Spelling Means Cash at eBay Auctions
On eBay, misspellings in titles and descriptions often mean “opportunity.”
When Steve Marconi wanted to sell his ex-wife’s diamond ring, he listed it on eBay, but his item didn’t sell. So, he put the item up for sale again… still no sale.
Could it be that he used a reserve? Perhaps the description was not very good. Perhaps the pictures didn’t do the article justice, because it was, in fact, a beautiful diamond ring. Is it possible that the title was well written? Dimond Ring Size 6.5 1.0 Carat Emerald Cut Low Reserve
The answer seemed obvious, to everyone but Steve. On eBay, some sellers are clueless, while others are just careless. He’ll find items for sale on eBay such as lab computers, throwing knives, Art Deko vases, camras, comferters, and sapphires…even diamond rings.
Now, you might be thinking…there is no way people would actually misspell the keyword for the specific item for sale. Well, not only does it happen, but it happens frequently.
These items will occasionally get bidders, but rarely many. These items are often picked up by “Power Buyers,” or people who trolling eBay for misspellings, buying items cheaply and selling them back on eBay, but with the correct spelling and for the correct price. Michael B., a jeweler in West Palm Beach, Florida, is one of them.
Mr. B once bought a box of gers for $2. They were pocket watch gears, which he cleaned and put back on the auction block with the correct spelling. They sold for $200. “I’ve bought and sold things on eBay and Yahoo that I bought for next to nothing” because of misspellings or vague descriptions, he said.
David Scroggins, who lives in Milwaukee, also checks for misspellings. His company provides entertainment for weddings and corporate events and microphone systems for shows in Wisconsin casinos. He has bought Hubbell electrical cables for a tenth of the usual cost of him searching for Hubbell and Hubbel. And now he runs his entire business on laptops, having bought three Compaqs for a pittance simply by ordering Compacts instead of him.
No one knows how many misspellings there are on eBay, where more than $28 billion worth of goods were sold last year. The company does flag common misspellings, but misspellings can also lead to similar misspellings, so buyers and sellers frequently read past the website’s slightly self-conscious line and ask, by any chance, “Did you mean …candlestick?”
Just the other day I searched eBay and in less than an hour I found dozens of items, including bicycles, telephones, diamonds, mother-of-pearl, cutlery, nightgowns, and lots of antiques.
This creates a great buying opportunity. People often ask where they can find products to sell on eBay. Sometimes the answer can be as simple as “On eBay.”
Ms. Marshall, who lives in Dallas, said she knew she was on shaky ground when she set out to spell candlestick. But instead of flipping through a dictionary, she did an internet search for chandaleer and found around 85 listings.
She never guessed, she said, that results like these meant she was groping in the desert of spelling. Candlestick, spelled correctly, appears 715,000 times.
Some experts say there is no evidence that people are spelling worse than ever. But with the growth of email correspondence and instant messaging, the language has become more informal. And just as calculators did arithmetic, spell checkers have made good spelling seem like an obsolete virtue to many people.
Not that almost everyone uses spell checkers. In fact, experts say that the Internet, with its discussion forums, blogs, and self-published articles, is a treasure trove of bad spelling.
“Before the Internet came along, bad spelling by the general public was not exposed,” said Paige P. Kimble, director of the National Spelling Bee. Now, however, “we are becoming very aware of the challenge spelling represents for us.”
Sandra Wilde, author of the 1992 book “You Kan Red This!: Spelling and Punctuation for Whole Language Classrooms K-6,” said that language served a variety of purposes, so in some settings it might make sense to omit punctuation or speaking in jargon She compares instant messaging, for example, to notes passed in the back of the classroom when the teacher’s back is turned: correct spelling is not rewarded.
“However, we have something like eBay,” he said, “it matters.”
Smart sellers will actually take into account that misspellings come not only from a seller listing an item for sale, but also from a buyer who will actually search eBay using a common misspelling of the item. Warren Lieu of Houston, who recently sold hunting and fishing knives on eBay, covered all the bases: His listing advertised all kinds of alphabetical butcher shop, including knives and razors.
Mr. Lieu, a computer programmer, maintains a list of common misspellings, including labtop for laptop and Cusinart for Cuisinart.
His strategy of listing multiple spellings, he said, is based on his experience as a buyer. “I’m a bad speller myself,” he said. Then, his mistakes in finding items led him to realize that he could buy bargains.
“I would go ahead and deliberately misspell it when searching for articles,” he said.
Even some who have made money off misspellings have felt their bite.
When Mr. Scroggins, who has been helping his parents sell the contents of his father’s jewelry and watch repair shop, recently listed “a huge lot of earrings,” it attracted just three bids and sold for just $5.50.
And then there was the time when he sold the family’s flat clothing.
Tea MisspellGenerator.com eBay’s search program is a great resource for both buyers and sellers. This easy to use program and search results appear in as little as three seconds. Simply enter your keyword and with a click of the mouse you will be taken to eBay to find the hidden gems.
eBay generates over a billion page views a DAY. Of the tens of millions of items for sale on eBay at any given time, how many misspelled item titles prevent the auction from showing up in a search?
MisspellGenerator.com allows you to search for items that are misspelled right from your desktop. Enter the name of your item, press the Search button, the program will search eBay for dozens of variations of your search term. A built-in browser will take you to eBay and provide you with all current active auctions for those items that sellers misspelled.
You should be able to get some real bargains without anyone else bidding against you. Just remember that thousands of items on eBay are listed with misspelled titles, anywhere from a single word to multiple words. These items often expire and there are no deals on them since no one can find them. Use MisspellGenerator.com to discover those hidden gems.
See what the experts are saying about eBay misspellings:
“Look for the misspellings! Many famous designers have names that are hard to spell. If you search eBay for a misspelling, you can get a great deal.” dummies.com
“There are many items listed on the auction site that are selling for much less than they are actually worth because sellers don’t check their listings for spelling before posting.” New York City Times
“Did you know that on eBay you can probably buy a laptop pretty cheap? How about getting some diamonds at a great price? These and many other items can be yours if you have a list of the ones that are often misspelled.” friki.com
If they can spell it wrong, MisspellGenerator.com will find it on eBay.
Two ways to benefit from MisspellGenerator.com on eBay:
1) The first as an eBay seller. . .
Many sellers misspell words, either by accident or because the seller doesn’t know the true spelling. This may result in little traffic and/or no sales.
Simply use MisspellGenerator.com to search eBay for listings that no one else (or very few) will find, and bid for pennies on the dollar of what that item is really worth.
Then, once you receive the article, republish it with the correct title and updated description. You may want to take new pictures. You already have all the packaging material (since the packaged item arrived).
MisspellGenerator.com makes this process simple, efficient and highly profitable. There are sellers on eBay who make over $200 each week using this “product switching” strategy.
2) A buyer can also benefit. . .
There are real bargains on eBay, you just have to know how to find them. If you make a habit of searching for misspelled auctions, you’ll be amazed at how many bids you can get. Labtop Computers (Laptop Computers) under $200,
Cordless (cordless) drills under $9 (I’m talking Dewalt, Makita, Craftsman, etc.). Dimond Rings (Diamond) under $20. Playstation systems (Playstation) under $50. The list goes on and on.
eBay has a spell check feature, but like most things, most people don’t use it. Many Powersellers will list items on eBay with third party auction software providers that do not offer a spell checker.
Commonly misspelled words on eBay can include popular brand names such as:
Tommy, Eddie Bauer, Liz Claiborne, Gap, Dockers, Apple, Vaio, Dell or HP Abercrombie, aeropostale, Cordless, Laptop, iPod, motherboard, silver plate and much more.
learn more about MisspellGenerator.com This day!