Got a 'Cristmas' item for sale? Maybe some pretty 'Ornamnets'? How about an old 'Cival' War book? Liz 'Clairborne' purse? A nice warm 'Artic' jacket?

(Right: Christmas, Ornaments, Civil, Claiborne, Arctic)

Those are just a few commonly misspelled words I see every day in listing titles. Don't believe me? Just do a search for any one of those. You'll be amazed how many listings have misspellings in the title. Sellers, that's the most important feature of your listing!

And guess what. Shrewd buyers know to search for spelling errors. Why? Because they want to take advantage of your ignorance! And why shouldn't they? You are in control of your listing and you have all the tools necessary right at your fingertips. There's no excuse for not using the spell checker no matter your IQ. Typos happen!

USE THE SPELL CHECKER! Use it every time. When you have a nice item to sell but it ends up selling for much less than similar items, it's heart breaking to find out later that you typed 'Chirstmas' instead of 'Christmas'. Once your item has received a bid, you cannot correct your mistake. You have two options; 1) Cancel your listing, or 2) Live with your error.

Your spell checker doesn't work? Guess what, you can download a free spell checker called ieSpell. Just do a search for it. It works great, it's free and it shows up under your TOOLS menu for easy access.

I've certainly taken advantage of mistakes in listings, as others have taken advantage of mine. I was once a new seller and have had the misfortune of forgetting to check my title before someone else found my typo and took advantage of it.

I've learned most of my Ebay selling lessons the hard way. I'm hoping this guide might help you avoid one of them.

Good luck!