Like any other Saturday morning, Jacqueline Weiner has just two things on her mind: the Goodwill this morning and the auction this afternoon. "I found my niche in life," Weiner says. "I thought corporate America was for me. There is life after American Express," the retired 15-year professional adds.

Wiener's fascination with auctions started with her first purchase. "I really became a treasure hunter," says Weiner, now a certified personal property placer and full-time employee of Arizona Auction Systems, one of the state's largest auction houses.

"I bought a Nippon Porcelain dog figurine for $19.99 at Goodwill and sold it for $326 on eBay," Weiner says. These days, that's an average find. In recent months she has happened upon Steiff Stuffed Animals, valued between $50 and $1,000, also buried in the Goodwill well.

"My adrenaline rushed when I saw it," says Weiner. "Unbelievable, then I have to hold on to it because God forbid somebody else might take it."

Weiner is just one of numerous Valley residents who wake every Saturday ready to one-up the competition selling and buying at the Valley's many auctions. And the frenzy is paying off for buyers, sellers and auctioneers alike, all of whom say eBay has only bettered the market. From knickknacks and collectibles to fine art, $1 million dollar homes and $2 million automobiles, the Valley offers an array of auctions to quicken the pulses of the deal hungry.

The Wright Place

It's almost 3 p.m. on Saturday and more than 200 eager buyers are buzzing around the merchandise at the Wright Brothers weekly auction on Country Club near the U.S. 60.

"Just last week I got a 36-inch Sony flat-screen TV for $365," says Morey Nufeld, a Scottsdale retiree and auction regular.

Past rows of new and nearly new furniture and TVs sits an aisle of power tools. "I don't buy anything I couldn't resell on eBay," says Dana Jordan, a father of two who hits the auction every few weeks in search of good deals. Today Jordan has his eyes on a set of Craftsman drawers.

Nufeld and Jordan represent one of three common auction buyers here today: the casual consumer, the serious collector and the eBay reseller.

"eBay has been a good thing. In the beginning we were worried. That was a major concern. But a lot of people do eBay as a business. They come here to buy and resell," explains Patrick Sievwright, co-owner of the Wright Brothers Auction. He and partner Scott Ford both wear white Stetson hats and black boom microphones as they walk the auction floor.

Each looks the part of a working rancher, in jeans and a western button-up shirt. But the two are clearly businessmen, friendly and conscientious of their buyers, and on the move to clear thousands of items by evening. Ford tells of one regular who recently bought a G.I. Joe at Wright Brothers for $15 and sold it for $500 on eBay.

As 3:00 nears, the plastic chairs near the front of the auction begin filling with buyers. Other regulars examine the bicycles and motorcycles sitting off to the right of stage. Telescopes and antiques are scattered toward the other end of the stage.

Ford is sitting on an elevated platform when he begins calling the bids on the first item, and the floor quiets and stills. The untrained ear can hardly keep pace with his words, and the buzz begins to spread.

The Hunt

Let's get one thing straight: It's all about the hunt. As cordial as many auction regulars can be with their well-known neighbors, all know that if it comes down to a certain piece of collectable porcelain or a sought after bedroom set, the dollar is the bottom line, period.

Wright Brothers Auctions include everything from collectables and motorcycles to nearly-worthless knickknacks. But their auction has one thing in common with the upscale Scottsdale Fine Art Auction: competition.

"It's definitely a man thing," says Legacy Gallery owner Jinger Richardson. "Men like to compete. Even when we do phone bids, it's the competition," she adds.

Richardson and husband Brad sold more than $7 million in fine art at last year's annual auction. The Richardsons recently renovated 10,000 square feet of their Downtown gallery, specifically for auctions. This spring's sell already claims one painting valued at more than $200,000.

"There sure is adrenaline," agrees Carl Cunningham, whose family has been auctioning Valley real estate for nearly 60 years. Last year Cunningham and family auctioned more than 700 residential properties across the Valley. He often sees the same three Valley real estate investors duking it out in the final bids for $1 million residential bankruptcy properties.

No matter the price, the adrenaline rush is central to the auction experience. "It's a competitive thing too. Once you get involved, you get caught up in it," says Sievwright of Wright Brothers. "There's great deals to be had. I'd go to an auction before going to a store. But there's a competitive nature where people don't want to lose." Refusing to Go Electronic

As popular as eBay and electronic auction houses have become, many Valley auctions refuse to go electronic, and they say they have good reasons not to.

For one, Wright Brothers owner Scott Ford says, "The fast nickel beats a slow dime theory." Consistently, Wright Brothers doesn't take the time to catalogue and photograph every item for the Internet. Instead, they sell more items in one day than some auction houses sell in entire seasons.

That makes it more likely that professional eBay resellers will find treasures among the merchandise. Take the time 49-year-old Norm Davis bid $50 for a box full of mixed stuff. "I got $4,500 for it," the professional antiques dealer says of the Maria Indian pottery plate he found in the box.

"We're basically wholesalers. eBayers are more like retailers. It's mainly a time thing," Ford says. "If you pull those eBay items, it affects the quality of your auction, and fewer people will come," he adds.

"The wild thing is people don't realize these real auctions are going on. When they hear auction they think of cattle, sheep, cars, horses. We sell refrigerators, leather sofas, TVs."

Deb Wydenhammer, owner of Arizona Auction Systems, takes the exact opposite approach to eBay and electronic bidding. Arizona Auction Systems places all bids online, eBay style, and also provides a real-live auction for the final hour of bidding.

As such, Wydenhammer considers their system the best of both worlds. "In my company, we embrace the technology that came from the Internet auctions. We wanted to make sure we capture that audience."

Each week Arizona Auction Systems attracts anywhere from 50 to 300 in-person buyers, depending on the merchandise. Police-confiscated property auctions seem to be the most popular.

Unlike Wright Brothers' buyers, few of Wydenhammer's customers purchase to resell on eBay. "I don't know of anyone who buys to resell on eBay," she says. "They couldn't buy cheap enough here." The advantage, however, is that they can buy without leaving their home.

Running Up the Bid?

"Even on phone bids, I let my clients hear the auctioneer," says Scottsdale Fine Art Auction coordinator Jinger Richardson. "I've done phone bidding before, and it's nerve-racking if you can't hear the auctioneer, to know if they're just running you up."

Richardson is referring to "running up the bid," a practice some electronic auctions are accused of performing. In other words, the auctioneer claims a computer buyer has a higher bid, but other buyers have to take the auctioneer at his word.

For this reason, many fine art auctions do not use electronic bidding, though they will allow live phone bidding.

As divergent as the fine art world and the eBay world may seem, Richardson says the popularity of the online auction house seems to be igniting a hunger for auctions in buyers of all budgets.

"Even those who want to sell from their art collection are finding they get more for their pieces at auction than at a gallery," she says.

Scott Ford's buyers at Wright Brothers are usually spending thousands less than Richardson's art collectors, but he considers the potential of "running up the bid," a similar dilemma for buyers.

"The problem with anything online, you don't see that bidder," says Ford, who assumes that auction attendees usually come with suspicions that the auctioneer is up to something too profitable.

"So many are so skeptical about what we do," Ford says. "I like the prices electronic sellers get, but I don't like the fact that you don't see the other bidder."

eBay Resellers

Like Weiner, many full-time eBay resellers hit garage sales and Goodwills to unearth rare valuables. Many of those same sellers consider Wright Brothers a good venue for finding rare valuables.

Forty-nine-year-old Norm Davis now works as a professional eBay antiques seller. "It's my main source of income," he says. Davis rarely misses a Saturday at Wright Brothers, where he recalls buying a Leroy Neeman painting for $350. He resold the painting on eBay for $2,960.

"It's not like work," says Weiner. "I finally, at age 47, found something I absolutely adore."

Valley Auction Web sites

www.wbauctioneers.com
www.auctionandappraise.com
www.auctionaz.com
www.scottsdaleartauction.com
www.barrett-jackson.com

eBay At-a-Glance

* The most expensive item sold on eBay to date is a private business jet for $4.9 million.
* eBay has 157 million registered users worldwide.
* eBay users worldwide trade more than $1,381 worth of goods on the site every second.
* At any given time, there are more than 55 million items available on eBay worldwide, and approximately 5 million new items are added each day.
* eBay members worldwide have left more than 3 billion feedback comments for one another regarding transactions.
Source: eBay

Jay Leno's eBay Finds

* Ziploc Bag filled with Lucky Charms marshmallows -- Starting bid: 1 cent; SOLD for $102.50
* Mind Reading Machine -- Starting bid: $22.82 SOLD after 23 bids for $710
* Duct-tape covered couch -- Starting bid: $30; NOT SOLD after 0 bids
* My Sister's Most Hated School Picture -- Starting bid: 1 cent; SOLD after 33 bids for $202
* 12-foot-tall, 700-pound wood and paper mesh clam -- Starting bid: $1; SOLD after 72 bids for $1,626
* 2 bars of naked man-shaped soap -- Starting bid: $3.99; SOLD after one bid for $3.99
SOURCE: "The Tonight Show"