Auction sniping

Auction sniping (also called bid sniping) is the practice, in a timed online auction, of placing a bid likely to exceed the current highest bid (which may be hidden) as late as possible—usually seconds before the end of the auction—giving other bidders no time to outbid the sniper. This can be done either manually or by software on the bidder's computer, or by an online sniping service.

A bid sniper (often, merely called a sniper) is a person, or software agent, that performs auction sniping.