&gt; I&#x27;d be surprised if most if not all snipes were&#x27;t automated. I don&#x27;t think people sit round their PC with their finger on the buy button as the auction counts down.<p>Most non-technical people, heck, even most technical people I know who use eBay regularly, don&#x27;t use snipers. (Too bad for them.)<p>&gt; Another idea is: why doesn&#x27;t eBay write their own bots for users to use, and call it a &quot;bidding strategy&quot;?<p>eBay takes a percentual share of the selling price, so they have an interest in high selling prices. Making sniping easier would lower selling prices. When all (or most) bidders will make bids shortly before the auction, and - which is the important part - see each others bids and respond to them, that drives up the selling price &quot;nicely&quot;.