[Cupid]

OK, well here is a recent story where later wasn't better.

On Ebay it is always the highest accepted bid that wins. That is to say, the amount of your bid is always the most significant factor, the timing is always a secondary concern.

However the higher you bid, the more likely you are to have to pay more, as others (perhaps also trying to make a living in exactly the way you do) will follow your lead over time, even on unique items, and therefore reduce your profits.

So, what you, and everyone else, is doing is trying to win at the lowest price. For that reason it is left up to you what offset you want to try for any particular auction (if you have a Mirror subscription), because different scenarios do give different outcomes.

One consideration I would also highlight though is that any manual bidder that has decided to bid late in an auction is unlikely to be able to change the decision as to what amount they are prepared to pay and get that bid placed on Ebay in less than about 10 seconds, and since those are the only ones that make a difference to the outcome based on when you schedule your bid, that is generally close enough to the end of the auction.