Can ebay tell the difference between automatic and manual sniping?

First of all, automatic sniping gets in SUPER close to the auction end time (appr. last 5 seconds)!

It is ALMOST impossible for a mere mortal to do that. Especially when you figure that the sniping computer must pull up the item page, then log in, and then bid, all in a second or two.

Their servers could easily be set up to recognize the pattern and take whatever kind of action they want.

It is possible to snipe manually five seconds prior to auction close (I have done it), because you can set everything up in advance. Doing it consistently would be difficult, but if a feature were to be included in eBay to recognise the pattern and ignore such bids, one could reprogram AS to be more random (within the last 30 seconds or so) as to the time of sniping to defeat the pattern recognition.

I've done it with as little as 3 seconds left in the auction, but I don't recommend it. I really don't think an auction site can tell whether a bid is placed automatically or manually. After all, the bid is placed in your name with your eBay password in either case. I do vary my snipe times, though, if only to keep my opponents off balance.

The answer: no they can't tell.

I have a cable ISP and can manually bid myself in the last couple seconds.

I choose to use AS so I don't have to sit at my computer and worry about adjusting my life around sniping auctions.

I've mentioned this b4 - New Zealand's http://www.trademe.co.nz/ auction extends the deadline if a last second bid comes in, effectively killing automatic snipping.

Let's hope Ebay don't start doing this...

eBay has considered extending auctions in the past but decided against it (I wrote them about it and received a reply stating such).