You know, I've bought and sold a number of things on e-bay and I've
never gotten too worried about the whole "sniping" thing.  E-bay did
try extending the auctions for awhile if there was a lot of activity
towards the end of the auction, but for whatever reason that seemed
to aggravate bidders _much_ more than the sniping because it could add
an hour or so to an auction.  They did it in ten minute increments.

A friend of mine that collects phonographs was really excited, four or
five years ago, because a rare Victrola came up on e-bay.  It was one
of those deals where it was at $175 all week.  It was listed poorly so
he figured he was the only one watching it.  So, with 15 seconds left,
he put in a $15,000 bid and got the thing for $12,000!  Apparently
someone else was watching it too.  It was a good price for the machine
since it's worth at most a third of what he paid for it!  My friend
re-financed his house and made good on the deal.  And now he is a lot
more careful about his sniping tactics.

I've always figured that E-bay is what it is.  And I have certainly
found things for sale there that I would have never found otherwise.
It has also saved a lot of stuff from going to the dump because so much
of what turns up on there ordinary antique dealers wouldn't touch with
a barge pole since they would have no way of selling even if they knew
what they were looking at.  It really is something to see how much
stuff is still squirreled away and it turns up there.

Good luck sniping!
Earl Hennagir