Sniping is the act of placing a high bid in the closing seconds of an auction-style listing to maximize ones chances of winning. It accomplishes this by becoming a late bid and thereby making it difficult for further bids to be place before the listing closes. Of course, in order to win the snipe has to be the ultimate high bid, not just the last bid.

The advantage this sniping technique has over the more conventional snipe techniques is in its simplicity in obtaining precision snipes. Only one browser has to be opened, you don't have to use an external clock or watch, and you aren't required to keep hitting 'refresh' to obtain the time left in the auction. If you are going to snipe, you have to know exactly when an auction will end and you most have a clock synchronized to eBay's time. This can easily be done by synchronizing your PC's clock to a government time server. Your clock time will then match eBay's time. There are many clock synchronizing programs you can use; one is Dimension 4 and is provided as Freeware for private use. Once you have your computer clock synchronized with a government server and thereby with eBay's, you can proceed.

 1. When there's about five minutes left in the listing on which you want to place a last second bid, go to the auction page. Note the precise auction closing time. Write it down so you get it correct when you bid.

 2. Determine the bid that represents the highest amount you are willing to pay for the item. Give consideration to this bid, since you will be making this your one and only bid.

 3. Place your bid value in "Your maximum bid:" box. Click the "Place Bid" button. You will be taken to either a "Sign In" or the "Review and Confirm Bid" screen. If you end up at the "Sign In" page just complete the sign-in process and you will then be taken to the "Review and Confirm Bid" screen. Resize the screen so it fills about one half of your monitor. Don't do anything else at this time to the page.

 4. Double click on your clock icon in the lower right corner of the system tray. Move the clock image so that both the clock and the "Review and Confirm Bid" screen show on the monitor. That is, you want the "Review and Confirm Bid" page on one half of the monitor and the clock's "Date/Time Properties" on the other half.

 5. Watch the clock as it approaches the auction closing time. When the time gets to when you are comfortable in placing your bid, click the "Confirm Bid" button on the "Review and Confirm Bid" screen. Since the receipt of your bid by eBay may take a second or more, depending on your web connection speed, take that lag into consideration when confirming your bid. Congratulations, you just sniped the auction with seconds or less prior to the auction's closing.