By Cheryl Currid

If you or a member of your family could be described as a pack rat, I may have found some good therapy. It's eBay. While they don't advertise themselves as behavioral help for overstuffed closets, the service can help.

Most people know eBay as the world's first and most successful virtual garage sale. People sign up to buy and sell everything from pottery to processors. Unlike a local garage sale, eBay puts products in front of a global audience. The process to buy or sell is easy, somewhat self-policing, and over the years has developed into a new cottage industry.

According to a Time Magazine article published in December 1999, eBay started a revolution that let small businesses and individuals compete in a global market without risking lots of money in startup costs. That year eBay logged about $4.5 billion in sales with 7.7 million registered users bidding on 3 million items. Last year, eBay sales topped $9 billion.

For would-be entrepreneurs, eBay takes the sting out of startup costs. Anyone can register as a seller and after providing eBay with identification, banking and e-mail information. You can then immediately set up shop to auction off items. EBay charges a small listing fee for each item you want to sell. Sellers can also pay for additional advertising on eBay's site, credit card services, or reserve fees if the bidding for an item is below what the seller wants to take. The structure of the listing makes it very easy to get started.

Of course, eBay itself has a dream business, with no stores, no warehouses and no content costs to reduce the cut it gets from millions of online auction sales.

The site teaches people how to virtualize business. It is full of help topics and supports chat rooms where buyers and sellers can discuss topics ranging from how to post pictures to suggested shipping techniques.

Locally, eBay has helped clean out the closets of Enron employees. Earlier this week, there were over 2,000 active listings of Enron novelties, from hard hats to coffee mugs. Some of the completed sales could send anyone digging into their closets.

For example, 24 bidders bid the price of Enron's Risk Policy Manual to sell for $1,025 last week. Other pricy items sold recently include $510 for a leaded crystal Enron corporate executive award and $430 for a paperweight with company's core values.

Looking at recent sales, I'm convinced that people could find gold in their garages and closets. Some items, like broken cars, can be sold for parts. And, don't be surprised if oldies can turn into goldies -- people even sell eight-track tapes on eBay.

So get into those over-stuffed closets that are spilling out into the halls and blocking the way to your home office. It seems that pack rats, myself included, could part with clutter for cash. I'll let you know my progress.