Reply to Sara:
1. No expert needs fancy charts to illustrate a point. In my experience, fancy charts indicate they neither have a case nor are they experts.
2. Here's the reason this early snipe may have cost me $250: I use my own name in bidding; that name is in most marble books and known to all serious marble collectors who sometimes bid when they see me bidding. That's one reason I started sniping, even though it does not decrease the amount of "hate mail" I get after winning an expensive item, it prevents others from 'running me up' during the auction. When my bid went in 66 minutes early, it was $565. The next bidder at $777 has "zero" feedback of 50%; at this level, it was probably a bid that was made simply to run me up and the bidder had little intention of honoring it. The next bid was one increment higher. It was a legit bid, but had my bid not gone in early, that bidder would still probably have bid one increment higher than the then existing bid, which would have been $410, and I would have then sniped the box at $565.
3. Your arrogance is astounding. Do you really think I would ask for a waiver of this sniping fee, or to beg for free snipes?