Sniping Question (Score 1)

A question I could not find answered in the hundreds of comments on this topic: "Does Ebay automatated bidding have a "TIME" advantage over sniping?" Let me illustrate my question: Situation: Ultimate goal is to get a product, and let's say the product is a rare find, but I still want to get for the lowest price: So, Let's say I have a sniping service and set up for a maximum bid of $500. And let's say the bidding is going along to the last 30 seconds or so, and a bidder bids at $85. I assume that my last snipe would come in at say $90 in the last few seconds and I would win. But, let's then take this scenario: If during the same auction, someone used Ebay's automatic bid function, and placed their maximum price at $400. In this same case, let's say in the last seconds of the same auction, the bid was $85, and my snipe comes in 5 seconds before the auction ends at $90, would the ebay automatic service automatically win even though my sniper was set at $500? In other words, does EBAY take a time advantage that a sniper could then not react to? Clearly I was willing to pay more, but I assume that with a last bid coming in at $90 by my sniper, can the ebay system "place" a bid even faster than it can be sniped...or for that matter, is an ebay automatic bid that was set up earlier going to win over a snipe after an auction ends? If this IS true, it would seem the best strategy if you really want a product cheap, would be to wait until the last minute, then use EBAY automatic bid and set up a really high price, thereby meaning sniping could be easily defeated. Thanks for the input... Jason