This is what I do as well, with a different service.That's why I use Ezsniper. I paste in the item number and my max bid, set and forget. The Ezsniper service puts in a bid for me in the last few seconds of the auction and either I win or I don't. I don't have to be home, I don't even have to leave my computer on. The snipe does cost something like 1% of the final value fee but only if I win. I've been using it since 2005 with good results and unless ebay makes what I would consider a sensible move to combat sniping by extending the auction when late bids come in, I'll continue to use that method.My eBay technique is to bid the maximum I'm willing to pay as soon as I decide I'm willing to bid. And I come to a firm conclusion on my maximum. If I place the bid, and am immediately outbid, I give up.
The rational thing to do at any auction is to pick the maximum that you're willing to pay for an item and stick to it. However, you must reckon with other people who are not rational.
If you bid your maximum early, then the irrational bidders will come along and bid $.50 more than the current price, until they outbid you. Whereas, if you wait to place your bid until the last moment, they never have a chance to do that. When you snipe, you are only competing against the other folks who have placed a rational maximum bid, and not the irrational +$.50 'ers.
The +$.50'ers never get a chance, if everyone snipes at the end.