Archie,

I don't understand your feelings about sniping.
When the auction ends at a set time I don't care who the high bidder is. If a sniper comes in with a higher bid with one second left good for him and me. He gets the chip and I get more money.
If I want something on ebay, I place it in my watch column and if the price does not go over what I'm willing to pay than I will bid on it at the very last second. I don't want to bid during the auction. That only drives the price up.
Now if ebay would extend an auction x minutes after each bid until there is no more bidders,that would be a different story. But the way it's set up now I want the higest price I can get for whatever I'm selling and I don't care when you bid as long as you bid.

Best regards,
Ralph