I use a program that resides on my computer called "Auction Sentry" to automatically place my bids for me. It is available at:

http://www.auction-sentry.com/index.htm

The way I look at it is; why bid early? In the world of Ebay, there is no difference between placing a bid 5 days before the auction ends or placing your bid 10 seconds before the auction ends. By placing a bid early you are possibly just starting a bidding war and driving the price up. Just my 2 cents!

Cheers!
Bill