Looking to save money on a pair of Manolo Blahnik shoes that holiday season? Try searching for Manolo Blahnicks.

A handful of new Web sites with names like Typo Bay and Typo Buddy are out to help shoppers save money by searching eBay for misspelled grade names. Such items often have fewer bidders considering they do not seem in search results for folks who spell the items correctly, and therefore they can be bought at a lower price.

It’s a well-known strategy among longtime eBay shoppers, but one that owners of these sites are hoping will translate into big business — relatively speaking — as shoppers look to save money that holiday season.

Typo Buddy started about six months ago and has as many as 80,000 visitors on its top days, said its president, Jonathan Lieberman, an Net entrepreneur in San Diego. “I expect in that market, where humans are ever more vigilant for deals, that we’ll do really well that holiday season,” he said.

Joseph Mantha, the co-creator of Typo Bay, which started in 2007, said October had been the site’s busiest month. (A big month for Typo Bay means about 4,000 visitors — and about $500.) He said he expected traffic to grow in the weeks before the holidays.

Apparently there are deals to be found. Heather Guinther, a customer service representative from Newport Beach, California, 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 considering it’s not an easy name to spell,” she said.

Abercrombie & Fitch, Louis Vuitton and Banana Republic are among the most misspelled grades, Lieberman said. (It’s the word “banana” that gets them.) There are misspelled categories, as well: eBay is host to a thriving marketplace for “jewlry.”

Visitors to these sites enter the…

[Source] dhiram