1) Yes, set a limit, but if you have only one token save it because you are almost certain to lose it and this is the easiest way to waste tokens - even if you see no other bidders in the last 10 seconds be careful, because many people like to bid in the last second. Maybe set a three or four token limit. Sometimes you will lose of course, but better to lose 4 than 10 or more! Also, don't compete against many bidders, because you are more likely to lose and price goes up faster

2) I think most servers have a 'better' time. Mine is just after maintenance - always fewer bidders because most in Europe are asleep plus often people have bid before maintenance that aren't online to bid again. This gives two opportunities. People with low tokens might not bid because they see others already in the auction, but that person will not bid again. Also, I win some auctions by letting people think I am not there to bid again - tactic is this: bid with maybe 10-30 minutes left. Often a player will bid in the last seconds when they think I am not there to bid again, then I bid in the last second of round 1 to win the auction. Check other bidders to see where they are from and try to use to your advantage e.g. If I see an Asian bidder at this time, I know it's likely they will be around to keep bidding

3) The most expensive players have less competition as long as it is expensive for their quality level. E.g at Level 1 if a player has quality under 20 and value of over £1m then you have low competition, because wealthy managers can get better quality for the same price and will not be looking for this quality. But this player is often not good value if you have low tokens/money. Only buy if you can train and play them until their value and quality goes up and you could sell for profit later

4) Generally speaking, don't buy 30 year olds - they will not go up in value or quality so you lose cash and tokens and player will not improve. Sometimes you can break this rule, but it is a good rule! Let others have them. Players with multiple positions and especially ones with SA always attract more bidders, so if you have few tokens you might have to avoid these too. But older players, like around 27-28 can be very good buys

5) Start of the season is probably the hardest time to buy good players, competition is high from people who want to improve their squad. But this is for better players - competition is always lower for players who are not so good. After a week, it becomes a bit easier

I have a non-token team at Level 1 that is doing very well. I improved the squad and made lots of money by buying free transfer players at 3* quality who are close to 4*, then I could train up to 4* and either keep them or they are easier to sell at that level. People usually don't want to get 3* players even if they are free. Exception to this is when they are high value e.g I had to spend 7 tokens to get a 3* player who was free but value showed nearly £500k. If value is £100-200k, easy

I also bought a few players at high 4* without spending many tokens, usually low value slightly older players when there were lots of good, young 4* players on auction at the same time

Of course it is more difficult if you have a bad server for transfers - if there are only a few players on the list, competition will always be high