Stores service craving for eBay sales.

Rick English sold a tuxedo for $240 through eBay Inc. in November without clicking on its Internet auction site. Instead, he took it to a consignment store near his home in Nashville, Tenn.

The store, named Snappy Auctions, photographed the suit, posted the listing on eBay, sold and shipped it for English, a 59-year-old shopping center developer. "Snappy takes all the brain damage out of it," said English, who doesn't know how to upload digital photos to the Internet or sell items on eBay, the world's largest online auctioneer.

Snappy runs some of the 100 or so stores in the United States that cater to people willing to pay a third party to sell their merchandise on eBay. About 650 more so-called "drop-off" stores are planned this year. While eBay doesn't own or control them, it stands to benefit as sales of technology and sporting goods alone through the stores may reach $10 billion, according to a company estimate.

"We're excited about this," eBay Chief Executive Meg Whitman said at a Goldman Sachs investor conference in Phoenix. "Clearly they are getting an incremental customer that would have never come to eBay on their own."

EBay, which collects fees from sellers who pay to list and conduct business through its online marketplace, got more than 7 cents from each dollar of merchandise sold on its site last year. At that rate, $10 billion in consignment sales would yield $700 million in revenue. EBay's 2003 revenue was $2.17 billion.

The drop-off stores, which write listings, respond to questions from potential buyers, process transactions and ship items, may represent a windfall for the online auctioneer should they succeed.

That remains to be seen, though. A pioneering effort by MyEZSale.com, a Framingham, Mass.-based firm backed by $8 million of venture capital, shut down in 2002 after offering the service at 200 locations.

"All of these companies are rushing after this land grab and we're still not quite sure it is a business model that works," said David Steiner, who helps run AuctionBytes.com, a Web site that tracks the online auction market.

Sellers who receive poor service at a store or aren't satisfied with the results of an auction might blame eBay, said Heidi Roizen, a managing director at Mobius Venture Capital, which has invested in consignment stores. Roizen said Whitman has told her that eBay isn't interested in opening its own stores.

EBay, based in San Jose, rewards drop-off stores that sell enough listed merchandise. Some companies may qualify for advertising reimbursements under a program for large sellers, spokesman Hani Durzy said. The company is trying to determine other ways to work with the stores, he said.

The drop-off stores' fees cover those paid to eBay as well as their own costs and margins. In general, they only sell on eBay and take consignment items worth at least $50 while charging a commission ranging from 20 percent to 40 percent.