Don't bid so early in an auction. Place items you are interested in on your watch list which is in the my eBay. You do not have to bid right away. You can watch the items and see how the auctions are proceeding. Bid like this>
Bid just once.
Bid your maximum amount. That's the most you will pay. The amount to which you will not add one paise.
Bid as late into the auction as you feel comfortable. That can be one week, one day, one hour, one minute or even one second.
This bidding strategy also allows you to see how auctions are going and if you want to bid or wait for another item to come on auction. Use your "watch list" when considering bidding on similar items, and only bid on them after the 1st one is over ( bid on one at a time). Personally I find no advantage to bidding early, and a lot of disadvantages. Use your watch list, determine the absolute maximum amount you would ever be willing to pay, add a few odd paise to that to break ties, bid that amount all at once, the later the better. Doing that you never have your money committed for days as you know immediately if your bid was high enough to win and the auction is over, so you are free to move on to another similar item. The max proxy bid combined with bidding late is the smartest way to bid. Use your watch list to shop around, decide which ones you will bid on, and only bid near the end of the auction. Doing so you avoid having multiple active bids on identical items at the same time.
For a whole lot of info on last-second bidding.
http://www.moyen.org/snipe/
