Welcome, JD. I have used this service for more than two years, and used it successfully some 726 times. In all that time, I have only had two snipes not go through--an excellent percentage.
As for word "getting out," AS has been around for a couple of years, as have other sniping services. There is nothing new about that. What is new is the number of eBay users--up to fifty million now. With literally thousands of users worldwide coming in every month, eBay will always be replete with newbies, and that alone will continue to make this service useful. The sheer volume of eBay users, both old and new, will continue to create a solid base for AS, et al. There is only certain percentage of those bidders who are really hard core users and take the time to really analyze and join forums. The rest just bid as they do. We all watch the nibblers do their thing and then we swoop in and win--and there are more nibblers than ever!
