IvyLane Trademarked


IvyLane™ is a boutique sellers group who use eBay as their primary sale venue. The name, IvyLane™, originated in 2006 with the group’s conception. At that time the name was trademarked and just recently renewed.

To understand why a group of clothing designers would want to trademark a name you must first understand the reasoning behind the Ebay “group” system.

There are several types of sellers groups including children’s boutique sellers, who utilize the use of a common keyword to make it easier for buyers to find their listings among the hundreds of custom boutique listing. There are many children’s boutique sellers groups - you can find a fairly comprehensive list of them here. For more detail of what being in a group is all about, our very own Debbie of HoneyBKids offers this explanation.

Ivylane™ consists of seasoned sellers, of which the core group have worked together since 2006 building IvyLane into a very successful group. Becoming an Ivygirl is no easy feat — Ivylane™ has a strict “vote in” policy. We require a 100% yes member vote so as to ensure that Ivylane™ only accepts those who will be the best possible fit for our team. Although we have formed strong friendships, our main focus is operating as a successful business unit, and this shared common goal has afforded us a strong presence in the boutique buyer’s community.

It has become common in the handmade boutique community to resell original designs when they are grown out of, or indeed only purchased for one specific outing. We encourage our buyers to use the term IvyLane™ so they can reap the benefits of having bought quality items that have an excellent resale value. Although, we do ask that they only use the term when there are genuine IvyLane™ member’s items to be sold.

Once in a while, there are sellers who will add IvyLane™ to their title for no other reason than to attract our customer base. Sometimes, it’s as simple as a reseller who owns a set from a designer that they believed was in IvyLane™ but is not, or at least is not a current member. Other times, a new designer uses the IvyLane™ search term without actually being part of Ivylane™ — this unfortunately is called key word stealing/spamming (KWS), and in the instance of IvyLane™, a breach of our trademark.

In the first instance when a trademark infringement is noticed, a member of IvyLane™ will send the seller a “courtesy” notice explaining that IvyLane™ is trademarked and to please remove IvyLane™ from their search titles. On occasion our requests are ignored, and if we were not trademarked we would have no legal recourse, but being that the name is trademarked and that we are part of Ebay’s Vero system, we notify Ebay when our initial requests are either denied or ignored. Ebay will then remove the listing.

Ebay does not take their Vero system lightly. To become part of the Ebay Vero system, Ivylane™ had to provide them with copies of our trademark documents and faxed signatures from our moderators. It is a strict process to get into the program, and you can be assured that just like IvyLane™ EBay takes trademark infringement seriously.

So who can use IvyLane™ in their tiles? Only current Ivylane™ members can use Ivylane™ in their title, and also, as mentioned before, buyers who are reselling boutique products made by current group members can use the term in their titles. You will always find a list of current members by clicking the home button at the top of this page.

Like any community there are always certain courtesies to be observed, and unwritten rules besides the official ones set down by eBay. In a perfect world, it wouldn’t be necessary to trademark a group name, but with the time and effort it takes to build a successful Seller group, it makes the best business sense to be proactive about keeping the name strong.

We also trademarked our name to protect our customers. The resell value of an Ivylane™ member’s designs is quite good, and on occasion a set may resell for more than the original sale. This is sometimes a factor in a buyer’s decision to purchase from Ivylane™. If a buyer unwittingly purchases an item being sold under a fraudulent Ivylane™ title this will affect their ability to resell the product as it might not conform to IvyLane™ quality standards.

If you have questions about IvyLane™, why we trademarked the name, or in fact anything about IvyLane™ at all, please contact ivylane.boutique@gmail.com.