Business name search/registration

[Craftymama1]

Hello everyone!
What site did you go to to do your business name search and registration for Ontario? I’ve done a few different google searches and have found a few different places that provide the service but I’m not sure if they’re all legit. Also, how much did you pay for the search and which registries did you search?

[Suzie_Homemaker]

I know it changes by province because business names are reserved and registered provincially but can you search using thrid party web sites? Here is your provincial link : https://www.ontario.ca/page/registering-your-business-name

Here we have to pay a fee to the province for them to check and see if the business name is available. If it is, great, we then pay a second fee to register that business name as ours.

If however the initial search shows that the business name is already in use and registered to someone, then we pick a new name, pay the search fee again and hope our second choice is available. We pay the search fee each and every time the province conducts the search until we find an available business name - but it stops all the obvious names like "Little Hands" and "Busy Bees" and "First Friends" that are unimaginative for a business that's all about encouraging children to use their imaginations.

The fee we pay to register the name once we have found one that's available, is an annual fee. We pay each year to ensure we keep it. I do know for sure that frequency changes by province. Some pay every 2 years to renew.

[Craftymama1]

Thank you for the very detailed answer! I just realized that site only allows you to search during certain hours. I’m excited to get the search started come Monday morning.