Debt happens. Despite all those promising credit card offers and loans, students often find themselves mid-semester in the throws of finding enough money to pay the rent as well as the weekend binge.

But although jobs are available – ranging from a telemarketer to a janitor – there is something a little less conventional some ISU students have discovered.

It’s the Internet- more precisely eBay- and between their time on Facebook and Webmail, they discovered a way to capitalize on Al Gore’s invention.

“I started selling things on eBay when I was a sophomore in high school,” said Ryan Ellis, junior in industrial technology. “I went into it not really expecting to make a lot of money, but I started selling some extra parts I had from my four wheelers and found that people will pay obscene amounts of money for what I thought was junk.”

eBay, originally called AuctionWeb, was founded in September of 1995 in San Jose, Calif. It is the brainchild of Pierre Omidyar, a computer programmer who began the service as an extension of his personal Web site.

More than a decade later, eBay is a publicly traded company and owns stakes in other online services such as Craigslist, Skype and Half.com.

What may make the online marketplace so attractive to users is the ease of use it offers as well as the potential to make money on things just lying around.

“As a seller, the whole process is pretty easy with the step’s laid out for you and everything, but the hardest part is setting up a Paypal account so you can accept payments from credit cards,” said Andrew Broesder, sophomore in accounting.

Aside from just selling personal things, one student started a small business in selling items for their friends.

“Usually when I sell anything on eBay, I do it for friends, like trading cards or old video games. It helps that I have a high seller rating so buyers will have confidence when they bid on the items,” Broesder said.

The eBay feedback and rating system is one measure installed to help deter fraud and recognize legitimate buyers and sellers. For every item sold, a positive or negative rating is issued by both parties, who have the option to leave an additional comment about the experience.

“The rating and comment thing is great, but you have to beware when you want to end up buying something,” said Tyler Christian, senior in civil engineering. “You want to be sure not to just look solely at the positive and negative ratings, it helps a lot to go through all the comments on the seller’s page and see exactly what type of person he is.”

But as the saying goes, there is no such thing as a free lunch, and eBay is no exception.

“For every item sold, eBay takes a certain amount out of the final sale price for themselves, but it’s not too bad. That amount also fluctuates as the price increases,” Broesder said.

Although none of the students depend on the service as their primary avenue for income, they feel that it is a great bonus when they do sell something.

“I don’t really use eBay as my only source of money, but it does provide that extra money when I need it,” Ellis said. “And what makes it even better is that it is so easy to do.”