New sites promise to be....

...SPELLCHECK FOR eBAYERS!

If you like to browse, bid and buy on eBay but hate to spell, a handful of new web sites are coming to your rescue. And they promise not only to help bad spellers find what they want but can also help anyone find a bargain by looking for a misspelled listing.

According to the Sunday New York Times, sites with names like Typo Bay and Typo Buddy "are out to help shoppers save money by searching eBay for misspelled brand names."

As the story points out, looking for bargains by hunting for brand names that have been spelled wrong is a well-known online auction strategy.

"Looking to save money on a pair of Manolo Blahnik shoes this holiday season? Try searching for Manolo Blahnicks," the story urges.

We did just that and found no listings. However, when we spelled "Manolo" with three O's, we found a some swanky heels going for deep discounts.

More from The Times:

Typo Buddy started about six months ago and already has up to 80,000 visitors on a good day, said its president, Jonathan Lieberman, an Internet entrepreneur in San Diego. "I expect in this market, where people are ever more vigilant for deals, that we'll do really well this holiday season," he predicted.

Joseph Mantha, the 19-year-old co-creator of Typo Bay, which started in 2007, said October was the site's busiest month yet. (A big month for Typo Bay means about 4,000 visitors - and about $500.) He also expects traffic to grow in the weeks before the holidays.

As far as the Manolos go, the story reports on Heather Guinther, a customer service representative from Newport Beach, Calif., who recently used Typo Buddy to find an $850 pair of "Manolo Blahnick" shoes for about $350.

"I knew I could find some Manolos on there because it's not an easy name to spell," she said.

Visitors to these sites enter the correct spelling of the item they are looking for, and the sites automatically search eBay for common misspellings. eBay then pays the sites a small commission for each search that results in a sale.

For bargain hunters, such syntactic sloppiness is a boon. But it also means a lot of sellers are missing getting the best price for their items. Yet, as it turns out, some sellers make sure their listings are misspelled - all in the name of sales strategy.

"Some sellers intentionally misspell their items in order to stand out," said Jeff King, eBay's senior director of search.

(Photo: An "O" where there ought to be an "A" has these sandals headed for a deep discount.)