Selling online is one of the best ways of setting up shop. You have the widest catchment area for your footfall, meaning you have the potential to generate some great sales. You can potentially sell pretty much anything, and there will always be a market for it. This is particularly useful if you are a small business owner.
If you create any type of product, then there are lots of great avenues that you could go down for selling your products. From eBay, Facebook Marketplace, Etsy and more, through to setting up your own e-commerce website.
But if you have created a product, you will need to be able to protect your intellectual property. If you have invested time and money in developing a product that you hope to be able to generate a profit on, then you do not want anybody stealing your product design and profiting off your hard work.
Register Your Intelectual Property
One of the best ways to protect your designs is to register your intellectual property by submitting a patent application or copyright.
Having the proof that you have created and own the property rights will be helpful in the event of an infringement of your copyrights.
The Problem With Fakes
Nobody wants their products to be copied. Essentially, it amounts to theft, and you may end up losing earnings because people are choosing to buy the copies instead of your original items. There may be other issues if the buyer believes them to be the genuine article. A poor copy may make people doubt your products or services, and it can be damaging to the brand that you are attempting to build up.
If someone believes they are buying your item and they have a copy that is defective or faulty, then they may try to get you to replace it believing it to be your responsibility.
Dealing With Intelectual Property Issues
If you have created a product and this gets replicated by others, then they may be infringing your intellectual property. You will want to immediately take action to ensure that the item is removed from sale. If you find copies of your item listed for sale on any managed sites this could spell a loss of earnings for you, you should ensure that you report a seller on Facebook or eBay. Where the item is found on a private website, you should contact the web host and inform them of the website in question.
Brand Theft
Another prevalent issue affecting brands is having your online identity replicated. Your website and social media profiles can be cloned in an attempt to dupe unsuspecting customers. Again, this can cause you a great deal in terms of lost sales and damage to your reputation.
Spotting these fakes can be hard, and you should try and use the services of automated search software that can track down any sites that are selling your products or imitating your company online. From there, you can take the required action to have them taken down.
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