I have been a hardcore ebayer for 4 years. In fact I have sold close to 20k items on ebay over the years I operate 2 stores that are powerseller accounts and this one as well.

Sniping auctions for me is consistently one of the best ways to buy on ebay. As much as I like proxy bidders as a seller, I will tell you as a buyer it is the only way to go.

Bidding at the last second assures you will get the lowest possible price. I have listed big ticket items like cars, motorcycles, and computers on ebay. By far I get the highest bid when I start out ridiculously low and let lots of bidders compete for the auction.

The reason this works so well is that placing a bid actually gives you emotional ownership of the item even if it is for a few seconds. Then when I am outbid the item was emotionally taken from me, so I naturally big higher. 

I have listed laptops startign at .01 cents with no reserve and even though the average closing price is say $400.00 I will sel it for $450.00

When you snipe auctions you never actually bid on the item till the last minute. The auction sniping website does it for you so you don't have to babysit your auction either. Then when you win you get an invoice and pay.

Other than that the next biggest secret to getting a good deal is knowing your limits. Unless you are buying a truly one of a kind collectibel do a completed items search on ebay and see what the average closing price is. Write down your high and low and set you auction sniper to try the low bids first. If the doesnt work slowly move your bids up.

I have gotten so good at this that I seldom pay more than the average lowest price for items closing on ebay. Doing this saves me money and keeps me emotionally dettached from the need to keep bidding even though I can get it cheaper elswhere.

Do a google search for auction sniping sites, their are many sites that offer this service and some will even do it for free for the first couple so you can get your feet wet.