Yes, that happens often. One time, I was bidding (early) on some thingie and another bidder kept driving the price up. I've lost the auction and the seller came back to me with a "Second Chance" buy. I thought that the other bidder was a shill and refused.

Agreed, I think is better to bid at the last moment. You got a fairer chance at winning the bid without driving up the price because of the competitive nature of the other bidders (if legit) or without letting the seller to plant his shills.

Anyway, it seems that the Dura Ace seatpost that I want is really in high demand since there have been several of them that went for very high prices (in my opinion). So I guess is out of my league. I'm too cheap of a *******

Cheers