Now she makes about $1,200 a week selling used apparel from her home on Maunalani Heights. All on eBay.

"If you told me I'd be making this much when I started (three years ago), I would've called you insane," said Gruver, 35. "But I love working for myself and never having to work with other people."

Gruver is one of millions of eBay believers who have opened up shops on the online auction site, running small businesses and making careers out of selling products to the site's 125 million registered users.

The auction service, which expects to reach $3.25 billion in consolidated net revenues by the end of the year, has become a valuable platform for starting a small business or growing an existing one, especially since the site comes with a built-in customer base.

Auction Advisor LLC, formed in October 2001, develops and markets training programs for various online auctions. In conjunction with eBay, the company has designed and created seminars, workshops and distance learning products for eBay University, the auction's training component.

Auction Advisor projects more than 74,000 students in 2004 while expecting to grow to 165,000 students next year. The company will be hosting free two-hour seminars on O'ahu next week, one at the Hilton Hawaiian Village on Tuesday, and the other at the Waikiki Beach Marriot on Thursday.

Gruver, who's working toward becoming a certified eBay educational specialist, believes the more you know about eBay, or selling anything online in general, the better.

"The sad thing is that here there aren't many people who know a bunch about eBay," said Gruver, who learned how to use the online auction through her dad, an eBay veteran.

Her goal to conduct eBay workshops — another way to make money — is just another business risk she plans to take.

Jerome Coudrier of Kailua sells about 200 products on eBay, grossing an average of $10,000 in monthly sales.

He's been selling hand-carved Polynesian tikis for about three years, making it a full-time job about 18 months ago. Three months ago his Web site, Tikimaster.com, went live, creating another avenue to sell his products to a different market of consumers.

"It's better to actually have your own Web site and use eBay as a marketing tool to bring customers back to your own Web site," said Coudrier, 33, who moved to Hawai'i from Paris 14 years ago. "eBay ends up taking too much of your money. ... It ends up eating your profit margin. But don't get me wrong, it's still a huge income for me, but you have to use it smartly."

Coudrier, who worked for years in the high-tech industry in Hawai'i, has transformed his Kailua home into a workplace where he creates Web content, writes product descriptions, and stores and packs his merchandise. He keeps most of his tikis in a shed in his backyard.

"When I'm big enough," he said, "I'll get a warehouse."

The benefits of eBay range from its large customer base that spans more than 200 countries to the flexibility home-based businesses offer in terms of scheduling and pace.

But being based in Hawai'i can have its downsides, despite a recent growth in the number of eBay sellers located in the Islands.

While the allure of Hawai'i still brings curious shoppers to browse through vintage aloha shirts and Hawaiian-style jewelry, the state is disadvantaged by its distance from the rest of the world.

Shipping costs are higher and sellers have to adjust to greater time zone differences.

That's what drove William Gladstone of Kailua to open an office in New York for his eBay business, Aloha Gifts, which sells a variety of Hawaiian-themed products.

"We move everything up a day by having an office on the East Coast," said Gladstone, who has grown his business into a full-scale operation that includes 10 employees and a warehouse in Waipahu.

His staff in New York begins processing eBay orders at 9 a.m. and sends invoices to the warehouse in Waipahu before it opens. By the time the local staff gets to the warehouse, they receive the orders, contact suppliers, pick up the merchandise and ship them out to customers.

Gladstone's biggest problem is the cost of shipping, which is higher from Hawai'i.

"It's a huge issue for us," said Gladstone, who also works as a wine importer and distributor.

He makes about 150 transactions every month, with about 10 percent of his business coming from outside the United States. He's even had orders from countries the post office had never heard of.

But, as with other eBay-based businesses, Gladstone sees that it's time to start his own Web site.

"But that's such a major investment," he said. "So we're kinda stuck."

That kind of investment has paid off for Coudrier. His company's independent Web site now boasts 30 percent of his total sales — and growing..

Reach Catherine E. Toth at 535-8103 or ctoth@honoluluadvertiser.com.