Sorry you didn't like my brief responses.
First off, welcome to the forum.
Next, I'm getting the idea that you are obsessing over the wrong thing. Rather than agonizing over the absolute latest you can place a bid, you should be examining the absolute HIGHEST amount you are willing to pay for the item. No matter HOW MUCH you WANT something, there is a figure that you need to determine that is your absolute TRUE maximum. At this amount, if you were to WIN the item, you might be a little uncomfortable with how much you're paying, but generally happy to have won the item. A good indicator that you have determined your true maximum bid is that when you contemplate someone paying MORE than that figure, your immediate response is to think, "My GAWD!!! I'd NEVER pay that much for this item, no matter HOW MUCH I want/need/desire/can't-live-without it!!!" This maximum figure which is specific for you and only you can determine for yourself, is the amount you will be bidding. Now, one thing to definitely remember is that even if you are able to bid 0.00001 seconds before the end of the auction and ARE indeed the LAST bidder in the auction, if your bid isn't the highest, you still lose!
Now, to better respond to your original question; one "feature" of AuctionSniper (AS) that you need to be aware of is that it constantly monitors ebay traffic and response time. If AS determines for whatever reason there seems to be a slowdown in ebay response or internet traffic, it will arbitrarily and automatically PAD whatever lead time you set. There have been complaints of AS padding times by 15, 30, 45, or even more seconds! High traffic times for ebay happen when auctions end on the quarter hours of Friday, Saturday, & Sunday evenings USA time. During these times, AS is more likely to (but NOT ALWAYS!) pad lead times. Check out
<this thread> for an example of a related discussion.
Another thing -- it also seems to me that AS snipers that set their lead times to 5 or 6 seconds or less are more often having their lead times padded. Personally I use 11 seconds and rarely, if ever, have AS fiddling with that lead time. If you are able to get a bid in on an auction within the last 15-20 seconds before it ends, it is probably unlikely that your competitors will be able to get any more than one more retaliatory bid in. If your bid is still higher, you still win, albeit you'll not be getting the bargain you hoped for!
Because your initial post indicated the HIGH importance of this item to you, and your apparent obsessing over being the LAST bidder on this item, I recommended sniping manually. If something goes wrong with AS on this ONE bid, like bidding earlier than you want, or even worse, not bidding at all for some reason, it sounds like you may have to WAIT A LONG TIME before another comes up. Why risk it?!?
Other forum members may have other opinions, but my recommendation remains the same as my initial post -- bid/snipe manually.
Let us know how it goes.
quote:
Also, just to confirm... A/S goes by eBay's server's time, not your computer's right?
Correct.
