My position is the a$ that has not been involved at all during the bidding, and then pops in in the very last few seconds and snipes it, not the HONORABLE bidders doing battle. If I am in heated bidding with 1, 2, 3, hell, I don't care how many, it's the one that is hiding out, and hits you blind side, because you already have a sense of the others' commitment level. Those are the "Snipers". They hide in the shadows and, as far as I am concerned are cowards. I don't care what they think of themselves, I call them, openly, cowards. It's my position, and I will always see it this way. It used to not be allowed on ebay. There was a check box when I joined that basically said you would not participate in this practice, that you would be an HONORABLE auction participant. I guess the powers that be decided it was not a worthy cause to have honor as a benchmark anymore.
I've been that bidder several times before that has lost an item after placing bids for days, and several bids towards the close of an auction, and wound up upset that I lost. I finally realized that in my mind, I was already regarding the item as mine, and I'm thinking someone was bidding against me to make me pay more and more for what I considered to be mine already. Truth is, the item is not mine yet, and I have to pay more than anyone else to actually own the item.
So, I come up with my highest bid I'm willing to pay, and bid in the last few seconds. Occasionally, this amount is far above the current bid. As may be, as well, an ongoing bidder's highest bid, being placed days before. Is that an HONORABLE bidder also? I mean, he's not manually placing bids, and "doing battle"...... He's just kicked back, watching the auction, and seeing if he's willing to place another higher bid. And when is the latest he could do so, and not fall into the a$$hole category?
For me, I choose not to play the game of Ebay bid wars.
I have a bid in mind that I'm willing to pay.
If someone bids higher than me, I don't get the item.
For me, there are no a$$holes involved... just bidders.
And that HONORABLE bidder on Ebay, just might be the jerk that's letting his dog take a crap on my lawn.