Tru,e the key to sucessful bidding on Ebay is, sadly, sniping (and I'm just as guilty of it as anyone else). Sniping is the last second bidding that goes on. If you bid early, someone will sit and pick away until they either out bid you, or give up, leaving your proxy bid "jacked up", so you wait until the last 20 or 30 seconds and bid in a frenzy, hoping yours is the highest.
Ocassionally sellers, using secondary Ebay "memberships" will bid to drive the price up. This is of course, againist Ebay rules.
The key to all of this is deciding the maximum you are willing to pay, and in the last 30 seconds, bid this max. If someone comes along with a higher max, so be it.
An online auction site I visit ocassionally for firearms and accessories
www.gunbroker.com [
gunbroker.com] has a 15 minute rule. The auction does not end until 15 minutes after the last bid. If you bid more than 15 minutes before the scheduled end of the auction, and are the last bidder, the auction will end on schedule. If someone bid in the last 15 minutes, it stays open for 15 minutes after their bid, giving someone a chance to counter it with a higher offer, just like live bidding would do. Its the equalivent of "going.... going.... gone..." of a live auction. This of course, favors the seller, and draws a fair price for the product, while Ebay favors the buyer and many times does not bring a fair price. (of course, people do get stupid.......... thats another story)
