ebay bidding strategy

[Wynton]

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?