Is this unenthical?

[wevet]

Pointing at one of my web sites I have a number of domain names. Amongst these domains are some which various companies have advertised in directories, ppc etc and have inserted a typo leading to a broken link.

Not being one to let such lazy attitudes to business pass me by I have registered those domains.

As a result, I had a very heated conversation with one guy who accused me of being unethical in that I had registered that domain name and had benefitted from their paid for advertising.

Is it unethical to exploit the laziness of a competitor like this?

Is my failure to accept that this is unethical me being ammoral?

(In case you may wonder: The landing pages plainly show our website name etc so we are not trying to pass ourselves off as the competitor.)

 

[Stroh]

I don't quite get it. So you have some domains which redirect to your website. Now some other company has advertised your existing domains? in directories and in listing of the domain in the directory, there is a broken link? what domains have you bought?

 

[tony84]

If i understand correctly, people have paid for advertising but mis-spelt the website?
You have then bought the website with the incorrect spelling and pointed it towards your site?

If thats the case, i dont see the issue. Seems strange though, if its online surely they can update the website address.

 

[wevet]

I don't quite get it. So you have some domains which redirect to your website. Now some other company has advertised your existing domains? in directories and in listing of the domain in the directory, there is a broken link? what domains have you bought?

I find that company abcde.com actually has put acbde.com as the destination url in a directory

I register acbde.com domain name and point it at my website and receive traffic through this route to my site.

Unethical, bit sharp or fair game?

 

[Stroh]

I get it - But 1. are they that stupid to make that mistake? (well obviously), and 2. How did you find that they had put the wrong url... I mean what are the chances of that!

I think its clever and they're stupid for making that mistake. However, can't they just change the URL in the directory so that they put in their actual website?

I'm only 17 by the way! but.. I don't think it's unethical. It's their fault for making that mistake. You could maybe offer to sell it back to them, but for a much higher price... now that's being cheeky!

 

I think it is unprofessional IMO. If I was looking for a certain company online and I typed in the wrong URL and I arrived on a different site I would check the URl and look again.

The only time a customer types in a URL is when they are specifically looking for THAT website. It they land on yours 9 times out of 10 they are just going to look again for the company they were after.

 

[Dawg]

I'd put it down to 'a bit sharp', and really have second thoughts about dealing with a company like that. Nothing illegal sure, but runs up a flag that says 'I'll stiff you if I can', and on the whole I prefer to trade with people who are less ...acidic...in their outlook.

 

[GotLiveChat]

I guess I don't understand why the 'competitor' doesn't just contact the directories and get the URL corrected. With PPC/PPA links that's entirely in the control of the advertiser so there's nothing to gripe out there?...

 

[sysops]

Pointing at one of my web sites I have a number of domain names. Amongst these domains are some which various companies have advertised in directories, ppc etc and have inserted a typo leading to a broken link.

Not being one to let such lazy attitudes to business pass me by I have registered those domains.

As a result, I had a very heated conversation with one guy who accused me of being unethical in that I had registered that domain name and had benefitted from their paid for advertising.

Is it unethical to exploit the laziness of a competitor like this?

Is my failure to accept that this is unethical me being ammoral?

(In case you may wonder: The landing pages plainly show our website name etc so we are not trying to pass ourselves off as the competitor.)

You keep coming up with crap like this. Your last post was about picking up dropped phone numbers which used to belong to companies which have gone bust.

This type of trawling for domains and phone numbers takes time. In your last post you explained how you telephoned a load of numbers just to find a dead one.

Tell me - how much money do you think you make per year from these bottom-feeding activities? I am willing to bet that it's a tiny amount, and that once you take into account domain registration and phone number transfer costs, you are almost certainly working for less than minimum wage.

 

[An Oasis]

... you are almost certainly working for less than minimum wage.

Are we talking SMN posters?

 

[DeanCo]

There maybe legal issues here if the company name is trademarked even though the company made an error in their advertising.

 

[JohnnyCash]

Ethics aside, registering domains in this manner certainly won't be seen as a legit way to link build for your site, if you are 301 redirecting domains like this your main site could get penalised in the search engines. If search engine traffic is something you care about, you might want to reconsider.

 

[Nathanto]

The landing pages plainly show our website name etc so we are not trying to pass ourselves off as the competitor.

If your landing pages are selling the same products/services as those advertised by your competitor then a court may disagree regards "passing off".

Your actions are certainly unethical and possibly unlawful - only you know the specifics enough to take a view - defending yourself in court could prove a very expensive (both in time and money) exercise whether you win or lose.

 

[Senington]

Ethics isn't law. You have to do unethical things to achieve what you want.
Yes I think it is unethical. But it is a brilliant idea that will get you nearly free advertising