As someone who has sold something on Ebay and seen the last minute bid, the fact that shopping works really frustrates me. It's such a bad feature of Ebay that the auction end time is fixed regardless of bids.
I think you mean sniping, not shopping, and I can certainly see your point. Believe me, when I bought the business I carefully thought through the ethics. At this point it is unlikely eBay changes its policy because the pros and cons both are run surprisingly deep.
FWIW there were a few studies done on it in the early days of eBay, and it appears that sniping tends to bring more buyers to the table, even though sellers can feel uncomfortable with it.
Yes, sniping sorry. It definitely seems to be a policy made to please buyers, but even on the buyers side it has a bad connotation for those who miss out by a few seconds. I agree its unlikely ebay will change it now.
