Sniping is easy and quick. It's not illegal nor inappropriate. If I bid $101.76 on an item 5 days before the auctions end then someone will just keep making small bids until they surpass my Max. If I make that same bid 5 seconds before the end of the auction then no one else sees my bid. If they wanted it they certainly had the option of placing their own max bid. If they loose it's not because I bid late...it's because they didn't really bid what they were truly willing to pay.