Chuck Schmidt noted:
"From what I've heard over the years, bidding the item up instead of sniping at the end of the auction is a matter of honor amongst the Japanese; the honorable thing to do."
For what it's worth, I say good for them. While sniping is an effective practice, it's also downright sneaky, especially when done by somebody who comes in with his or her first and only bid in the last ten seconds of an auction. If I don't bid high enough and lose to a snipe, that's my problem. I'm more put off by the folks who come in with some crappy little bid that only serves to jack up my purchase price by five or ten bucks.
I'd rather see eBay run like real auctions, which keep going as long as the bidding continues. If you want to have scheduled end time, fine, but extend the auctions by another hour when a bid comes in during the last scheduled thirty minutes of the auction. The sellers would end up with more money, and all the prospective bidders would see who they're up against. If somebody wants to go mano a mano with me over something we both want, be my guest and let the better of us win. Don't hide behind a stopwatch.
To those of you who get some sort of rush (whether you admit it or not) by winning eBay auctions with snipes, I offer no apologies.
IP Merkin Providence (where it's back to being cold as a sniper's heart), RI