The final price of items *does* tend to be much lower if bidders withold their bids until the last minute. The problem with eBay is that a lot of people treat it like a competition and raise their max bids beyond the true value of the item if someone outbids them (it's an easy mistake to make, I've done it myself). It is best to minimise their window of opportunity.

I've never won an auction in which I have entered my max bid days before the close. On the other hand I've won about 35 auctions by entering my max bid 1 minute before the close. I think the key thing there, to avoid getting sniped by a bot, is to enter your MAX bid at the last minute so eBay will fight it out on your behalf in the closing seconds.

Rob