Everyone has experienced it. You’re placing your bids on eBay, and you’ve got the top bid with only a minute left. Then, as you’re doing the ritual countdown, someone outbids you. It’s annoying and a piss-off… but it’s so excruciatingly fun from the other end.

The term associated to doing this is called “sniping.” A second or two before the auction ends, someone would place a bid outbidding the highest bid. More and more it’s being seen on eBay as products that are so obviously worth the $2000 mark only hit that mark in bids around a few hours before bidding ends.

There’s a lot of controversy about whether this practice of sniping should be allowed, and whether or not it’s “fair” in bidding. If we were to put it into perspective of a real-life auction, it would be as if someone sent their assistant to bid on the products for them while they were in the Bahamas. I personally think it’s fair, and the people that are complaining just don’t know how to do it themselves.

That’s why we’re here, though – so let’s take a look at a few of your options!

There are two types of sniping applications. There are ones that are hosted on other computers, and ones that are hosted on yours. Both are just as reliable, but the ones that are hosted on other computers are much better for auctions you try to win while you’re on the road and don’t have your computer at home on. The latter rely on your computer being online and powered on. You run a few risks on this end that ultimately would end in you losing your bids.

The most popular sniping program is one called Auction Sniper. It sports a great and simple interface that has a load of features. It has a free trial for you to use on one auction, and past that costs a little bit per auction. Auction Sniper is a hosted solution meaning that it doesn’t rely on your computer being powered-on or online, so you can set it and not worry about it.

JBidwatcher is another pretty wicked tool that allows you to run a similar program to Auction Sniper with a few less features on your desktop. It runs on Java meaning it works on every computer from Linux to WIndows to Mac, on any operating system. It works pretty nice and works in similar was as Auction Sniper, but if your computer is off, it won’t be able to do it’s job.

All of these applications that you find online will allow you to create some settings on how it should bid. You’ll be able to put in the auction number, and various settings (based on the application) about how much it should outbid the person before it, and what your budget is for the auction. What’s great about these applications as well (especially with Auction Sniper) is that you can bid on the same item in several auctions and when you win in one, it pulls your bid out in all the rest. Pretty neat, eh?

But what do you think? Do you “snipe”? Do you think it should be allowed? Share your thoughts in the comments, below!