Consign of the Times EBay drop-off stores could be the next big thing.

EBay's popularity is spawning a new niche: brick-and-mortarstores that help people who are too busy or confused by eBay'ssystem to sell their goods on the site. After all, selling on eBayrequires time and effort. Sellers have to take digital photographsand write descriptions of the merchandise, arrange to get paid,package their goods, and bring the packages to a shipper.

In the past year, many companies-including AuctionDrop Inc.,AuctionWagonInc., Picture It Sold, QuikDrop Inc. and SnappyAuctions-have launched eBay drop-off stores to help with thesehassles. Most of these are in California and focus on individuals,but plan to expand throughout the country and to the B2Bmarket.

EBay drop-off stores are similar to traditional consignmentshops in that they charge sellers a commission for selling an item.They don't charge upfront fees for their basic service, insteadearning commissions based on an item's final sale price.Customers usually pay separate fees charged by eBay, ranging from1.5 to 5.25 percent of the final price.