I know this is off-topic so I wanted to warn anyone who 
reads this rant.

Those morons at evilbay do not give a rat's ass about 
whether or not we snipe OR if we complain about 
anything! I do not mean to come across as crass on this 
subject, but in truth I have dealt with ebay for over six 
years and their customer service is horrible. Everytime I 
ask them as question via email they never answer it. 
Instead all I get is lipservice and a form response, 
despite, asking them NOT to give one. 

Case in point, I do not think I am the onl y one who feels 
this way, but I want to easily SEE the NEGATIVE 
FEEDBACK for any user. IMO the negative comments 
are of greater importance than 100+ positives. I even 
asked evilbay about this during a livechat and the rep 
said they agreed and would pass the suggestion to add 
the html link (like how Yahoo Auctions has it done) 
directly to negative feedback to the higher powers. 
Well... that suggestion and many more reminders since 
then occured over three years ago and many times 
thereafter. Evilbay honestly does NOT give a damn 
about what you the user say regardless if you are a 
seller or buyer.  Personally I perfer the format and 
layout features of Yahoo auctions but evilbay has more 
users so you have to bear the crap the give to reach the 
larger audience.

Lastly, I see NOTHING wrong w/sniping... it does not 
guarantee anything. IMO you have as much of a 
chance of winning as the person who placed the first 
bid unless... there is a buy-out price. Personally I see 
no point in placing a bid for an item you KNOW will go 
high. I'd email the seller and ask about a buyout price 
and if it is not possible, no harm... just watchlist it and 
be prepared to bid. Also bear in mind technical 
problems like the horrible six hour blackout in my area 
can impose a bidding problem when there is no power. 
=(