Why is sniping even necessary? Why glue yourself to the computer to throw a higher bid in at the last second? Can’t you just decide what the maximum is that you’re willing to pay, enter that as your maximum and let it go? If someone outbids your max, then so be it. If the don’t, then you’re in exactly the same position as you would be if you sat in front of your computer engaged in a last-minute bidding war.
I don’t get it.
The problem with proxy bidding is that you are relying heavily on the honesty of the seller. There are unscrupulous sellers who use “ringers” or “shills” – accomplices who enter the seller’s auction solely to bid up the prices of the items for sale. By leaving a proxy bid, you are running the risk of such an accomplice coming in and “bidding you up” to your maximum bid. Sniping eliminates that possibility.
If I am ever forced by circumstances to leave a proxy bid (say, the auction is scheduled to end at a time when I will be away from my computer), I tend to use odd dollar amounts. Then if a shill comes in, thinking that my proxy bid might be a nice round 50 bucks, they will be surprised to find, when they bid 49 (solely for the purpose of forcing my bid up to 50) that my proxy bid was actually 48.47. Shill gets stuck.
One way for eBay to prevent sniping would be to have a rule that all auctions will remain open until three minutes have passed since the last bid. You would still have a scheduled time for the auction to end, but a last-minute bid would have the effect of extending the auction long enough for a response.
One thing I’ve discovered with eBay and sniping - it doesn’t always mean that you lose if somebody snipes you. There have been several occasions when somebody sniped me on an item I really, really wanted. I e-mailed the seller, and they frequently had one or more of the same item available, and were usually willing to sell them for whatever the winning bidder paid.
Of course, now, with Buy It Now, sniping ain’t easy - you never know when the auction is going to end, for sure!