I'd say wait, alto. You can set a "watch this item" flag on the auction, and get a reminder email when the auction is close to ending.

Unless they have a "Buy It Now" option where you can buy it and end the auction, they can't sell it to you and end the auction early without violating ebay's rules, so be careful of that. If you're going to pick it up, though, you'll save the shipping cost at least, right?

I usually decide the very maximum I am prepared to pay, and then lodge a bid through AuctionStealer. Then I forget about it until the auction ends.

AuctionStealer is a snipe tool, and the free version will put in a bid 15 seconds before the end of the auction.

Decide what your maximum bid is. It's best to use an odd amount, so if your max bid is around $75, then set your maximum bid at $75.13 or something.

It works like this. An item is listed, the first bid is $20, and the bids have to increase by a minimum of $5 (this is just an example). As the end of the auction approaches, bids have reached $45. AuctionStealer will bid 15 seconds before the auction ends, but it won't bid the full maximum bid, just the next incremental bid that it needs to make to win the auction.

But if you are outbid before the end of the auction, AuctionStealer will email you and tell you (if there's time, you can be 'out-sniped' within seconds of the end) so you can decide whether or not to up your maximum bid. I never do, I decide what I'll pay and stick to it.

Wow, ej's quite a pro there. That sounds like the best solution.

I absolutely never bid on ebay until seconds before the end. I've never understood the point of it -- all you do by bidding is indicate to others that there is a competitive interest and start raising the price. The ideal is to "watch" an item that has little interest, then pounce in at the last minute and swipe it.

If it has been up for a while, just bid on it. Someone may jump in last second, but if not, you get it.

For popular items there is all the sniping and stuff but if the item and others like it generate little interest, a single bid can carry the day. The last two or three auctions I've won, I bid a couple days before end of auction and was the only bidder. If someone else had come along, I would have waited for another similar item. There's enough stuff out there that you can usually get what you want for minimal cost.

I do it the Miko way as well. I just tune in when there's less than a minute left, bid, and then keep hitting refresh to see if I can get another bid in at the very last second. It usually works.

Once I came across an old door I really wanted, and I contacted the seller to let him know I was interested, but that the Buy It Now price was too high. He told me he had a bunch more and invited me to come check them out. So don't hesitate to contact a seller.

I don't use Ebay that much, but I usually bid near the end, but I also set myself a limit before I do, it's easy to get caught up in an, "I need this!" frenzy, only to get buyer's remorse later for spending too much.

If no one's bidding on it, then I'd just put in my maximum bid and forget about it. If someone wants to nickel and dime me up, then that's their heart-attack-waiting-to-happen, not mine.

Use sniping software. Bid in the last 15 seconds of the auction. If you have a Mac, jBidwatcher is a great tool.

I don't use any software, I just wait until the last minute.

I don't use eBay much, but when I do, I just enter the maximum I'm willing to pay, period. Either I get a "winning bid" or an "outbid" notice, but I never pay more than I'm willing to regard as a fair price, and if market interest is thin, I often win. If I get an outbid notice before the auction is closed, I can go on to bid in other auctions for similar items immediately. I've bought tens of thouands of dollars of tools, and specialty computer hardware this way.

Auctions are about creating non-rational buying behavior, in order to benefit a seller, by obtaining the highest price a market is willing to offer at a particular time. Auctions do not typically benefit buyers, except in cases like Doohickie describes, where the auction confirms that there is essentially no market for an item. Only by excercising price discipline, and shopping more broadly, can you "win" as a buyer in an auction system, if there is real market interest, because rational price behavior will frequently be swamped, to the good of the seller, by irrational "excitement." By participating in more auctions, if the items you want are fungible, you work against "excitement" by only "paying" when the auction process has proceeded to what you consider an equitable price.

An additional complication of online auctions is that there are often few reliable mechanisms for ensuring that the "winning" bids are actually paid, and that goods change hands at the bid prices. Rare or limited merchandise auctions are often quite problematic for these reasons. Don't get caught up in auction fever.

I do it the Miko way as well. I just tune in when there's less than a minute left, bid, and then keep hitting refresh to see if I can get another bid in at the very last second. It usually works.
I was outbid by 73 cents on a $5000 caravan using this method a couple of months ago - someone put in a bid within the last 5 seconds and I couldn't get the page to load fast enough to up my bid. AuctionStealer looks like a better alternative if you really want the item.

Thanks all. I do want this thing (solid mahogany Edwardian piano stool, freshly upholstered) but not at any price, and I'm prepared to let it go if anyone else goes above the minimum bid. So I'll stick a bid in at the last minute.