Yes, a sniping bid is a legally binding bid.
Sniping at the very last seconds of an auction is legal and not unethical. It only ticks off a hopeful buyer, like what happened to you, when one of the snipers was the top bidder at the end. Many bidders wait until the last 5 seconds of an auction in order to put in their top bid and attempt to freeze out everyone else who is also sniping at the same time.
In order to have a better chance at getting the item if you cannot be at your computer when the auction is ending, make sure your top automatic bid is high enough to give you the chance to still outbid snipers (admittedly almost always futile). The fact that you lost the bid is that your top automatic bid was not high enough to win over snipers, who wanted the item more than you, and therefore bid more than you ultimately did.
Quite a few years ago, another online auction site or two started extending the auction end when sniping happened, but they didn't do as well as those sites that still allow it with a definite auction end, like Ebay.
I nearly always only buy fixed price items, because I don't want to be forced to be at my computer when an auction is scheduled to end. But in the past when I really, really wanted something on Ebay at auction, I was one of those last-minute snipers doing my best to get it. And it often worked.
Again, there is nothing wrong or unethical, and it's similar to a live auction house, when someone at the last minute before the gavel is down, speaks up with a very high bid, and the other bidders fall out.
Instead of complaining about it, you may want to try it sometime on an item you really want. It can actually be very exciting to make a bid within the last 5 seconds or so, and see if you are the winner.
Cheers, Duffy
