On the contrary, sniping very much favors the buyer. A lot of the eBay price inflation is due to auction psychology: once a buyer enters a bidding war, he does not want to lose even if he ends up paying more than the item is worth, thinking the other buyer's bid justifies his own overbid. Many noob buyers make several bids, until they bid more than the current winner. As a seller, I am happy when two such buyers show up at my auction. Sniping removes this emotional part, so favors the buyers.