>>This is surely an advantage for the snipe buyer. Nobody will ever question that.

I question that. My use of esnipe does not give me an advantage over other bidders, The high bid wins and the Ebay proxy system gives all bidders the opportunity to place the high bid without having to be present at the end of the auction.

The sole advantage of sniping is that it keeps the final price down because many users for some unknown reason simply refuse to enter there highest bid in the proxy system.

The sole advantage of a sniping program is that the person doesn't have to be at their computer at the end of the auction to enter their bid. The automated snipe program doesn't allow a lower bid to win.

Once again, its the highest bid that wins, not the last bid.