"Two years ago if you asked me if I collected anything I would've said no. Today I have 2,000 toy soldiers," said Steve Westly, vice president of marketing and business development at Internet auctioneer eBay Inc.

Since software developer Pierre Omidyar founded eBay in 1995 as a way for his girlfriend (now his wife) to bolster her Pez dispenser collection, Internet auctions have awakened the sleeping giant, as it were, of the Collecting Consciousness.

Antique dealers have closed shops to trade exclusively online, finding that inventories move far more quickly across the borderless Internet, and at higher prices than if they waited months for that one special customer to wander through the door.

Beanie Baby frenzy has spawned careers for mothers and made traders out of children, who buy and sell on hobby Web sites or EWBE, an online exchange specially created to trade the toys.

Last month, Mobilia.com made its debut, offering a way for automobile enthusiasts to trade anything related to the motor car, and somewhere down the line, buy and sell used vehicles.

"There are a ton of auctions, shows, publications. But after a while you've exhausted the supply from these dealers," said Bill Bryant, who credits the Internet for a recent boost to his collection of aviation-related letters.

"eBay has given me access to dealers worldwide. And it's at no cost to me. If I buy in an auction, there's a 10 to 15 percent buyer's charge."

For sellers -- even of stuff in the attic, basement or garage -- the Internet is also a gold mine.

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"It's an unbelievable opportunity to market merchandise," said Andrew Malin, a dealer who has sold 2,000 items on eBay.

"Instead of putting it in the antiques mall where 200 people can see it, or a live auction with 300 people, you have 70 million on the Internet. People compete for these things. It's a night and day difference."

All this makes collecting an even bigger pastime and business than it has ever been.

Instead of paying -- perhaps repeatedly -- to advertise in a publication with a limited readership, sellers on eBay pay a posting fee of only 25 cents to $2, depending on how much item costs. If a sale goes through, the seller pays a 5 percent "success fee" on the first $25, 2.5 percent for $25 to $1,000, and 1.25 percent for items over $1,000.

Mobilia magazine's new site, charges only a small fee after a sale is made.

Despite such small commissions, eBay has been profitable for every quarter since it went on the Internet -- helping lift its stock to more than $300, from a 52-week low of $25 in October, when it went public.

"Online trading has taken (collecting) out of the more hard-core channels, so everyone can participate at a low cost," Eric Killorin, founder of Mobilia, said, noting that three million automobilia collectors in the United States spend about $1 million on their hobby each year.

"Auctions are a centuries-old tradition. You're taking a proven format to a focused market ... at a low cost. It's one of the simplest business models," Killoran said.

Moreover, sellers can list items on the Internet in less than an hour, compared with days or even weeks for a publication. The high turnover on auction Web sites, and listings of prices items sold for -- which go back for a month on eBay -- means a freer, more competitive market.

"My vision of the Internet is that it's going to basically eliminate the middleman and create a whole new level of competition based on an implosion of selling costs. That is why there has been such a massive shift to these sites," said James Dines, editor of the Dines Letter, an investment newsletter.

All this is not lost on Sotheby's, which in July will open the doors of its high-end auction house to the ordinary collector sitting at the home computer.

"We are working on creating the highest quality auction site on the Internet. There isn't the guarantee (elsewhere) in terms of confidence, of having a place like Sotheby's standing behind its objects," David Redden, executive vice president of Sotheby's in New York, said.

"It will allow collectors to search through large numbers of items in a way that's hard to do by going to galleries and stores and catalogs."

Sotheby's has already signed up 1,500 art dealers in the United States and Europe for the site, which will initially feature goods priced at $300 to $10,000, with bidders paying by credit card. Only professional sellers can sell on the site.

Sotheby's expects this to boost sales way beyond the almost 200,000 lots sold each year for $1.85 billion at its live auctions last year.

Unlike other Web sites, Sotheby's will charge buyers a 10 percent commission. Sellers do not have to pay a fee, but they must provide their own item descriptions and guarantees.

Since Internet auction houses typically do not guarantee the items they list, buyers are subject to some risk. eBay is under federal scrutiny for "possible illegal transactions" even as the company has been been trying to wipe out fraud, from sellers failing to deliver goods, to buyers not paying up, and the sale of illegal items such as Uzi or AK-47 firearms.

All this does not seem to faze Internet auction fans, who rely on feedback posted on Web sites by buyers and sellers about the people they have dealt with.

"If you're not a good guy, you can exploit (the situation), but can't do so for long because self-policing takes over," said Malin, who had trouble only with a "handful" of his 2,000 trades on eBay.

"The rewards far, far outweigh the risks."