Hello Texraid,
I have to assume that you're referring to eBay item number 220390784645. If that's the case, then this auction was not lost because of the time your bid was placed, but because your max bid was lower than the winning bid. This should have generated the Snipe Status message "Bid Too Low."
The bid was placed a little bit earlier than your 3 second lead time, but I can assure you that if it had gone at exactly three seconds, it still wouldn't have been the winning bid. The winning bidder was also using an automatic bidding service and placed a higher bid.
Our servers gauge the traffic on eBay, as well as other factors, when placing a snipe. This sometimes results in a snipe being placed a couple seconds earlier or later than the lead time. Because of this, we don't recommend setting lead times less than 5 seconds, especially during peak times, to ensure your bid is placed before the close of the auction.
It is always in our best interest for you to win your auction. Please let me know if you have any further questions regarding this matter.
I thank you for using Auction Sniper.
Respectfully,
Steve
Auction Sniper Product Manager