[phlo]

eBay's system works that way. Before oo's (I'll leave the asterisks out) bid, the highest bid amount was $89'100 by e7. oo then bid an amount between $89'900 and $90'000. At this point, eBay only displays $89'300 bid, the higher amount is retained as a (non-displayed) maximum bid. Later on, another bidder (probably ss) upped the price in $200 increments: they bid $89'300 (to which eBay publicised oo's previous maximum bid of over $89'300), then $89'500 and so on.

In this system, the highest bid always wins -- bid amount being equal, the earlier bid prevails.

[br78]

Its takes the advantage away from people with more time on their hands.

[brazzy]

Only if people always bid the actual highest amount they're willing to pay. The huge popularity of "sniping" suggests that they often don't.

[tehwalrus]

It's poor strategy to do so, as it gives other people a chance to decide whether they want to outbid you.

Best strategy is to bid your maximum amount in the dying seconds, if that's still enough - if someone was happily sat below their max, and didn't increase because they were "winning", you can grab it off them for less than if you had both fought for top spot throughout the auction.

Of course, if everyone bids their maximum amount when they notice the auction, sniping like this becomes irrelevant. But people don't, because they're people. I like that they're acting like people when I'm selling things. I dislike it when I'm buying things (because they push the price up by fighting for the top spot days before the end.)