Are you an ebay idiot?

This past week I have bought a couple of items on ebay. A CD for my mom, mario kart for Wii, some t-shirts, and I've been looking at some first generation iPhones for a friend of mine. All the work I had to go through to get the cheapest price just amazed me. When I think of ebay, I think of website where I can get the stuff I want for a cheaper price with virtually no effort. My experience, however, was not as expecteed.

There is one rule that I think everyone should follow and would make an ebay buyers life so much easier and cheaper:

Do not bid on the freakin item until the very end!

If nobody bids on an item, then it won't get any more expensive! I cannot believe how many people find an auction that has just started and bid as quickly as possible. Now, if you are the only person who would ever bid on said item, then no problem. Bidding on a guaranteed win makes the seller know that someone is interested in the item and they will now know not to end the auction early. HOWEVER, if there is something selling like an iPhone... all these "idiots" come together and cause mass destruction to their bank accounts. There is no reason to immediatly bid on something that has a 100% chance of being sold. Once you lay down some money for something, yes, you are the current top bidder, but someone will see that and say "HEY! I wanted to be the top bidder!" following your bid with an even higher one. This will continue all the way up to the last 5 minutes, where I've learned that many buyers just stop bidding. It's the strangest thing. If anything, people should be waiting until the last few minutes, even seconds to be bidding. Instead, they tease each other by causing the price to go higher and higher and higher. So if you are reading this and think, "Am I an ebay idiot?" Please, please, reconsider your actions the next time you see a cool new gadget on ebay.