Why 5 seconds?

You can try to time your bid closer than that if you want, Jo. It's just that you're risking failure by eBay to get the bid in time (you might happen to hit a busy spell that ties up eBay's computers for just a second or two), and anyhow cutting things that close is all for nothing. Anything under 8 seconds or so is virtually impossible to overbid against. There just isn't enough time. I use 8 to 11 seconds myself.

Thanks Steve. I sell more often than I buy but when I was watching the final bids on a plate I was selling jump $100.00 in the last minute I decided then and there i needed a sniping program for my bids.

Jo

Actually, Jo, it's not the timing of the bid so much as the amount. I counsel all snipers to put their max bid into their snipes. If it isn't enough you have the grim satisfaction of seeing someone buy that plate or whatever for more than you were willing to pay for it. The idea behind the last-second bid is to prevent other bids from being entered once your bid is in. Those $100-in-the-last-two-minutes jumps might still happen, but it won't be your bid that triggers them.