I think the advantage to bidding right near the end of an auction leaves little time for an incremental bidder to react. If everyone just put one max bid in, it wouldn't matter when the bids came in. But since there are many reactionary bidders out there, sniping works.
Exactly. I'm kind of surprised that Nat, Zeta, and others don't think sniping is effective. Dorky? Yes. Waste of time? Maybe, but it certainly saves money.
What? In what way does it 'save money?' I've observed it, in fact, does the exact opposite.
Others here are making cases in favor of sniping and yet seem oblivious to the fact they're actually outlining many of my arguments against it.
Also with bidding on auctions alot of times people end up bidding more than they were going to in the begining because towards the end of the auction they kinda feel like "well I already have this much in I might as well go this much more" so bidders alot of times end up going into bidding wars.
Bidding wars are idiotic, and I question anyone who enters into them, unless you happen to be someone with a limitless supply of currency. If that's the case, then.... more power to you. I want no part of them, and participating in end-of-auction shenanigans would seem to increase the chance of involvement.
If you outbid someone early they might decide to bid an amount they didn't plan to just because they've been "outbid" and now have some desperate need to have that item. It's like vestcoat said in his post people get a premature sense of ownership and tend to retaliate when they've been outbid. Everyone bidding within the last 10 seconds seems to be the best way to do it, everyone lays their cards on the table and whoever bids the highest wins the item.
The way I see it, the bidding wars and reactionary bids are going to happen regardless of when I place my bid.
Since the maximum I'm willing to pay for an item is determined in advance, and
has absolutely no bearing on what dopey bid war mongers and reactionaries might bid an item up to, it makes little sense to wait until the final moments to place my bid.
Maybe if someone cant understand that by entering the max you are willing to pay, that another bidder will just continue to bid until they are the highest bidder, even if only by a few cents, then that someone should inspect their own intelligence level. 
Huh? When I bid the max I'm willing to pay, I'm bidding
the max I'm willing to pay. If someone else is willing to pay more than me, that doesn't mean I'm going to increase my maximum to outbid them. That would mean my initial bid.... wasn't really a "maximum."
You see the problem with this mentality is it is exactly what fuels bidding wars. Bidding wars and sniping in general only encourage you, as a buyer, to spend more than you should. You might "win" the item, but the only REAL winner in these scenarios is the seller.
I guess it really all depends on your priorities. If all you care about is winning the item, at any cost, then sniping would seem to definitely be the most effective method. Me, I'm more concerned with not overpaying for stuff, not supporting gougers, and finding the absolute best possible deals. Sniping, by its very nature, would seem to be the antithesis of this mentality.
Also, people have lamented about being forced to pay their max bid when they bid early. This doesn't make sense to me. My maximum is never usually so high that I would regret paying it. My ceilings would actually be considered extremely miserly by most people here. If you don't want to pay high, don't bid high. It's that simple. You're not going to win every time. Maybe not even half the time, depending on what you're bidding on. But I guarantee you'll save in the long run, and you'll save yourself a migraine or two along the way.
(All that said, yeah, I've sniped an auction or two in my time in extreme circumstances on, uh, very "special" items. It should also be noted that these auctions I sniped ended up being some of the most expensive transactions for me.)
