Sniping works because there will always be a large number of people like region2's quote who don't understand the microeconomics if bidding (I'm not going to present a tutorial here, but I have written about this elsewhere).
One of the more interesting and effective applications of sniping is in the form of bid groups. It's clear region2's quote has never used bid groups. When bid groups are called for, they give the sniper ABSOLUTE SUPERIORITY, over and above the advantage conferred by sniping in a single auction. I recently paid only a fraction of the average price paid by my non-sniping competitors in a bid group of about 10 very similar items, all ending within seconds of one another.