yeah well i usually bid like that too, just send in one bid to guage the field... no point in waiting till the end only to not match their top bid and be knocked out anyway.
one dude was putting bids on like 20 of the same item (i assume to sell again) and put $30 bids for them all... so i bid $29 and made him pay his limit for them
Ebay is like poker... you gotta try bluff out the other players, or stay silent in hope that luck comes your way.