Sellers on eBay don't always spell brand names correctly, making goods harder to find for those searching with a correctly spelled keyword, writes The New York Times (via Retailer Daily).

Fortunately for buyers, a handful of websites have sprung up that enable searches for such misspelled items, often locating better deals because there are likely to be fewer bidders on the item.

Sites like Typo Bay and Typo Buddy trawl eBay for misspelled versions of hard-to-spell brand names like Abercrombie & Fitch, Louis Vuitton, Manolo Blahnik and Banana Republic. There are misspelled categories, too: "Jewlry" is among the most popular.

For each search that results in a sale, eBay pays the sites a small commission. And they appear to be thriving, particularly in a holiday market full of deal-seeking consumers.

Typo Buddy, which launched six months ago, already has up to 80,000 visitors "on a good day," according to President Jonathan Lieberman. And Typo Bay, founded in 2007 by 19-year-old Joseph Mantha, said October was its busiest month yet, with about 4,000 unique visitors and some $500 in revenue.