Online services claim that their use decreases the failure rate of the snipe, because they have more reliable servers and a faster Internet connection with less variation in latency, allowing the bid to more reliably be placed close to the deadline.
One economic analysis of sniping suggests that sniping is a rational gain-maximizing (in other words, price-minimizing) strategy for bidders in auctions that fulfill two criteria: For example, a novice antiques buyer may prefer to bid in auctions which already have bids placed by more experienced antiques buyers, on the grounds that the items which the experienced buyers are interested in are more likely to be valuable.
They then hope the original bidder will increase their maximum bid even by a small amount to win the auction.
Once the bidder wins the desired item, they can cancel the other scheduled snipe bids before they are actually placed in the auction system itself.
This is not a factor if the auction platform allows bidders to instantly withdraw their bids without reason, but many do not.
Increasing the number of similar or identical items bid on, reduces the attachment to winning any one of them.
The ability to batch a queue of snipe bids for auctions long in advance and waiting for notification of the win without further management allows for a more efficient use of time.
Bidders sometimes object to sniping when multiple identical items are listed as a separate lot, or on breakup auctions, where items that constitute a set are broken down and sold separately, as they must wait to find whether their maximum bid on one lot has been exceeded before being in a position to decide whether to bid on another.
On eBay the Buy It Now (BIN) option is not intended to deter sniping, and is removed as soon as a bid (exceeding a reserve price, if set) is made.
A bidder intending to snipe can eliminate the Buy It Now option by making the lowest acceptable bid early in the auction.