[Alobar]

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As I type this, I'm doing my first-ever ebay bid (for a somewhat rare jazz cd). And I wonder whether there are particular strategies for bidding.

For example, do people try to time their bid at the last second, so as to prevent others from counter-bidding? Or is that kind of ploy so undermined by the ability to put in automatic bids (up to your maximum), that no one bothers?

And if an item's deadline for bidding is days away, is there any point to delaying one's bid until the last day, just to avoid creating more interest?

Any other obvious ploys I should know about?

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Figure out right now what the max you are willing to pay for the item is. Then wait till there is less than a minute left in the auction and put in that number. If you get outbid, so be it.

under no circumstances ever go higher than what you decided in a calm clear mental state your max bid is. Ebay is full of people who get caught up in bidding wars and then pay much more than they wanted to simply cuz they got caught up in trying to "win". Ive sold many an item on ebay that someone baught for more than what they could have gone out and gotten a new one for.