Personally, I feel it's fine to bid at any time you desire when it comes to an auction. Sometimes I bid the second I see the item...other times I'll use AS or snipe manually. It depends on a lot of factors, really. I'll normally put in as much as I'm willing to pay once I see an item I really want, or I'll use AS. I don't like to snipe manually at the last minute, I usually do all I can to avoid that kind of situation...since I might slip up, or my connection will be slow, etc. It's not cheating to bid, what are auctions for? It doesn't matter when someone bids, although some people do feel cheated when they put a bid in for something, the auction goes on for a full week with no other bidders, then at the final moment someone shows up and outbids them. It's a disappointment for anyone, I've been there myself. But, even I must admit it's not cheating. That, and I've done the last-minute-bidding thing myself, so I can't go and say it's a bad thing, I'd only be a hypocrite. ^^; Just my two cents on the subject.
*~samuraiblossom~*