By Cheryl Currid

Brewing somewhere in the new economy I think there's a new stir between bits, atoms and the speed of action. The bottom line could be an axiom that says "bigness is badness."

And, those of you with home or small businesses could already know the story. While big companies have the safety and security of bureaucratic process, protection and "in the box" thinking, a small, agile enterprise can invade the box from outside.

This is sometimes called flying beneath the radar, because small, fast-acting organizations can pose a challenge without ever showing up as a competitor. It is an empowering concept, even for individuals, who can set up shop quickly.

It just takes a few clicks of the mouse to become a "seller." I even tried it myself and saw how quickly I could unload things from my closets into someone else's closets. My trash suddenly has become other people's treasure.

During the experiment, I learned something else. A person, small company or pilot program can become a credit-card accepting virtual global e-merchant in less than a week.

That's right, with the right concept you can set up your cybershop, advertise, sell and collect money including credit card purchases in less than a week. Also, if you cook up a bad marketing concept, the fee for closing up shop is small. You simply pay for the listing, which is usually just a few dollars. No worries about residual costs for broken leases, staffing layoffs or capital goods.

One key component, aside from establishing a virtual storefront, is to establish an online method to complete the sale. In fact, you can sign up and start taking credit card payments in only a few minutes. To do so is not expensive, cumbersome or time consuming. In fact, you don't even have to leave your home office.

One such way is to set up a PayPal account. This organization, which became popular as an early supporter of eBay transactions, will let you process Visa, MasterCard or American Express. The setup is quick, and once you establish an account, you can bill for any purchase. With PayPal you can create and e-mail an invoice to anyone with an e-mail address. For more details, check out https://www.paypal.com/

Another online bill paying service comes from eBay itself. Formerly called BillPoint, the newly dubbed eBay Payments lets you take credit cards or electronic checks. It supports Visa and MasterCard but not American Express. It also lets someone pay with an electronic check. Like PayPal, you can e-mail an invoice to anyone, even if it is not for an eBay product. You can get more details from the eBay site at: http://www.ebay.com.

So whether your rationale is to clean out your closets or to become the next global powerhouse, eBay will provide you with the tools and the connections to do just that.