A CONCRETE pump hardly sounds like something you'd sell online. Yet trader extraordinaire Marsha Collier managed to offload it on online international auction site eBay, and for a heavyweight price, too - US$15,000 ($23,775).

She did have to list it twice but the effort was worth it, as it has been her biggest online sale ever.

The 55-year-old American recalls with a laugh: 'I was at a cocktail party and I met a sales manager of a concrete pump factory who bet me that I couldn't sell a pump. I told him I could, and I did.'

When it comes to shifting stuff online, Collier is one of the top movers - she is so successful that she supported her daughter Susan through private high school and then college on her eBay earnings alone.

Collier is an eBay 'PowerSeller', a title given to top sellers who sustain a consistently high volume of monthly sales. She makes an average of US$7,000 - about $11,000 - a month and has carried out nearly 5,000 online transactions.

The trading whiz was in Singapore recently to promote her newest book, Santa Shops On eBay, and to give two talks on online trading. Her talks were part of Innovationation, a five-day series of talks and exhibitions on information technology organised by the Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore.

Her second talk, Million-Dollar Ideas For Starting An Online Business, was the most popular talk at the event and drew a full house of 400 people. So eager were Singaporeans to hear her speak that a queue of people formed outside the theatre in the hope that there would be extra places.

An author of several best-selling books on eBay, including eBay For Dummies, she started trading online 10 years ago.

She had just quit her reporter job at The Miami Herald to spend more time with her daughter, then a pre-teen. She recalls: 'Our favourite game to play together was something we called Going, Going, Gone. We would sit in front of the computer and bid for Barbie dolls and action figures.'

The game soon grew into a business as Collier realised that she could make a living from it.

She now runs her own store on eBay, Marsha Collier's Fabulous Finds. She says: 'The great thing about selling online is its flexibility. You can sell anything.'

Ever the entrepreneur, she is constantly on the lookout for new trends. When the Harry Potter phenomenon broke in 1999, she bought licensed Harry Potter fabric. She made it into Harry Potter pillows and sold them for US$20 each.

Her business savvy extends to her own buys, too. She bought a brand-new Chevrolet Super Sport Roadster, a convertible pick-up truck, off eBay just over a year ago for US$32,000. The retail price in showrooms was US$40,000.

She has even bought land online. She paid US$2,000 for a 2ha disused ranch in Colorado.

Collier is not the only adventurous buyer on the website. eBay users in Singapore have been snapping up all manner of things, too.

In July, a Singaporean seller sold a vehicle registration number, SGF8888M, to a fellow Singaporean for $4,500. Another purchased a US$29,000 piece of land listed on eBay's Canada site.

Last year, a Singaporean eBay user bought a Porsche from an American seller for US$42,500, excluding shipping costs.

Collier sums up the appeal of online trading: 'It's more than selling or buying. It's a community.'

She adds: 'A while ago, I had a burst light bulb. I was too lazy to go to the Home Depot (store) so I searched the bulb's serial number on eBay instead. I ended up getting a new bulb shipped to my door. It's the convenience which gets me.'