I never like being sniped at the eleventh hour in eBay auctions, however I have won a few like that myself. It always amazes me with some items (possibly rare or valuable or both), as they will maintain a low price until the last two minutes when bidding goes mad. I have seen items climb from about £2 to around £100 in this time and it must leave all bidders and the seller on the edges of their seats.

This has made eBay almost like a real auction. You have an item sitting there that everyone can spend a while looking at and then all the bids come in at once. The only difference is there is a time limit in which to do this unlike in real auctions when the item sells to the person who is prepared to pay the most.