Good Afternoon,

There is one big question I’ve been having a really difficult time getting answered anywhere though. It has to do with naming a brand new ecommerce business (both legally and online).

What I’d like to know is how important it is that your DBA name (filed with the state), exactly matches your online business name (the one appearing in the title on the homepage and on the “Contact us” page). You are probably wondering why I even care about this. Well, here is the reason. Say for example, I want to start an online business selling baby clothes. So I choose a name and register my DBA as The Baby Clothes Shop. Then I grab the same domain name; www.thebabyclothesshop.com and of course use “The Baby Clothes Shop” in the title of my homepage and on the “Contact us” page. What happens if a year from now, I want to expand into older children’s clothing? My DBA name is “The Baby Clothes Shop.” Or, what if I want to start an entirely new ecommerce store online selling something totally unrelated? Do I need to have multiple DBA’s with the state, each reflecting all the different business I have? Or should I choose a DBA that’s so generic that it could work for all, such as “Smith Quality Products?” A friend of mine thought I shoud go with the generic name for the reason I just mentioned. I know this is probably a hopelessly newbie question, but I want to start out right. What do you think?

I very much appreciate your help if you’re able to.

Sincerely,

K

I am not a lawyer, but this is how I understand it.

You register a dba so that you are the only one that can operate under that name. It's done at the county level, so you can register the dba 'The Baby Clothes Shop' where you live and I can register it where I live and we both could be doing business as 'The Baby Clothes Shop'.

When you file a dba, you'll get a certified copy from your county saying that legally you can do business in that name. As far as I know, you can do business as any fictitious name, but you probably won't be able to get a bank account or loan in that business name if it isn't registered. Basically, no one is going to open up a bank account for you or give you a loan if you don't show proof that legally you can do business under some name other than your own.

That said, my legal dba name is Purple Kitty Yarns & Needlework, but I also do business as Purple Kitty LLC, Purple Kitty, and PurpleKittyYarns.com and have never had a problem.

I have plans to eventually open other stores in different industries and will just go down to my county clerk's office and file another dba for whatever name I choose. It's cheap and easy, so why not just cover yourself.

I don't like the generic idea because you do want to brand your company name so that when someone thinks of a product, they think of you. It's no big deal to have multiple dbas, so target your company name to whatever product or service you want to sell and just register the new dba.

In your case, if you expand into older children's clothes, you would still be able to sell under the name 'The Baby Clothes Shop', but since older children's clothes is within the same industry, you might want to either change your name to something that would encompass all children's clothes, have two different businesses - one for baby clothes and one for children's clothes, or if the majority of the clothes you carry will still be baby clothes, just sell some older children's clothes under the name 'Baby Clothes'.

It really just boils down to your specific plans.

I wanted to respond to this as well...

As for others not being able to use the same name..... this can be different in each state.

Contrary to popular belief in Texas, filing a DBA does not mean that someone in my county is forbidden from using the same DBA. In fact, the county doesn't even check them to make sure there aren't duplicates (they actually laughed at me when I recently inquired about this). Corporations, LLP's and LLC's however are at the state level, and are subject to availability.

Rather, registering DBAs here, is simply to make it a public record as to what entity or person owns the business using the name - and to make an extra $16 for the county that is. As far as I can tell, it serves no other purpose. I guess if there are duplicate names, someone would have to figure out who is who. I've never understood the point.

I will also add, that as an LLP or LLC, we have to register our DBA's with the state as well.

Hmmm, that's an interesting bit of info. In NY, I had to go through a dba check to make sure no one else was using my name within the county that I was applying for. But, I do have to say, I had some questions for the county clerk when I created the LLC and everyone there was basically clueless. It was downright scary, actually.

In my estimation, the best way to protect your name is to form a company, officially, in your state (or Delaware). DBA's don't protect your name, but incorporating does. Once you form a company officially, no one else in that state can use your name. Then, register your company in the state(s) where you are actually located. That will protect your name in the other states. Also recommended is to file a trademark on a logo with your name in it. If you want to know more about incorporating see www.delawareinc.com. That's what I did. It was easy.

We (also in NY, but on LI) had ot go through the same thing that PK did.
We had to do the same thing when we Incorporated.

Heres a questions: (purple kitty...her I go again!)

I just went to "check available business entity name" at the IRS site and now out of the blue, there is a company with LLC that has my name, or the one I was planning

I already have a website, trademark pending and logo. Now what? I am so agitated. Do I still go to the county and file a DBA? I am, WAS, in the process of filling out the EIN form with that name......


UUUGGGHHHHHH H

Hmm, have no idea on that one. You should still be able to get the dba. An LLC is a state level thing and you're not going for an LLC right now anyway, right? My first instinct is that the IRS won't care that you have the same name as the LLC. However, one thing you might want to consider is that someone will confuse the two of your companies. But, ask the IRS when you call for the EIN.

If you want to see if your business has the same name as another business, just go to the secretary of state's page and search the registered agents database. If your name is taken in that state, you're going to have to use another name in that state somehow (unfortunately). However, you can still do business under the same name in another state, granted that other company has not registered for that state yet.

I'm no expert on all this, but I know at least that much. I registered some companies with http://www.incnow.com a while back so I learned a little bit. I think if you really want some information, you should actually go and have a consultation with someone really knowledgeable - that's what I did.

Good luck, God Speed.