On the other hand you could have been walking down the street and had 20 bucks drop out of your pocket in less time.

It's all tricky.

it's beyond me why anybody bids early on eBay. Why? Where's the advantage? By bidding before the closing, all that happens is you let others know you're interested in the item and might outbid them. I've never seen any point in it - there might be one, but it mystifies me.

It's the last-minute dueling bids that kept me alive last year, as I sold off all the crap I bought by mistake instead of saving money back when I was making it. So thanks!

Ebay is exhausting. Even just reading about it makes me tired.

Yeah, this is why I have never even tried to buy anything auction-style on EBay.

I don't really understand sniping. I put in my maximum bid and walk away. If I win it, great, but if I don't, I don't sweat not paying more than I wanted to. I never feel bad about not spending money.

Most sellers seem to have shill bidders, so if you bid early you are just giving them a chance to up the ante. I have been watching some techy items (just for fun) and it is amazing how the "store" sellers' auctions all end within $10 of each other ... The personal sellers don't seem to raise anywhere near as much, even when they have good seller ratings and the same type of warranty & info. I don't believe that is coincidence, because I have seen it happen with too many items for that.
Personally, I just set my maximum for the item and set a 20-second snipe. If someone outbids me, that's fine -- I wouldn't have paid any more, anyway. If someone ups the bid with a late snipe, that is unlikely to be a shill bidder, because they just might end up with the item :-)