Exactly how does spending the time to sit and wait until 30 seconds before the action ends make the process easier to win? If the other guy outbid you in my example, his maximum bid would still outbid you if you waited 30 seconds before it ended.
The idea is to wait until so close to the end that the other person does not have time to outbid, even automatically. So if their current bid is $10, and maximum is $20, you can snipe it for $11 if timed correctly, even though they would have been willing to pay more. I don't know how close to the end you have to bid to do that, but obviously that number has been figured out by a lot of people.
The problems with sniping are 1) it makes the final price even less clear because you never know how many people are planning to snipe and for how much, 2) you're hosed if you don't like doing it, because with enough snipers around that becomes the only way to win an auction, and 3) the person willing to pay the most doesn't necessarily win.
The much bigger problem IMO is with fraudulent bids by the seller (directly or by proxy) on their own items. This causes people to pay more than they otherwise would have, and eBay has an incentive to ignore it because they make more money that way.
The idea is to wait until so close to the end that the other person does not have time to outbid, even automatically. So if their current bid is $10, and maximum is $20, you can snipe it for $11 if timed correctly, even though they would have been willing to pay more. I don't know how close to the end you have to bid to do that, but obviously that number has been figured out by a lot of people.
The problems with sniping are 1) it makes the final price even less clear because you never know how many people are planning to snipe and for how much, 2) you're hosed if you don't like doing it, because with enough snipers around that becomes the only way to win an auction, and 3) the person willing to pay the most doesn't necessarily win.
The much bigger problem IMO is with fraudulent bids by the seller (directly or by proxy) on their own items. This causes people to pay more than they otherwise would have, and eBay has an incentive to ignore it because they make more money that way.