Sellers mistakes can mean a great deal for you if you know how to identify them and make the most of the errors. There are three common mistakes to search out.

• The seller has timed their listing poorly

• The seller has misidentified their item

• The seller has misspelled the name of their item

You can take advantage of all these mistakes, allowing you to buy at a great price if you are aware enough to look for and make use of them.

BADLY TIMED LISTINGS

• Time after time I see people end auctions when nobody is going to be available to bid. Buyers normally will not be up looking for a bargain at 2:00 AM, but if it is something that can save me dollars, I will specifically look for those end times. Most buyers will choose to win the item that ends at 8:00 PM, when they are up to see it to the end, but they will pay more then I will by waiting a few hours. The way the listing process works is the day and time an item is listing, in a seven day auction, the item will end on the same day of the week and the same time of day. Some sellers don't pay attention or just don't consider this when listing their items. A lot of the items that you want to buy on ebay can be found on listings ending in the middle of the night, and you can save as much as 50% and sometimes more!
• Seasonal and Holiday items that are listed for sale immediately following or well out of their related season. If you are interested in having a Silver Aluminum Christmas Tree in your home next Christmas, don't wait till the Fall to start looking. You never know which seller out there is doing their spring cleaning and are tired of storing excessive Christmas decor and say, 'I've always wanted to try ebay......' Their inexperience is your gain!
• Items scheduled to end during major Holiday Celebration times. In short, items that are scheduled to end when nobody is looking. Christmas may be the only exception as there are alot of sales at that time. But a lot of people leave town for Labor Day, Memorial Day, 4th of July, Thanksgiving, New Years Eve......Also major sporting events can be good for deals, the Superbowl, the World Series, the Daytona 500...........And don't forget TV finalies, especially the reality series, American Idol, Survivor, Apprentice, etc.....

MISIDENTIFIED ITEMS

• Many of the items on ebay are sold by sellers who are simply trying to get rid of something. Unwanted gifts, Hand Me Downs, items from willed estates. Some of these items are often unfamiliar to the seller who hsa little interest or enthusiasm for the item. Sometimes they have no clue what the item is, or what it is used for.
• An example for a listing title a non sports enthusiast may use would be, "Red Model Car with Labels and Signature". You pull up the listing and find an "Autographed Budwieser 8 Dale Earnhardt Jr Nascar" pictured. 
• Or computer items listed by non-technical sellers. Computer items can be confusing for sellers and most that are unfamiliar won't bother to research what they sell. Some items that may be listed as Computer Device, you might be able to identify from their photo and their inexperience is your fortune.
• Antiques can be real finds. I love it when a seller cleans out his garage or shed and finds things that were left there by their grandfather who lived there before them. The generation today is high tech, and most antiques are just junk to them. A listing for "Metal tubes with Handle" turns out to be a Primative Candle Mold, which if listed correctly would have produced a great profit.

MISSPELLED ITEMS

• Finding a good misspelling can be like hitting the jackpot. Most ebay buyers only search for the correct spelling of the item they are looking for. Many sellers are in a hurry when listing their items, and often make typographical errors. If a keyword or phrase relating to the item is misspelled, and the misspelled word is one that would be commonly searched to find the item, the Auction becomes a sleeper. In other words, an auction with a great product, good starting price, and no bids. If your timing is right and you find a Sleeper Auction, you can pick up the auction for next to nothing.
• A good place to start is Google.com. Use this site to research misspelled words. Type in " common misspellings" or Commonly misspelled words" and you may be surprised at what you can find.
• Some examples of search items and what you may find in title searches are, "Beanie Babies"..."Beeny Babies".... "Beanie Babys", and how about "Blu Boy and Pinkie", "Blue Bouy and Pinky".......and "Pueter", "Pewtar", "Pewder".....just to give examples of some items I search for.
• Another search trick is using an asterick (*) in your search word. Using the asterick allows any letter, or a series of letters to fill in the spot within your search word. If you are looking for a Carberator, type in Carb* and see what comes up. This also works on words that may be listed as two words or compound words. If you are looking for eye shadow, You may miss out on items listed as eyeshadow, so type in eye* in the specific category.

It is worth the effort!

If you search for the same type items on a weekly or daily basis, it is worth the effort to learn the art of searching, and use it to your advantage. Work on it and once you get it figured out, you will often find deals that less educated buyers miss. You can purchase perfectly good items at amazing prices, just because other bidders never saw them. If you are determined to get the best deal, don't decide to bid on an item until you have done a thorough search of possible misspellings, or the many ways you could imagine an uninformed seller might list it. Good luck in your searching!