Many people like to wait till the last minute to bid on items, thinking that maybe they can come in with a surprise attack and steal the item away from unsuspecting bidders.  While this tatic is often very useful and highly successful, one must understand and realize this cannot be done with all items.  Items on ebay which are in high demand have a very high bandwidth flow during the last ten minutes of the auction.  Many people will start to see their internet connection suddenly slow down significantly, making surprise bids harder to time and then losing out because the auction has ended already.  So depending on the item, sometimes this method is not as great.  For people who still use dial-up, you better put your bid in the day the seller lists the auction, it might take a couple hours for your server to send the message.  So what i do when i see something i really like (say a pair of jeans) and absolutely have to win the item? I put a maximum bid of $5000 on it.  Usually ten times the retail cost is good enough.  There is no way you will be outbid, and you will be guaranteed the item.  So play safe and bid smart, Good luck everyone!