My friends over at Magic Avi have been selling petite avatars for a couple of years now. No, not the new MESH petite avatars, but “petite” avatars – little fey shapes, wee folk, small faeries – petite shapes.

If you did a search for “petite avatars” or “petites,” Magic Avi would usually appear at the top of the results page.

But now, people who search for petite avatars are often looking for the mesh avatars. And people who buy Magic Avi shapes sometimes think they are buying the mesh avatars. This has created a lot of confusion over at the Magic Avi shop.

Mhaze Magic, owner of Magic Avi, has been trying to let people know, before they buy a shape, that her petite avatars are not the new mesh avatars. She is in the process of adding the following notices to her Marketplace listings:

*** IMPORTANT: THIS IS NOT A MESH AVATAR. Please try demo before buying shape.
*** NOTE: Depending on the viewer you use, this shape will measure between 4’8″ – 5’1″ tall.

Mhaze hopes that, by giving the height of the avatars, people will know these petite avatars are not the knee-high mesh avatars.

Over at Second Shapes, Haze Halfpint reports similar confusion with people who come to her shop. Second Shapes has been known as “The Petite Avatar” shop since 2007. Their update group is titled, appropriately, “Second Shapes – The Petite Avatar.”

Haze said she often gets questions about her petite shapes and, by the type of questions being asked, it is obvious that people are talking about the new mesh avatars. She, too, is planning to put up similar notices in her shop and on the Marketplace.

When a common term, such as “petite avatars,” takes on a new focus, there is bound to be confusion. Magic Avi and Second Shapes are taking steps to prevent the bought-the-wrong-thing purchase by visitors to their shops.