I am really not sure what ********* does for you, that eBay will not. Ebay is set up to proxy bid up to your bid in increments determined by the bid range.
If you have a limit that you would pay for an item, just bid your max, if someone pushes the bid over your max, so be it. After all, it was your max limit.
On the other hand, if you can't live without an item, bid two or three times or more what it is worth. Unless someone else 'has to have it' you should win. Remember eBay works by one bidder pushing another bidder up by the increment for the price range that a bid is at.
I bid on many Rat Fink items in the $20 to $40 range. If I gotta have it, I bid $100. Unless someone has gotta have it more than me, I win. Finally, most ebay bidders bid up incrementally. In my Rat Fink example, if the bid is at $36.76, most people go up by $1.01 in the last minute. That is not good thinking, as you might lose it for being incremental and wasting the last 60 seconds. Sniping takes time and rarely works! Bid your max & walk away happy win or lose!
Mark