When bidding, especially on big ones, you should use two windows.  Even the small ones with a lot of bids (to the point where you can't see the time remaining in the same screen as the box that you make your bid), you should use 2 windows.  I pretty much always try to use 2 windows on every auction that I bid on, whether it's a scratchcard or a paintbrush.  

If you have only one window, the more bids there are, the lower the bidding box becomes, and if your screen isn't very large, or your resolution is low, you have to scroll to type in your bid.  That's really bad.  If you must do that, hit the "end" button on your computer, to scroll all the way to the bottom.  I prefer my 2 window method, because it doesn't matter how many bids there are, you aren't typing in your bid in the first window, you are doing it in the second.  

The first window is just for refreshing (hitting F5 over and over.  If you are refreshing slowly to where the pictures are loading, you aren't rerfeshing fast enough, especially in the 5-10 second remaining mark.)

Newly created Second Window

24 seconds left, plenty of time, so I open a new window, ctrl - N.  You can also do alt-F-N to open a new window in Internet Explorer.  In the 2nd window, I highlight the number, so when I flip to it, I can just start typing.  You can erase the numbers if you want, but highlighting is fine.

If I am doing a bid that requires 2 bids (for the same item, like a the Early 2k, second 2k Method), I will wait till about 8 seconds, flip to my 2nd window, and type in my guess, probably assuming that another bid will have been made between 5-8 seconds.  Then I will wait till about 5 seconds, bid in the first window, flip to my second and hit enter.

If you are typing in a bid for the first and typing in a bid for the 2nd, it may take too much time, and not be worth it.  Or if you are typing in bids for the first and second window, to do it in time you will have to base your numbers on the last bid at around 7-8 seconds, very old information.

For the most part though, I just highlight the numbers in the 2nd window and go back to the first to refresh over and over, making only one bid.

I then hit alt-tab to switch windows.  (The alt-tab window looks funny cause I drew it myself.  I couldn't get a screen shot of it, so bear with me.).

Anyway, this is with 4 seconds left, no one has bid yet.  Even if someone did bid, it wouldn't matter, because with the 2 windows, all you have to see is the time remaining and the last few bids.

With 4 seconds, I want to bid, so I quickly want to switch back to the 2nd window by doing alt-tab.

I just did an alt-tab, and am now in the 2nd window.  I decide to go with the  Double the Minimum Increment Method, and I type in double the increment, so I bid 4344, and then hit enter on my keyboard.

There is no time to use your mouse to hit place a bid, or to use your mouse to switch windows.  Everything is done on keyboard.  If you like your mouse, that's fine.  I use my mouse to highlight the number in the second window early on, but that's about it.

Speed is key, and if you can't learn to ONLY use your keyboard to save time and win auctions . . . well, I'll probably see your name all over the auction board,  . . . under the name of the winner.

This is the following is the result.  Maybe someone did the Newbie Method, maybe not, either way, you win and make money.  Remember, you only make money if you win.  There is no prize for coming in 2nd in auctions.

If this doesn't make sense to you, try it out a few times.  It may take a while, but try practice on a real auction, with the alt-tab, highlighting the numbers, etc.  You don't have to win it, just practice.  You should be able to get it. 

If you can't master this, I suppose it's back to games for you.