Anybody ever encounter this before?

Snipes normally are put in earlier at night and expecially on Weekend Nights. The ebay computers are normally very slow to respond at those times. AS tries to prevent a bid that would be too late to win. It is doubtful that anyone would have been able to come up with another bid after yours and before closing. Only someone who had a max bid more than yours would have been able to win.
Congratulations on you wining.

quote:

I could have lost

- how? AS increases lead times when eBay servers are slow so this must be what happened here. Remember, it's not the last bid that wins, it's the highest. And to react to a high bid in 40 seconds is nigh on impossible...

R2

Actually it was 31 seconds, not 40 and it ended at 6:45:00 pm on Sunday night.

Suggestion: when someone bids on an item that ends exactly on the 1/4 hour on a potentially busy time, AS lets them know that there may be a 'drastic' alteration to their lead time. That might just prevent this never-ending parade of newbies all asking the same thing (plus the loss of customers who don't bother coming here!.

R2