Speaking as a journalist, there are some words 
which shouldn't be cheapened, lest they lose their 
impact.  We've already killed "murder" and robbed 
"theft"... let's leave "rape" for the horrific 
crime that it represents.

But that's just my opinion, and not why I'm 
writing this.

My philosophy on auctions has always been the 
same, no matter whether I'm bidding on eBay or 
Yahoo Japan, and whether I'm trying for an anime 
cel, an out of print book, or a South American 
bird eating spider under glass.

I generally bid ONCE, for as much as that item is 
worth TO ME.  If somebody outbids me, that means 
they wanted it more than I did.  If my bid stands, 
obviously I wanted it more.  If my bid is below 
market value, or above market value, I couldn't 
care less.  It's how much I feel the having of 
that item is worth.

And while in a few cases, I've been extremely 
disappointed when losing an auction for something 
I would really have liked, I can't say that I 
would have done anything differently... I offered 
to pay my maximum, and if somebody else's was 500 
yen more, that's 500 yen more than the item was 
worth to me.  Whether they bid it in the first 
five minutes or the last five minutes of the 
auction is irrelevent.

When bidding, give some serious thought to the 
intrinsic value of the cel on which you're 
bidding, and set your max accordingly.

Just my 2 yen's worth... :)