I always have good luck at the last few seconds...as long as I can actually sit there and monitor the auction closing to the last second. Otherwise...I usually lose out with the auto bid because someone outbids me. There is a fine line...put in too high a maximum and the item gets bid up to a large amount, wait till the end and possibly miss out. Just remember, there is often another one being listed a week or a month or a year later. I've found this out the hard way and overpaid for something I thought was rare, only to find it popping up regularly a few weeks later. Best of luck!

Tom