"Sniping" owes its very existence, however, to the basic flaw in eBay's format, so it's eBay's own fault -- a proper "open auction" ends only after a "no more bids received" interval, allowing every bidder to first be informed and then to react to every single other bidder; by violating that most fundamental part of the basic concept, eBay creates an environment where what we call "sniping" is the only sensible way to bid (converting the auction to a "closed" secret format, actually).
eBay then also foists on naive bidders the stupid advice to file an irrevocable "maximum bid" in advance, and thanks to the large supply of people who still fall for eBay's wrong advice, snipers generally get the information they need to win, without overbidding.
I wonder why no one sues eBay for malpractice, for that very "bid your max" advice, which is so wrong? Perhaps it's too hard to explain to a jury why it's so wrong, since an auction is a somewhat subtle procedure.
Happy weekend everyone!
