Later when you get ready to setup your website, you’ll want to carry over the theme into your internet name.
You may be concerned about building feedback in multiple areas. Don’t be. Each account adds a level of security that we will discuss in more detail in the sections “EBay Buyer and Seller Accounts” and “Other Reasons For Multiple Accounts”.
Remember, your theme defines who you are to the visitor, shows that you are a serious business owner, and is every bit as valuable as a good feedback rating.