Out manurving to win the item. How and why it works so good for classic and vintage items. Prices keep going up. With no set value on some high doller items (other than E-bay reserch) you might try this to save some money and still win.  When an early bid is placed it shows anyone else interisted in bidding that they will have computition. How many times have you watched an Item and thought, thats a good deal, so you placed a bid only to instently be out bid by some one who has a bid higher than you already in place and you sit and think (after bidding three or four more times in small amounts and every time you are out bid by the E-bay systym) I might as well wait and see what it bids to before I jump in. When the next bider thinks about bidding he know at least two people are bidding and knows it's not going to be a steal. at that time their is a decison to make, to bid or not to bid. Some go away and never come back to that auction, others think maybe I need to research more, or the other auction that closes a day later has no bids and is less money I'm going to bid on that one, or think I will wait and see what happens. At that point you have elimanated some of your computition when they miss the end of auction or lose interest. As a seller I have seen the number (of watchers of an item) on my e-bay summery start droping off after a few early bids. Anytime I see a lot of bids on anything it tells me its a bidding war and I may let it go with out bidding because I will be out bid, even if I place a bid with a service that bids at the last second.                                                                                                        

Now that E-bay has changed how far back we can reserch sold items (without paying a monthly fee) a person would not be as willing to bid as high of a price if they don't already know an Items value. With out knowing value or price most everyone moves slow in making a decision. Moving fast scares people. So go ahead and scare them of the auction by bidding early, it works.

Watch auctions that are live and one of the two people who start bidding aginst each other will bid until they win even when another bidder starts bidding. This happens more often then not. Anyone who buys a lot of stuff at auctions will stop bidding when they think it's not a steal, leaving the person who needs it the winner.

If you bid early twice, once to bid starting price and second to increase the total of what you will bid, the bid count on that item goes to two. Without clicking on the bid amount they would think a bidding war has started and go looking for another auction. a lot of small increases in an auction and people will try to wait to the last minuite to win it. If this happens (a lot of small increment bids) you should also wait and within the last minuite place your maxim bid. This eliminates someone using a bid service if your bid is higher because they din't have time to go to the bid service and rebid higher.

It works because by bidding early this way you have already eliminated a lot of potential bidders looking for a steal. Keep in mind you will not win every auction. but the ones you win, will cost you less.