They've all been sold by the state of South Carolina on eBay.

Using the Web's best-known auction site has been a trend among states and municipalities, and the Palmetto State is one of the latest to use cyberspace to sell its extra stuff.

Since December, the state has sold about $10,000 worth of goods on eBay, according to Lin Wright, program manager at the South Carolina Surplus Property Office.

The items range from simple pocketknives confiscated at airport checkpoints to scissors to an embossing machine, which stamps numbers and names on credit cards. That machine sold for roughly $500, one of the most expensive items sold to date.

Wright credits the team at the surplus office for coming up with the idea. They wanted to show some of the rarer items they've received to a wider audience. Enter eBay, where everything from ex-wives' wedding dresses to Beanie Babies have sold.

"Sometimes, the property is so unique that we elected to put it on eBay, where there's a broader demand for it," Wright said.

He used the GPS item as an example, noting that not many people shopping at the surplus agency's warehouse in Columbia would likely buy it. But placed on eBay, it attracts campers and fishermen among other buyers.

"This is in its embryonic stages still so I can't be emphatic about anything," Wright said.

But clearly Wright was excited consumers and Web wanderers have taken notice.

The money from the sale of the items goes to state agencies or the supply office, which uses the money to ship and package items.

The cost for posting items on eBay is nominal and varies, Wright said.

The agency doesn't bombard the Web site with hundreds of items but chooses instead to auction off about 10 to 15 items a week. It has started off with somewhat smaller, less expensive items, but Wright said they could auction vehicles on the site.

Unless it's 200 of the same knives or similar tools that can be sold together, the agency chooses to auction items one at a time, an attempt to get top dollar.

Others states such as Oregon, South Dakota, Kentucky and California use eBay to sell items. Earlier this year in South Carolina, the Summerville Police Department auctioned a motorcycle and received more than triple what they had anticipated.

But not everything is being bought and sold on eBay.

The surplus office recently sold a small plane for the Department of Natural Resources. They advertised it on the Web, and through a sealed bid auction sold the Cessna 180 for $105,200.

DNR spokesman Mike Willis said that money will be used to replace an Aero Commander that crashed more than a year ago. The money from the Cessna sale, coupled with roughly $550,000 the agency received from an insurance settlement, is expected to be enough to buy another plane.

Like the plane, many surplus items never make it to eBay.

The surplus office wants to keep the goods in the state if possible, offering them first to state agencies for a month and then to the public. Finally, the item might end up on eBay.

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