Vendr, Meet Vendder

Here’s Vendr, an application that allows you to turn any website into an online store.

And here's Vendder, which . . . um . . . allows you to turn any website into an online store.

Yes, their names are pronounced identically. No, they are not related. (Vendder is based in Portugal; Vendr doesn’t disclose its earthly whereabouts.)

How did this happen? I’ll hazard a guess: In each case, the name-development process went no further than (1) the not-so-brilliant insight that “vendor” was a key concept and (2) the securing of an available domain.

I asked trademark lawyer Jessica Stone Levy, who writes the Beauty Marks blog, for her professional opinion of this mess. Her response:

It’s an excellent example of (1) why a professional search can be really helpful (e.g., I would never think of doubling the “D” in an online search); and (2) why it helps to have a trademark lawyer tell you “hey, that’s descriptive.” 

For the uninitiated: In trademark law, “descriptive” is a Bad Thing, almost as bad as “generic.” Good names are suggestive, fanciful, or arbitrary.

So, Vendr and Vendder: How's that word-of-mouth thing working for you?

___

P.S. There’s also a site called Vendr.tv, but it doesn’t turn websites into online stores—it covers the world of street-food vendors.

Comments

[Miagotatos]

Hi,

Thanks on the concern over this issue.

Concerning your guessing: one of our requirements when we started thinking on a name to our product in the end on 2009 was a identifiable name both in Portuguese and English. "vendor" has no meaning in Portuguese but "vender" has (to sell).

We were informed about Vendr.com existence this month (due to this post http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1425900 ) and we're both aware of this issue.

[Jon Carroll]

Uh, why would I want to turn any website into an online store? It's like, oh boy, let;s cut out the nasty content and go for all ads.

Come to think of it, I could turn Fritinancy into an online store. What would it sell?

[Marc A]

The Web 2.0 space is full of play on words, http://shopper.com and http://shopr.com is a perfect example of similar commerce service providers with different spelling. Generic names work very well in niche markets but highly congested e-commerce markets I would go with a simple play on words and get the recognition of service by name any day.

[Nancy Friedman]

Miagotatos: Thanks for stopping by and commenting. My sympathies to you.

Jon: Well, to take a not-so-implausible example, suppose I wanted to sell some books I'd written. I could direct my blog readers to Amazon, or I could use one of the Vend*** services to embed a store right here on the blog. In theory, it's a useful solution. In fact, I suggested it to one of my nonprofit clients.

Marc A: I wasn't aware of Shopper v. Shopr--thanks for letting me know. I cordially disagree with you about generic names "working very well" in *any* market. They're neither memorable or distinctive--and, as we've seen, they're easily mimicked, which weakens their memorability and distinctiveness even further.

[Mark Gunnion]

vendir.com - taken
vendur.com - taken
venndor.com - taken
vendoor.com - taken
vindor.com - taken
venda.com - taken

But venderrr is available if you really want into this space!

[Mark Gunnion]

Reminds me of what Nan the Namer wanted on her tombstone:

"Taken"

[Anca Mosoiu]

These "fanciful" names that sound lik real words are kind of a pain in the butt, especially when you're trying to give someone a URL verbally. "No, it's fliCKR, not 'flicker'".

I can't imagine trying to guide a client to "vendder" or "vendr".