David,
"had read through all the posts in the past week or so and concluded that far more people were against sniping than for it so i made some suggestions accordingly."
You made this assumption based on a relatively small number of posters on the Chipboard. It is not necessarily a correct assumption. IMO a majority of bidders snipe at some point whether by placing the bid themselves near the end of an auction or with an automated sniping program.
I would prefer that niehter of your suggestions be implemented by Ebay. Also, I do not want to see a seperate "poker chip" category.
Paul