Something to consider. Once a sniping bid is entered, if it is higher than the current bid, then it becomes a simple proxy bid, just like yours, just entered later. The battle is then fought by the Ebay proxy server, and may the highest bid win!
To make this clearer, use some numbers as an example. The current bid is a $150. You have entered a proxy bid of $200. No one else has bid in the last day or two, so the bidding has not climbed. I enter a sniping bid in the last 3 seconds.
My bid triggers the proxy system. It raises the price to $157.50. Your proxy raises it to $160.00. My proxy raises it to $162.50. Your proxy raises it to $165.00. And so on, until one of us runs out of dollars in the proxy bid.
If my bid was less than $200, you win. If my bid was more than $200, I win. All of this has taken just a fraction of a second. Two seconds later, the auction is over.
Now, what has been gained by sniping? Assume that my bid was for $250. The final bid, therefore, is for $202.50, and I win. If I had placed that proxy bid earlier, it gives you a chance to get back in, enter some additional bids, test how far my proxy bid went, and decide whether you want it badly enough to beat me. You might go up slowly, to $255. You might enter another proxy bid, say to $300, and be ahead of me at $255.
Now, I have a chance to go back in and determine whether I want it badly enough to beat you. And so forth. In this way, the price just continues to go up, until one of us backs off.
By sniping, and assuming that my proxy bid (entered at the last moment) is higher than yours, I simply don't give you enough time to get back in. You can sit and watch the auction for the last 5 minutes, continually hitting your "refresh" button to see if the price has changed. Up until the last moment, you feel secure. You hit "refresh" one final time -- your screen slowly is updated -- and you are shocked to see that the auction is less than 2 seconds from ending, and you have been beaten! You quickly press the "bid" button -- but it's too late. It's all over. That's why sniping is beneficial -- it shuts out the non-snipers.
So, you see, a sniping bid is actually no different than any other bid -- except in when it was placed. As long as it is higher than the current bid by more than the bid increment, it becomes a proxy bid just like yours, and may the highest bidder win!
There is only one conceivable time when placing an early proxy bid will benefit you -- in the event of a tie. If you place a proxy of $200 a day before the end of the auction, and I place a proxy sniping bid 3 seconds before the end of the auction, also of $200, you win because you had the earlier bid.
