how many seconds should i wait till I click submit bid? and confirm bid?

I have been out bid several times by a few dollars on a tool that I need for work. Do professional bidders wait till the last second to click confirm bid to beat me every time? Do you have to wait till 5-10 seconds before you click confirm bid or submit bid? Please help me narrow this time down so I can win an auction for the tool i need. chris|||It all depends on the speed of your computer. I normally wait until about 10-15 seconds left to submit my bid (already have the amount in the box) and confirm. That normally doesn't leave enough time for anyone to counter your bid. You do know though, that just because you bid last doesn't mean you win, it's all about the amount of the bid, not the timing.|||I don't know if I'm a "professional bidder" but I'm a darn good sniper and I know in avance what my one highest max bid will be! That's the key just as much as the speed. If i feel my pc's been running smoothly, cleared cache & all, then I'll cut it as close as submitting the bid at 8-9 seconds and confirming the bid at 2-3 seconds. here's one from a coupla days ago ended up at 2 seconds, which is a good average. Link|||thankyou for your help. So I should look for a pattern, or average increase in the bid amounts, (usually there are more than 10 bids or bidders) then increase my bid according to the increase in bid amounts. I am still new to the automatic bids. I remember when there were no auto-bids. I will try to clear my chache and reboot before I place my last few bids. first I'll try 8-9 seconds then try about 5 seconds from the confirm bid page. chris|||Forget "patterns". Forget other bidders. Decide the most you would be willing to whip out of our billfold for that item. Figure shipping cost into that total. For example my dvd. I compared it elsewhere used from $5.50 (+$3) or new for $12. So I placed a bid of almost $5, knowing that would be $8 if my max was used up. Didn't want to spend any more at that time. I didn't care what other bidder wanted to lowball or highball. $8 TOTAL was my max, I won it for $6.25. Actually I won 2 dvds from that seller & saved $2 on shipping, so that went into my calculations as well. get it?|||It is not who bids last, it is who bid the most who wins. I can snipe with 5 seconds left on the clock, but if my bid (maximum) is under someone else's bid amount, I will not win.|||Bid once and bid the maximum you are willing to pay for that item. Bid at the very end ,bid once and bid your max. Read these links about bidding. Link Do not nibble bid.|||I might start bidding for dvds. It seems like a good, cheap way to practice and see how long the delay in my computer is from the time I click on the submit bid and then on the confirm bid. So far my price is rite because I only lost the bid by $2.50 on a $150 tool! I was sooo pissed. There always seems to be more of these tools posted every week because of people downsizing their businesses.|||I am not in this to make money so I do need to start biding more generously on something I will get alot of use out of. instead of the minimum bid increment I'll raise it to about $25 more. $2.50 on a $150 item is cutting it too close if i'm not worried about making a profit by retailing the item.|||I was going to suggest that! Hone your skills by sniping on some low-cost items, like cds/dvds or something that you want & will pay for, but won't be upset if you lose. You'll get a sense of your inner-timing too. i just count down in my head before hitting "confirm".|||My bidding strategy is very simple. I decide the total price I'm willing to pay, and subtract the shipping to come up with my maximum bid. I then enter that bid into myibay.com. Myibay.com's servers then place a snipe bid on my behalf with 5 seconds or so left in the auction. My computer may not even be turned on when this happens. I may have placed my bid with myibay hours, or days in advance. If my bid is the highest, I win. If not, I don't win. I find out whether or not I've won the next time I check eBay after the auction has ended. If I won, I pay at that time. Other people may use a different sniping service.friends Director,||||||I have two screens open when I snipe-one open to listing page watching county down,one in which I have submitted my max and gone to confirm screen.When the clock hits 7 sec or so I hit confirmwhen people show you who they are, believe them||||||