Ebay isn't a proper auction really, cos in a proper auction people keep bidding until no one bids any more then the hammer falls.
I'm a sniper myself I'm afraid, advantages; low start records get lost in the thousands if no one bids so you sometimes get stuff cheap, you don't get bid up to your maximum by the sellers mates, if it goes silly your snipe bid doesn't hit and you don't get caught up in the frenzy. Also you used to be able to see all items someone was bidding on so if you found something cheap and bid everyone else knew who had bid.
Ebay hiding bidders identities has just helped those sellers who get their mates to bid stuff up, it is in eBay's interests after all as they make more money.
Early bidding has its advantages in that you can put your top bid in then forget it, if you win great if not no worries. But the strange thing is that some people will bid on something just because it has a bid on it whereas something with no bids can stay that way even if it is cheap.
These days if I "win" anything cheap I always reckon I've just bought No 1 of a 100 count box