Access Ebay's hidden auctions


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As an ebay shopper, this is a heavenly find for me (and I thank my wife for introducing me to it). Basically, it all revolves around taking advantage of typos, misspellings and other human errors in ebay listings. And I'm all about taking advantage.

Here's the deal
Occasionally, I've accidentally stumbled upon great deals because the listing had a spelling error. For example, ADIADS instead of ADIDAS. Or APLE instead of APPLE. People are not searching for that term as they generally spell it correctly themselves in the search engine.

So, some clever folks have devised a few websites to get you straight to the hidden deals. I personally liked Hidden Auction and Missing Auctions and they both give you the power to search ebay for the brands and items you're looking for that may actually be misspelled. A great example is the amount of GYMBOREE clothes that are about to go away without a single bid because they have been listed as GMYBOREE, or GYYMBORIE.

Now, you can swoop in and buy the item for almost nothing, or at the very least the lowest reserve price. It's a great innovation to take advantage of a known problem, plus the seller gets rid of the item without having to pay a relisting fee. Sweet. And just one more way to be a great frugal shopper.


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Guest's picture
Guest

The flip side of sellers misspelling keywords in a listing is buyers misspelling keywords in a search. hammertap did an analysis and found that certain misspellings actually resulted in a higher final price, not a lower one.

http://forums.ebay.com/db2/thread.jspa?threadID=2000291615

Bottom line: go ahead and search for misspelled listings, but compare those listings side by side with listings with no typos. And if you're a seller, you may want to use deliberate misspellings.

Guest's picture

Thanks for highlighting my eBay misspelling tool, I'm really glad that you find it useful.

With reference to the comment above, that's the exact reason why with Missing-Auctions.com allows you to search for correctly spelled items and also allows you to search completed eBay auctions so that you can do the research.

Now, having blogged on here, I really need to post on the Missing-Auctions.com blog !

Guest's picture

I found some great deals, but when I searched for "Coach", I found several listings spelled "Cocah" that were all by the same seller. I don't think fat fingers did that several times in a row. Not unless they chose the "List another like this one" option and REALLY didn't proofread.

Guest's picture
Paul

Not new news but another great way to save on eBay is to snipe the auction. Two free ones I've used are:

http://www.skimp.org
http://www.gixen.com

Guest's picture

Another misspelling search site worth a look is http://www.invisible-auctions.com. It works quite well for me and usually finds a large number of ebay typos.

Guest's picture

The one that I use is http://www.auctionpixie.co.uk/search/, personally I think it narrows results a lot more that the others currently about - for example, try searching for 'diamonds' or 'diamond' on one of the other sites and see what happens.

The sites got some other cool tools too, like automatic feedback, a free scrolling gallery, etc.

It’s worth a look if you have a minute or two...

Guest's picture
Alexx

I found some great deals, but when I searched for "Coach", I found several listings spelled "Cocah" that were all by the same seller.

http://www.fullmovies.biz/details/movie/Last+Holiday-45849.html

Guest's picture

Probably one of the best mispelled search engines I have used is this one:

http://www.kekoa64.com/ebaytool

And believe me, I do a lot of ebaying!

Guest's picture
Kekoa64

I guess so many people are buying Heather's ebook at Top_Secret_Money on e-bay.

Her e-book is the best I have ever seen.
I wish I had her talent to write and create the huge business success she makes for her customers.

I know deep down she's the most unstoppable force on ebay and her ebook even though it's new,will soon over take mine.
I wish you all the best Heather, you deserve it.
Kekoa64

How To Make $500 Daily,Using Heather's Secret Code The XXX60000

Heathers Web Site

Guest's picture
shadow

If anyone is interested, I have written a Guide about these "secret codes" that they claim to use. I outline their tricks and publish the codes.

It can be found here:

http://surfebay.com/Guide/index.html

Guest's picture

Another one for your collection of misspell search tools:
GetMyAuction.com - misspell eBay search with RSS support

Guest's picture

Typo tools are great for finding the deals, but before you bid make sure to check out how the smartest buyers are getting cash back rebates from all their purchases.

http://www.cashbackatebay.com/

In addition to a typo tool we also have an automated search tool that buyers will love. This enables buyers to get e-mail notification of their favorite searches, which is great when you're looking for rare items that don't often come by on eBay. Auction sniping is another fun tool, but it doesn't yet work when you want to get cash back on your purchases.

We have a few cool tools for sellers too, including resources to help sellers get their feedback in check and spying on other eBay members.

Here's to getting the best deal you can on eBay!

Guest's picture

The best way to find online coupons is #1 when you visit www.mermaidmonkey.com

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Guest's picture
Guest

Ebay now has a self-correcting feature, which is actually quite annoying, although you can disable it by clicking on "hide ebay suggestions" on the drop down under the search box.