Wes, I seem to remember seeing ads for automated bidding software that would wait until a predetermined moment to place a bid; that might help slip your 'oar' into the proceedings at the last moment !
I have to confess to gaining a degree of pleasure from watching an auction in the last few seconds, timing when to place my bid, (usually in the last 6 seconds). Ah well, little things please little minds, as my grandmother always told me when I was particularly obnoxious <img border="0" title="" alt="[Wink]" src="wink.gif" />
As to escalating prices; am I missing something to do with the value of this canon assembly, it seems to be bid pretty high:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...category=31709