ADVANTAGE: SPELLCHECK

Awkshun Serchs

Some lonely eBay sellers, long puzzled by the lack of online enthusiasm for their goods, are now the favored folks for a growing cult of bargain hunters who search the auction site for those who simply, well, can't spell. Yes, a staunch group of eBay hunters are finding some serious bargains by ferreting out such products as labtop computers, Art Deko vases, camras, saffires, comferters, antiks, and dimonds (spellings all found in a recent eBay search). The New York Times reports a growing number of eBayistas search specifically for misspellings, knowing there is likely a frustrated seller on the other end who will accept a lowball bid just to get rid of the item(s). Often these buyers will then turn around and sell the item all over again on eBay for a much higher price simply because they spelled the item's name correctly.

This was from the News Track section of Communications of the ACM, April 2004. There are two things I love about it.

First, the bad spellers are being punished. I may harangue and rant here about all the injustices in language, but it doesn't really accomplish anything, apart from let off a little steam. I can admit that. Never did I think that it was possible for the transgressors to be punished. Note that this is different than someone punishing them because of the transgression, as a teacher might give a low grade to a paper with atrocious word-use*; the eBay misspellers are punished by way of their very mistake.

Yes, you can argue that the original sellers aren't being punished, since they do still accept the lowballed price offered. But you must take into account the reseller's return when they auction off the same item at a reasonable profit. It's that differential in profits that makes up the punishment, because if it wasn't for a simple, correctable mistake, the original seller could have realized that profit themselves.


The second highlight to this piece is the resellers. They're making a profit with hardly any effort (I've never bought or sold on eBay, so I'm only guessing that it's not that hard). These people have found a way to make money by buying and selling items. This is nothing new. Finding markets where an item is cheaply available and selling them in a different market probably has an economic term that I promptly forgot after getting a D in Econ 201. But these people found this new market. I leave the attribution of creation to those lacking a dictionary.

I sat for a few moments after reading the article, trying to decide if I'd ever have come up with this idea. If I was one that trolled eBay in search of deals, I'd certainly notice the plethora of mistakes to be found in such a melting pot, and might even post about them here. But to decide that poor spelling really can harm you? Probably not. And then to take it one step further and realize that someone else's spelling error could benefit you, to realize that those mistakes could lead to opportunity? Definitely not.

This isn't to say that I don't understand the relationship between text search engines and bad spelling. I'm a computer programmer who's worked for one of the biggest search engine companies around. I'm also a websurfer who has on many occasions seen a website and wondered how anyone would find it with a search engine, since such-and-such word -- usually the subject or theme of the webpage -- is spelled incorrectly. But to realize the benefit from this? To see an opportunity for gain? Utter genius. My hat off to you, "eBayistas." You may have found the real way to get through to people. Their wallet.

I'll end with this with the emotion that the article stirred within me, one of my favorite words in this or any other language.


schadenfreude (shād'n-froi'də)
n.

Pleasure derived from the misfortunes of others.


*Yes, yes, the students are to blame for their low grades, not the teachers, but you get my point.