You only pay if you win. And you could end up paying the full amount that you bid, so never enter any more than you can easily and happily pay.
Since you're new, it would be a very good idea to have a look at the following link about the ebay automatic bidding system. Ebay auctions are not like live auctions, and that always gives new people a bit of frustration. There are important related links on the right about bid increments (how ebay doles out little bits of your high bid to keep you in the lead, until someone outbids you), and getting outbid:
http://pages.ebay.ca/help/buy/automatic-bidding.html