The ebay proxy bidding feature rewards shill bidders (the seller or a "helper" bidding on his own item to drive up price). Shill bidding is rampant on ebay, and ebay does next to nothing to prevent it, since they benefit from both a sell and a higher end price. An amazing number of people actually think these shills are sincere, legit bidders. Watch enough auctions and you will have the mildly entertaining experience of seeing the same "sold" widget coming right back to auction days or weeks later. I have seen some sellers "sell" the same item 2-3 times, claiming buyer backed out of deal (gets em out of paying ebay plus covers as&).

Some confused folks do get caught up in auctions, like its a fun little game - so this also makes the proxy bidding process not really helpful to buyers.

You can snipe bid manually within 5 secs to end, no problem, by just watching the clock. The main benefit to snipe programs is they can enter a bid in your absence. Also, some of these snipe programs lets the buyer watch auctions without the seller knowing you're watching (the std ebay watch list tells sellers how many folks are watching their auction, which may affect their shilling actions).

If you're an informed, careful, frugal shopper you will find most auctions reach an unacceptably high bid point in the end, ending your interest in the auction and rendering your snipe bid strategy moot.

My advice to buyers is wait till the last moment to bid, then enter a bid that represents the max you're willing to pay - then win or lose, you're happy.

Anyone who complains about "losing to a sniper" either a. simply and rightfully lost to a higher bidder or b. lost to a shill bidder, in which case they are doubly better off for not winning.

The majority of ebay sellers are fair, decent folks - however, just like riding in traffic, you'd be foolish to not treat the situation with due respect for known hazards.

This works and it's free (deluxe is trialware, basic freeware works fine).

http://www.auction-sentry.com/