Magicfloat

Nelems Marine does not have a website,I don't really want one. Couple of years ago some jerk bought ]www.nelemsmarine.com,] to sell it to me,I told him to forget it. I checked from time to time out of curiousity,it always came up"This domain name is for sale,e-mail so and so".Still it didn't really bother me much though I thought it was low class. Well guess what you get now at www.nelemsmarine.com You get Park Marine, a boat dealer in Atlanta. Also the same with www.trailmarine.com a dealer in Orange Beach,Al,it goes to Park Marine also. First thought is Park Marine is a pirate,an unethical pirate who thinks he can steal some business. Any thoughts? Who has the bat?

32fever

NOthing you can do about it, magic.

Someone else beat you to ergistering it, and unless they let it lapse, it's theirs. A competitor of ours made a website name that was very simliar and customers get us confused, so his strategy worked. Our option? We could buy him out I guess. The same tactics are at hand, though. Trying to "peel off" potential customers. I don't think it's as big of a deal as we thought it would be, because of how we run our business.

Does this Park Marine sell the same type of boats you do? if not, you don't have a lot to worry about, (if you sell Formula, and they sell Lund or Trackers or something). if so, that sucks. You can get another website name, like nemensmarine.net if open, or something else. Did you see if parkmarine.com/net/org/info, whatever was open? register them, link to your site.

It's only a big deal if you have a site and don't market it with search engines, then they'll go to the other marine site and you'll lose that. Otherwise, you'll pop up in the top 5 or so, and they'll figure it out if they're looking for you.

So, those are my thoughts....

Mark

32fever

Oh, and even if you don't want a web site, you can still hold a name registered. I'd advise a site at least with who you are, what you sell and contact info. Otherwise, if you didn't want a site, you think nobody must go looking on the net for you. Now, someone else has it and you're afraid of the outcome. It sounds like you changed you mind and a site is now important. So, the above response fits.

if you don't want a web site at all, then, well, dont' worry about it. It wasn't important enough before, so.....

Magicfloat

32 Fever, I understand what you are saying,but a website is not important to me, I still don't want one, I don't have the time. Boattrader works very well for us and I am completely satisfied with the results it produces. What galls me is ,I guess, is just personal, There are only a few people in the world with the name Nelems, and only one Nelems in the marine industry, me.It is a blatant attempt by Park Marine to try to steal away customers who are obviously looking for me, not Park. The silly thing is,as you mentioned, we don't sell the same type boats at all so this is no threat to me at all as far as sales, but do you think some people might think that the dealerships are related in some way when in fact there is no connection whatsoever.If someone tries to call up Formula boats and gets Bayliner boats instead,for instance, what is the implied connection?As you correctedly stated, it's not really a big deal,it just makes me mad that someone would stoop to such tactics in the hope of an additional sale.

hp500efi

Robert, your reputation as a high performace dealer as well as a class act guy on the board is all you need to sell boats...........ta hell wit that other guy and his stealing names...

Jeff

Intolerant1

I went to the site and when I clisked on "previously enjoyed boats" it took me to Boat Traders website. If you are happy w/Boat trader, you may want to let them know what is going on. Seems like they are in on this. Either way its a crappy move. I was going to email them about a big purchase and string em along for awile but they dont have an email contact listed.

Magicfloat

Yeah, Mark Lane is the guy,he and I had a conversation a couple years ago, he basically admitted he made his living by registering domain names and re-selling them. When i told him I wasn't interested he later offered to sell me my name fora few hundred $.I guess when he finally realized I wasn't a player in his sleazy game he figured to recoup his small investment by selling cheap to someone else, Park Marine. I have a call into them, Iwill see what they have to say, I will respectfully ask them to remove the link or whatever its called,if they refuse then I have a couple of ideas that will get their attention without involving lawyers.As I said earlier, I'm not concerned about losing a sale due to the sleazy link,there is just a principle involved here and I'm going to follow thru on it. Thanks for listening.

IHTFP

You need to get a lawyer experienced in Cyber-Law. A few years ago, legislation was passed to help stop this type of behavior. The law is called the Anti Cyber-Squatting Act. I'm sure by now there is plenty of case law to back you up. A good lawyer can do amazing things.

Audiofn

www.forddiesle.com was just forced by Ford to change their name to TheDeiselStop.com. I guess that if you have the money you can make them give it to you buttttttttttttt

Jon

Magicfloat

Don't have much money and don't want to pay lawyers to handle something that should not be an issue anyway. As I said,no big deal other than a personal vendetta over using my name for someone elses gain. When I talk to the guy at Park I am hopeful he will see my issue and pull the link. If not,then I have several ideas in mind. I'll keep you posted.