Online Flea Markets

By Jeffrey Ressner/Los Angeles

For as long as she can remember, Candace Scott, 35, has suffered from a consuming addiction. Every spare cent goes to feed her habit, and her husband is hooked just as hard. O.K., so collecting items related to Ulysses S. Grant, the Civil War general turned President, is not as harmful as, say, crack cocaine. But it is now an obsession turbocharged by technology.

Scott does almost all her collecting these days on an auction site called eBay. A sort of digital swap meet, the service allows users to sell and bid for antiques and junk of all kinds--old milk bottles, vintage postcards--even U.S. Grant memorabilia. "I've tripled my collection in two years," says Scott, who has amassed nearly 8,000 items, including a $4,500 signed letter and a $20 embossed pillowcase.

The auctionholic spends "at least" eight hours daily on eBay, and was reprimanded at the high school where she teaches history, in Victorville, Calif., for hogging too much computer time at work. Now, she often wakes in the night to post bids on what she calls "those elusive items you've been searching your whole life for."

More and more collectors are following Scott online. EBay is by far the largest trading post, with a million registered users bidding on 700,000 items in more than 1,000 categories. But Auction Universe, owned by Times Mirror, ties into the publishing company's vast archive of newspaper want ads. And portal giants Yahoo, Excite and Lycos are entering the arena.

Interest will probably surge following eBay's initial public offering of stock last week. The shares, priced at $18, more than doubled in value by week's end, leaving the firm's founder, Pierre Omidyar, 31, with a stake worth more than $600 million. Inspired by a girlfriend who wanted to trade Pez candy dispensers on the Net, Omidyar launched eBay in 1995 and--a rarity among online companies--almost immediately made money. He charged 25[cents] to $2 for each listing and a commission of 1.25% to 5% on each sale.

Omidyar has packed his board with branding-savvy executives from Hasbro, Intuit and Starbucks. But everyone finds working on the auction sites, well, different. Auction Universe chief executive officer Larry Schwartz recalls how someone tried to sell a live kidney for $250,000 before the company yanked the organ off-line. Suburban mom Kathy Barnett of Hoffman Estates, Ill., says she buys "garage-sale doodads" and quickly resells them on eBay: "I paid 10[cents] for a 1930s cookbook and auctioned it for $10." Ray Geeck of Lake Panasoffkee, Fla., began casually hawking dolls from his home and claims to have grossed $1 million so far this year. Judy Williams of Atlanta, Texas, says she worked her way off welfare by reselling linens, quilts, pottery and tobacco tins on eBay.

EBay encourages users to post feedback about their deals; those attracting too many complaints of unscrupulous trading are barred. Some of eBay's competitors have escrow-type accounts and customized delivery services. Auction Universe has just begun offering an optional "Bid$afe" policy with money-back guarantees and insurance coverage of as much as $3,000. Of course, every auction involves risk of some sort. Just ask the crestfallen bidders who lost out on that Ulysses S. Grant pillowcase. Or the collector still looking for a matching kidney.

--By Jeffrey Ressner/Los Angeles