If ownership FAR outweighs ALL other considerations, including bankruptcy, then placing an unmitigatedly high proxy bid would still be my recommendation. As long as all parties to the auction adhere to their obligations, the person that bids the highest gets the goodie(s). Sniping can reduce the amount one has to pay (rational snipers wouldn’t pay a sniping fee unless they expected to have a lower closing price), but in this case, ownership is the priority instead of cost. A snipe does have some drawbacks, in that it doesn’t always take place. Once a proxy bid is locked in – it’s locked in (other than a seller that doesn’t like you, or the item is cancelled - which is less likely when someone has placed a proxy bid). With a proxy bid, such things as Ebay’s surges, outages, server problems (ebay’s or AS’s), maintenance, worms, full moons, bugs, temporary insanity, or acts (Why do they call them acts?) of nature are no longer considerations (although those are rare, they aren’t impossible).
Using this method (known as the “Money Is No Object” method) won’t please those that inherit your estate, but if having the particular item is the most important thing to you, and you have MINO bucks, using this method will improve your life while you are alive (redundant), and help the seller to afford to send his/her children to an Ivy League university and/or afford a Porsche.