Ethics of last minute auction "poaching"

How many of you who have sold things on Audiogon would be pissed-off and think is wrong for buyers to put more money in your pocket by bidding at the last minute?? Do you love it when you list a classified ad and a potential buyer offers half your asking price? Who of you think on a 14 day auction, for the person who bid the first day and then never logged on to Audiogon again for the next two weeks, should be entitled to special treatment solely for bidding first??
Should Audiogon get rid of proxy bidder and make it a "Straight" auction, where, if you bid $1000 and the last bid was $10, your bid get's registered as $1000 ??? This is how its done at Sotherby's and Christie's at their live auctions.

Proxy with OT gets my vote

Holy cow....you see something you want at an auction...you decide how much you're willing to pay for it...you place your bid...you either get it or you don't....it's not complicated...really....

I don't think sniping is necessarily pro-buyer. I've sold a few items on e-bay that were 'sniped'. In a few of the cases a previous high bidder who had the high bid for a relatively long time (say 12 hours on a one week auction) would write me, explain what happened, and ask if they could buy it for a slightly higher price. I always demure, but it's clear that an extention system would have yielded me a higher selling price. I do agree, however, that almost every problem is addressed if bidders actually use their high price when they bid. On the other hand I've bid on auctions where that high price moved up a little in the last hour or so...

Some auction sites have a 5 minute overtime rule, where the auction ends once 5 minutes pass with no new bid. Kind of like "Going, Going, Gone". ----- If I am not there at the end I alway bid the most I am willing to pay and hope for the best.