Ethics of last minute auction "poaching"


I was just involved in an auction that left a bad taste in my mouth. I had the high bid on an item for over 2 days and
literally in the last 60 seconds of auction a "poacher" came
out trying to sneak in a last minute bid in to win the auction. This caused the price to rise from $160 to $280 which I still won, but this seems underhanded to me. Attempting to win by last minute sneak attack! If you are interested in bidding on an item it seems common fairness to other members to come out in the open and not make your first bid with 60 seconds of auction ending! I know this is not outlawed, but ticks me off.....anyone else experience this?
128x128megasam
In a live auction, there's no time limit, and the guy who wins is the guy who's willing to pay the most for the item. (And he usually has to pay less than the highest amount he is willing to pay, because he only has to pay enough to top the next guy.) The way to re-create that online would be to scrap the time limit, and declare that the bidding stops when there have been no new bids for, say, 24 hours. I think Sean hit the problem on the head: It's the time limit that creates the sniping. OT mitigates it somewhat.
I don't know how pervasive this is, but the few auctions that I've been involved in (or followed for that matter), the winning bid was no bargain. On items that can be had new I've seen people bid more than retail, and then pay shipping. No warranty, no return policy. On items that are used I've seen them bid more than prices posted in the classifieds. The auction process is a bit of a pain IMHO, but I guess it's sort of a sub-audiophile hobby. Like people who are up at the crack of dawn for yard sales. Go figure. I'd rather just negotiate -- if you can't strike an equitable deal you're on your way.
Right on, Sean on all points you have made.

Last minute bids - the competition - is the nature of auctions.

Offering a set price and someone responding with a yes/no - is the nature of classifieds.

Megasam, maybe the classifieds are a better fit for your style of purchasing. The auctions may be proving to be too much of a hassle, and once something is a hassle-it's not so fun anymore - and isn't that why we do all this? to enjoy it?
Megasam: Your winning bid was at the last minute. You place a proxy bid. You delegated authority to Audiogon to "Re-bid" for you if someone place a bid higher than your current bid. If you let's say, bid $500 on an item that was currently at $49, without delegating authority to "re-bid" to Audiogon, the "current" bid would have been $500 when you place your bid, not $50. ---- Besides all that; the winning bid at all auctions held everywhere is the last bid place before the end.
If you go to UBid.com you will see that to place a "proxy" bid you have to use their "Bid Butler". If you do not use the Bid Butler, then if you bid $500 on an item that is at $50, the current bid jumps all the way to $500, just like a live auction if someone did the same.