... I think I agree with several other posters, that the biggest factor is the refresh, and being lucky enough to refresh at the right time. That, and not typing with my elbow.
Yeah, I'm definitely in that boat.
After somehow, getting lucky enough to be 3rd in the Signature Series SDFK thread, using my phone, I thought about it and realized that with ONE exception, all the other times I've placed well in a sale thread, has been from my phone.
One of those previous times, I had stopped by the road side a few minutes before the sale (was usually on the road during the Friday sales). Checking whatever spotty connection I could get on my phone, and testing it with Speedtest just a few minutes before the sale, I was seeing something like 1.6mbps download, and 0.7mbps upload. Figured I had zero chance, but ended up placing really well.
Then there were my TWO different attempts for a Boot Dagger, that just crashed and burned atrociously. My 2nd attempt, I even scouted a place along my usual drive, where I was seeing 60mbps download, and timed my drive to stop there, and still failed miserably.
This SS SDFK sale, I was convinced that with only 5 available, that I'd have ZERO chance (the last 2 sales since the server change, I've had pretty abysmal placings), but I tried on my phone anyway. When I saw that I'd made it on post #4 in the thread, it made me think back about all the other sales I'd gotten good/decent placements in.