Swamperbob - I'm sure you're right that eBay has looked at this and decided that there is money to be made by eliminating sniping. Of course I don't agree, but mine is a focus group of one. If they believe that there's more money in newbie bidders at the expense of the tried-and-true, then this move makes sense, as new users are confused and frustrated when a sniper takes an auction away from them. It is analogous to Microsoft completely changing the Office interface to attract new users, at the expense of all of us who now have to learn a new user interface. It's sad, because I will end up more or less abandoning eBay. Your bidding experiment (and thanks for that, by the way) proved what we all know anecdotally: sniping is essential.
Your notion of a class action suit is intriguing. I've never been asked for verification; I suspect eBay would have a hard time explaining why they seem to require it only of sniper bots, or why they don't allow bots in the first place. Hopefully AS is pursuing this strategem.