I asked what the big deal was about sniping. Here is the response:
Good evening. Thank you for emailing. The policy actually has brought in more bidders than it has deterred. Because of now having this policy, we usually put a Buy-it-Now (well, most of the time) on our items. You could use that. Or, so that other bidder's know that someone else is also interested in the item, you can go in and bid on it, then go right back in and place a max bid on it. When your name shows up 2 times in a row on the bidder list, it tells others that you have a max bid. It then gives them the option of bidding or not bidding. That's what we want...is for other bidders to know they have the option. With the sniper-programs, other bidders do not even know that they don't stand a chance. You could put a max bid on the item in the amount that you would have programmed the sniper program to bid at, but without being hidden. Since I started listing that statement in our auctions, we have only had 2 people question it (you being the second). The first guy was downright nasty and mean and I wouldn't even want him bidding on an item if he were doing it himself (thank you for being polite in questioning it...it is appreciated). On the other hand, we have received 33 emails from people thanking us for the policy. And I had to reword the statement because 7 people emailed questioning "sniping" thinking I meant them actually placing their own bids in the final seconds. We would enjoy having you bid on our items, but in a way that other eBayer's know that someone else is interested. Please consider the Buy-it-Now or bidding then going back in and placing a max bid (this will not increase your initial bid...that will only go up if someone bids against you up to your max). Thank you for your interest and emailing us to question it.