It graduated to a hobby when Dodd, 43, started scouring garage and estate sales looking for meager profits on the antiques and collectibles he found. A $10 box of miscellaneous items changed everything. Inside the cardboard container was a dilapidated wooden toy box that he sold on eBay for $750. The buyer was actually willing to pay twice that amount for what turns out was an original jack-in-the-box from the 1800s.

"From that point on I was hooked," Dodd said.

The hobby turned business in 2003 when Dodd launched AuctionMeThis, a brick-and-mortar store where customers drop off unwanted goods that are then auctioned on eBay. The customer gets a check minus AMT's commission once the sale is completed. AuctionMeThis charges a sliding scale of between 20 percent and 39 percent of the sale price. The more expensive the item, the smaller the commission.

Dodd saw eBay's potential after hearing from colleagues that they shied from the auction Web site because of time constraints or unease with the computer side of the process.

AuctionMeThis removes those obstacles. The company photographs the product, writes the description, monitors the auction and ships the merchandise if it sells. The customer just waits for the check.

Dodd's first store opened at the corner of Fourth Plain and Ward road and a second opened in April 2004 in Las Vegas.

"Things have blossomed," he said.

He plans to open additional stores in Vancouver, Portland, and Las Vegas. The ultimate goal is to franchise the concept by next year.