Say you get tired of running your own company or need extra cash -- just hawk your business on eBay for the bargain price of $45,000 and wait for the bucks to roll in.

That's the plan of 20-year-old entrepreneur Ryan Schmidt, a Point Park University student who will try to auction off his online computer business, target=_new>gigapal.com, on eBay Sunday.

Gigapal.com, an online retailer that sells discounted computer hardware and software, is joining the countless number of strip clubs, cheesecake companies, industrial backhoes, adult Web sites and human billboards sold on the site daily.

Nothing, it seems, is too weird or too precious that it can't be sold at eBay's online flea market. Last month, a comely New Jersey co-ed offered her body on eBay as a walking billboard for advertisers. In February, a New Alexandria-based drive-through strip club garnered a bid for almost $502,000. One young man offered a date with his pretty sister.

But the folks at eBay don't want you to dwell on the freaky stuff that is posted and sold on the popular Web site, but rather the "everyday things" that people flock to the online trading post for in the first place: books, clothing, DVD players, even farming equipment and Learjets.

Schmidt's South Side-based business isn't the only company looking for buyers on eBay.

An owner of a Texaco gas station in Great Britain has listed the business for a minimum of 325 pounds. A pet supplier in Fairfield County, Conn., is going for $265,000.

And some say it makes sense for Schmidt and other to market their firms on eBay, strictly for the savings, in both time and money.

It costs $20 for businesses to list on eBay. Even though the online firm does take a cut once a sale is made, it's a fraction of what a business broker may charge, said Mark Hughes, a former executive at eBay and discount retailer Half.com.

"A business broker will charge anywhere between five and 10 percent," he said. "And it takes more time."

If nothing else, eBay is "a great economic way to at least get some attention," Hughes added, citing media attention that some unique and off-color eBay auctions generate.

Hughes should know. Now a marketing consultant who sometimes advises individuals and companies on selling on eBay, he once convinced a town to change its name to Half.com as a marketing ploy.

EBay spokesman Hani Durzy was quick to point out that most of eBay's 50 million listings up for sale are legitimate.

As long as it's legal, it's saleable.

"We do not vet or vouch for anything," Durzy said. "We are just the marketplace. We love it when the strange things are on there."

Schmidt launched the sophisticated-looking gigapal.com last May with $1,900 and ran the company by himself until January.

For competitive reasons, Schmidt won't say where he gets the computer cards and discounted personal digital assistants he resells on the site, but he promises to pass along all of the firm's proprietary information and trade secrets to the winner of the eBay auction.

Schmidt figures eBay is the best place to unload his company because the site gets so much traffic. More than 3,000 Internet-related businesses were listed for auction on the site yesterday

"EBay brings literally millions of dollars to their auctions every day," he said. "It creates a healthy bidding process."