[ferretchucker]

I usually wait until there is one minute left, have a small clock in front of me, start doing all the work towards a bid, then place it when I have just under ten seconds left. If they are using a sniping service then they will of course beat you, but as I said, I've never been beat for something I was willing to keep bidding for, so I've never come across someone using a sniping service.