I use a snipe program that runs on my computer, I can set up bidding logic, ie, only bid on this item if I win this other one first, or Don't bid if I win this other item. I research to come up with the max price I'm willing to spend, and I come in about 15 seconds out. If you set a max bid (proxy) that's higher than mine, I'm going to lose, and it's too late for me to rebid. Sniping can bite the sniper on occasion like that.

My rational for waiting for the last second is that there are a lot of inexperenced and / or unskilled e-bayers. If I start bidding early in the auction, that tends to just drive the price up unnecessarly. I'd rather take my chances, come in with a max of what I'm willing to pay, and hope for the best.

A second reason is that I can't always be at the computer to bid, but I know the program will handle it for me. I've missed a few where I wasn't using the program, and forgot to bid. DUH

There are also some tricks you can do with setting the exact amount of the max bid to give you the best chances of winning, but I'm not going to give up all my secrets.

Steve W.
Who got the C-dale and Volpe by sniping