Quite the response, seems I steered up a hornets nest.... I should not have forgotten to add some smileys, I guess ...

First of all, you are right about Ebay having no rule against sniping tools; as a matter of fact, Ebay officials explained in an interview they don't mind the use of them.
That's what MY search brought up.....
Then again, Ebay has never cared for their users interests, can't argue with that, can you ;) ?

But , a well configured tool + a stable highspeed connection will in most, if not all cases give you an advantage over the average Joe, who doesn't care too much for nifty little computer programs.

My browser will add it's loading times to the bidding process, thus being no match at all for a lean little cheating program like an auction sniper, which also synchronizes to Ebay time.

That's something my browser doesn't, and how on earth will you place a bid exactly 8 seconds before the end of an auction like that ?
Play it save with 20 seconds, even 12, and you don't stand a chance against that tool.

Like I said, I do that cheat now myself, if those crappy sniping programs you can get for a mac work actually for a change (...)

I still say that it is just that, a cheat, and it sucks, as not only does it give an unfair advantage to only some, it also changes the whole bidding process many times, when mainly 'pros' are involved in the run for 'most wanted' items like, well, collector's watches.

I did some homework in ebay related fora, off-ebay, that is, and there seems to me to be some common pattern .

You offer that desirable thing, have some friends get the bids to a decent level until a few hours before the auction ends , and then rely on the snipers setting their tools well above the latest real bid to get the most money out of it.

The above mentioned Joe has long been left behind at this point, even though that poor fellow, making his last bid a few minutes before closure, helps to make the tool users adjust their sniping bids even higher.

So everyone is being played, but the seller and ebay, laughing all the way to the bank. And prices for many items skyrocket, despite the less than great economic situation these days.

Well, I might have been carried a bit away here, but don't underestimate the influence of ebay on used market prices, among other things. And all those things manipulating ebay auctions play a big role, imho; countless people made ebay cheating and fraud their hobby, if not their profession.

Alright, that said, I cheat , too, so I suck as well. Happy ?
You cheat, you suck with me, so let's all just cheat and suck together ;-)))) .

Also, Chuck, I understand you are using a Macintosh like me, what's your sniping program of choice ?

Peace
Thomas