[meteorite-list] Re: [Meteorite List] eBay misspellings

From: Sterling K. Webb <kelly_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu Apr 22 10:32:10 2004
Message-ID: <4018AEF4.A961E30_at_bhil.com>

     Hi,


     Results of a few eBay searches (all categories) on
     misspellings suggested by the NYTimes article.

     1018 items found for: knive,"Art
     Deko",camra,comferter,saphire.

     102 items found for:
     bycicle,telefone,dimond,dimonds,"mother of
     perl",cuttlery,antik

         I found 18 Labtop computers.

         Hoping for an underpriced lunar main mass or even a
     football-sized chunk of Mars, 22 items found for:
     metoerite,luner,marsian,martain.

         Interesting misspelling clusters: "wedding ban with five
     dimonds" or "grate first camra." Many misspellers appear to be
     foreign sellers for whom English is not a native tongue.

         No immediate evidence that misspellings hinder the sale or
     lower the price of items; I found one listing simply titled
     "Labtop" at $500 with 8 bidders. Did those eight search for
     "labtops" in the first place?

         A point that is missed in the Time article is that, since
     there should be statistically as many misspellers who search
     as misspellers who list, they should, in the long run, find
     each other! I think that's one of the Laws of Thermodynamics,
     isn't it?

         But I dint find inny bargins.


     Sterling K. Webb
Received on Thu 29 Jan 2004 01:57:59 AM PST