Ethics of last minute auction "poaching"

I believe these people also are the ones who "cut in lines"
so they don't have to wait. When everyone else waited...
Fair? Hardly.

Actually, it seems to me that many of you are missing the point of the "Proxy Bid" type of auction as seen here and on ebay. If everyone just entered the maximum amount they are willing to pay, then someone will get it for less than that amount. I find it anoying that people bid at the last second not because I may get outbid but because of the lack of understanding how the proxy works. Even if someone outbid me by 1 cent, I can not complain because when I placed my bid I decided that $XX was the maximum I was willing to pay. If you were willing to pay $XX.01, then you should have bid that. If you do not win an auction, it is your own fault. If someone, in the last seconds jacks up the price, you still got the item for less than the max amount you were willing to pay. There is very little grounds for complaint here.

All auctions have their rules of game. If the bidder follow the rules then there is no question of Ethics.
It is grossly unfair to someone who happens to find an item of auction to his favour but he is not allowed to bid because the time remaining is less than 60 seconds from the stated auction time.
Megasam, you won the auction at a price you have voluntarily set. What is your complaint?
Do you imply that you are outraged by having to pay $120 more in the last 60 seconds?
Or do you mean that since you have put a bid then no one should bid it in the last 60 seconds?
Do you consider that there will be no ethical issue if someone put in a bid at 61 seconds before auction ends?

I think that auctions are all about strategy, judgement and discipline.

If a bidder hasn't made a clear decision about what they are willing to pay BEFORE they bid, then they get what they get.
Proxy bidding enables this. Bid what you are willing to pay.

I think that Audiogon's OT gives a better sense of fair play to bidders that may want to feel the excitement (or the PAIN) of bidding real time. I think that it can definitely help the sellers as well.

It's the nature of the beast. All's fair in love, war and auctions.

My contention is that people who "snipe" are attempting to win an auction by hoping they can sneak in a last second bid and other buyers don't have time to react or make another bid. It is a inherently deceptive, sneaky, misleading, but not illegal way to bid. I think they look for items that have a low number of bids, and hope no one has set their proxy much higher, and then can make their score. Sniping is not accidental, but a strategy that is planned out ahead. My complaint is I don't care for the practice of "sniping" and therefore I plan on avoiding auctions here and stick with regular adds, people who practice this may think it is a great strategy, I will leave them to snipe each other all they want.