I have been telling sellers each and every time it happens. I also tell them just how much they have lost. I figured if the sellers started complaining perhaps eBay might listen.
However, I also started an experiment. I found 75 items all ending in 7 days - all similar and of similar values under $50 each - all starting at under $1. I picked a snipe value that I would typically place and bid on 65 of the items using eBay (bidding in the open) on the last 10 I placed snipe bids. With one day to go the bids I placed in the open have been exceeded on 61 of 65 items. All 10 of the snipe bids are still viable. By placing the bids early I was setting a market price and allowing others to try to disclose my price. In nearly every case - my maximum has been exceeded by very little. The 4 where I am still high bidder within ONE BID INCREMENT.
So I guess I have proven that eBay may be correct - they want to expose the maximum bids as early as possible to allow them to be chipped away or raised. It is good business for both eBay and sellers to discourage sniping.
So it appears WE snipers are standing alone in this fight.
I intend to keep sniping and where possible to live snipe. They can not stop that if we use our own normal PCs.