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Bethany Pugh, a senior at Steamboat Springs High School, has 16 pairs of sandals.

On Thursday, she put the finishing touches on an eBay advertisement to auction off one of those pairs.

Learning how to use eBay by selling an inexpensive item is a new part of the high school's e-business class.

"It's nice -- it's not like classwork," Pugh said. Pugh and several other students in the class already have had some experience buying or selling items on eBay. Other students were learning about the online auction service for the first time.

Students in teacher Steve Moos' e-business classes listed dozens of items for sale this week. Bids on the items will close in seven days.

Sophomore Austin Anderson said he initially thought selling something on eBay would be complicated. But when he went through the steps in class, he found it was fairly straightforward.

"I'd like to do it again if I can make money on it," Anderson said.

Sophomore Renee Spady said it was hard for her to find something to sell that people would want to buy. She settled on a few CDs that were a couple of years old.

The experience was valuable, she said, because so much business now is conducted online.

E-business teaches basic business concepts with computers, Moos said. The eBay sale is one of the class' capstone projects and combines most of the concepts students have worked on all year. Selling something on eBay involves marketing, Web design, writing advertisements and more.

"It's just everything. They're playing all of the roles at the same time," he said, listing roles such as salesperson, photographer and designer.

Before going online with the sale, students had to research how much their items could sell for, under what category they should be listed and how best to title and describe them. On Thursday, some students finished taking photos of their items and weighed items to determine shipping costs.

Students made their own decisions about how much to charge for their items and how to advertise them, Moos said. They ultimately are graded on participation in the entire process, not just whether their items sell.

Moos said students chose something inexpensive to sell for the project. Classes will decide what to do with the money that is raised through the project. Donating it to charity or buying something for the school are two of the options.

Next week will be exciting, he said, as students find out whether their items sold.

Hopefully, they'll be able to use eBay on their own this summer or even help their parents use it, Moos said.

To check out what the students are selling through the class, search eBay for items sold under the account "ebizsailors." Items for sale include a lacrosse stick, CDs and DVDs, clothes, Beanie Babies, a Barbie motorized jeep and a calculator.

-- To reach Susan Cunningham, call 871-4203 or e-mail scunningham@steamboatpilot.com