you have the option of putting in your maximum bid. this should in theory be the maximum amount you are willing to pay for an item. So, why can't you just put in this amount and be done with it? why do you have to do the same exact thing only do it within the final 10 seconds of an auction? if you only wanted to pay 20 bucks for something and somebody outbids you in the last seconds, you didn't really lose did you? if you really wanted it you could have bid more for your max.

it seems to me that sniping only drives the price up for the seller because somebody could outbid your max at the last minute and jack up the price from 7 bucks (the current max when you bid) to 21 bucks (if your max was 20). good for the seller I guess.

Michael