I agree the auction market has matured -- and this is not a bad thing. It's sad that companies that have a stable sales and profit base aren't considered strong unless they grow every year; what's wrong with reaching a certain size and more or less maintaining that size? Strange thing, in a world of theoretical "green living" that we have to keep getting bigger every year.

I also agree that nearly all action takes place towards the end of the auction, but I don't agree that this takes any of the excitement out of the service. In fact I'll argue the opposite -- sniping is where the excitement is on eBay. In the "real" auction world, interaction among auction participants, gauging how much they're willing to spend, is a huge part of the deal (unless you're into sealed private auctions, which I find boring). Sniping can be like that -- you see how much somebody is willing to bid, you watch them, you bid as much as you think you can to beat them ... if you're smart and don't get caught up in the moment, this is where the "fun" part of the whole auction process is.

I tend to use ebay a lot for items that I either need or want but the product inventories are so low (and usually so expensive) that sometimes an auction is the best way to get what I'm looking for. Buy It Now is great, but how many people list a Buy It Now purchase of a 1968 Saab v4 Transmission (with working freewheel)?