For decades, when the Navy needed to fill an unpopular job in a distant place, it simply ordered a sailor and his or her family to move. Recently, it took a different tack. To keep skilled sailors in the service -- which entails keeping their families happy -- Navy officials put some of those out-of-favor jobs up for online auction, a la eBay.

Among the first to bite was Petty Officer 1st Class Elishaine Moses. He offered to take a job in Yokuska, Japan, but only if the Navy was willing to bump up his salary by $350 a month. He doesn’t want to live in Japan. Nor does his wife. But they figured an extra $350 a month would go a long way toward a down payment on a house. "My No. 1 goal in life right now is to save enough money to build a house," his wife, Shana Moses, says.

In the new system, sailors will be able to bid on jobs that no one wants. Ships with vacancies also will be able to bid for sailors that they really want. The Navy is even considering allowing sailors who are particularly good at their jobs to apply for positions that would traditionally go to higher-ranking officers...