For users of Macintosh computers (as opposed to PC-based computers), there is a free service you can use to host your auction images.

When you purchase a new Macintosh computer, Apple allows you to use their new FREE service called iTools. This service includes a custom email address, Web site, and ecards. This service also includes a free 20MB Internet hard drive called iDisk that offers 20mb of storage space. You can store photos in iDisk and use them in your online auctions.

If you have a newer Macintosh (System 9 or later) go to http://itools.mac.com and sign up. You will then be given instructions on how to mount the virtual drive onto your desktop. (OS9 users will have to install special software, while OS X includes a built-in menu command to connect to iDisk.)

Once your drive is mounted, it can be opened up like a regular hard drive on your Macintosh. The drive contains many files, which you can explore later. The one you are concerned with is called site. Drag your auction photos to the folder called site, and they will be automatically copied to that folder. Once this is done, you can test to see if your photos will appear by typing http://homepage.mac.com/username/item.jpg in your Web browser.

Replace username with your iTools username and item.jpg with your item image name. Once it appears on your browser, you can insert that URL in to the HTML of your Auction template.

An iDisk can also be accessed by a Windows machine using your Web folder icon. This is explained further on the iTools site.

Please note you must be using a Macintosh with System 9 or greater to sign up for iTools iDisk.