I noticed that when I bid on item and it had days to go people would start biding on that item as well. However if I wait until the last few seconds of a auction, often there are way fewer bids. This makes wining a item less expensive. With so many people on eBay charging outrageous shipping/handling charges I searched for a way to keep the competition at a minimum.
The answer is esnipe. A low cost alternative to biding myself. I can set it up to bid at any time before the end of an auction and it always works. I have never had a filed bid using this system. I don't get caught up in biding wars and never bid more than what I started out to bid. I love this system. I see people end up bidding more for an item than it can be purchased out right for. Its crazy. Get some management involved in bidding on eBay and try esnipe. I use it exclusively to bid on eBay.