I knew other people used this tactic to buy stuff on eBay, but never thought someone would create a widget to automate it.
But someone’s just pinged me a new online gadget to play with and make it oh-so-much-easier - Typobay.co.uk
We all know there are millions of eBayers out there hawking their wares and making a tidy sum for themselves in the process. But it appears many of them can’t spell!
Guessing that over 90% of products are found by buyers on the site through searching for them with keywords, when sellers are creating their listings, the slightest spelling mistake or typo can mean zero visibility for their product because eBay doesn’t cater for misspellings in the same way a search engine might.
So as the hours and minutes tick by the sellers with poor spelling get fewer bids than those boffins who could be bothered to get a dictionary out.
This all means bargains galore for us thrifty deal-hunters.
Typobay.co.uk found 864 items listed in error for the term Sony Ericsson!
It appears that search engine optimisation tactics haven’t reached many sellers either. They have a limit to the amount of characters they can use in the title of their listing, but many aren’t using this gift to cram in as many searchable keywords as they can.
So the next time you’re looking for a particular product, click down through the categories so see if there are any badly targeted listings malingering in a title-less wasteland, begging you to place a bid and pick up a sweet deal.
