I don't even look at it as sniping.

Every auction boils down to the last minute. Anybody truly interested in the item will be sitting at their computer waiting for the countdown and will be ready to put their top bid in.

I rarely bid on an item before the last few minutes because it gets others to get the silly competitiveness thing going. That raises the price up early which only helps the seller. When it becomes a pissing contest early, it goes out of the realm of commerce and into the realm of "Oh yeah...!"

I only bid early when I am worried the seller will pull the auction, or I put a high bid in very early to discourage other bidders when they don't see the ceiling after a few bids.

My biggest pet peeve is when the high bidder follows his high bid with 2 or 3 more bides to "stake his claim" on the item. I view that as poor form. And I punish him by methodically bidding in small increments until I am a penny under his highest bid. Sometimes he puts 3 more bids in to re-establish dominence... so I bid him up to his highest bid again. He ends up artificially paying an insane amount for the item that he wouldn't have had to if he was a "gentleman bidder"

I get more entertainment out of that... I can always find a bidding formula that keeps me from unintentionally becoming the high bidder. If somebody has to put all their bullets in the chamber... I am going to make them pull the trigger. I am a bad, bad, man!