To be frank, you are unfortunate because you are in a limited marketplace - i.e. Few bidders.
This means that there is no substitute for gaining a better knowledge of those bidding against you and what they are willing to pay. It looks to me as if you are "out of touch" with what people are prepared to pay.
This may be for two reasons:
1. Your knowledge of current values is faulty
2. Some bidders are willing to pay unrealistic prices.
It could be either - I want a new car hood for my old car and I don't wont to pay £400 for a new one as I want to sell it shortly. So far I have been outbid every time for people willing to pay nearly £300 for one with a short lifespan (old convertible hoods exposed to the sun lose their "plasticity" as they age, so a four year old one, however good it looks has only a couple of years life left)
Now this is their ignorance not mine - a £400 hood three years old is only worth £200!
So how do you win?
In my case if its £300 on ebay, I'm much better off buying a new one at $400!
In your case appraise the market and if its an antique or rare good, there are venues other than eBay (less publicised local auctions perhaps) where you will get the good cheaper.
Look at shops sellng that good - take off 30% (their margin and taxes) - is that the prevailing eBay price? If so, it is you that is out of line with the market.
In that case, you can still win, but you have to try harder - look for mispellings, wrong categories and in places with a less active marketplace. Sorry Lexie, but my happy hunting ground for cheap old cameras is Australia! Watch for sellers that say "country X only" Write to them and ask permission to bid - that way you are going to be proably the only one from abroad bidding.
So you can see, little to do with Auction Sniper, all to do with your evaluation of the market place.
Use AS? Certainly, it prevents getting into "tit for tat" bidding against the dreaded nibblers! Also if its a rare item, you don't show your rivals that you are interested. I find I am competing with certain German & Japanese buyers with deep wallets so I stay out of the fray by using AS as long as possible. Yes, they may have made a very high proxy bid in some cases, but in many, they relax their guard because they don't see others being interested.
Paul