I completely understand the pain of losing at the last minute. It has happened to all of us that bid. I think there are some who just look at the closing auctions and bid on them. It might be because they get some good deals on things that no one else has bid on in addition to getting one that no one is monitoring to counter their last minute bid.
In the end I realized that I just had to decide ahead of time what my highest bid was going to be and bid that at the start. IF I won it for a lower price great, if someone else bid and I still won, but at a higher price, still OK as I had not bid more than I was willing to pay. If they outbid me, then so be it, the price was too high. It is easy to get caught up in a bidding war, thinking "It is just a bit more and I REALLY want it", but those $2-5 extra bids add up quickly and you can end up regretting it in the end.
