I don’t get the last minute bidding thing. If I see something I just put in my maximum bid. If someone bids more then I’m not going to be hovering over it and emotionally put in a higher bid than I wanted. If someone else does bid more then that’s fine as it went for more than I was prepared to pay. If I win the bidding only goes up to a winning level not to my maximum. I think sniping is more to do with emotion than economics.
The problem with your approach is dishonest sellers. You get sellers who will use a second account to make shill bids. They can then bump the price up to your maximum. You will often see people place a lot of small incremental bids and then at the last moment retract their last bid. You then end up paying your maximum bid.