Are you looking for a way to better your odds when you bid for items on eBay? NBC 10 consumer reporter Tracy Davidson reveals an industry secret called sniping.

From clothes to collectables and even cars, millions of people buy and sell on eBay.

The highest bidder walks away a winner. It can be a nerve-wracking process for people who get into bidding wars. So, if there was a service to better your odds on eBay, would you use it? Here are some comments from people at an Internet café.

"Yeah for sure, I mean, if was simple enough for me."

"Not really, cause I don't use it that often."

"If I was really interested in getting something, then possibly."

Services are popping up on the Internet that offer to do your bidding in those last few seconds of an auction. They claim other bidders will have little to no time to react. It is called sniping.

Consumer Alert wanted to see how it works.

First, we picked five different eBay products and decided on a maximum bid for each. Then we got four different people to bid on the very same products, with the same maximum bids. They all went through different snipe Web sites to make those bids. Some are free, others charge.

On each snipe site, we asked to bid as close to the end of the auction as possible. For some sites, it's the last five seconds. For others, it's closer to 10 seconds.

We won all of our bids. One of the sniper sites -- auctionstealer.com -- came out ahead four out of five times.

eBay allows sniping, but doesn't recommend it. eBay said two key things:

No. 1: If you are the highest bidder, you'll win no matter what.
No. 2: Beware of identity theft. Why share your private information and your eBay user ID and password with a third party?

eBay released this statement:

“While we don't disallow the use of so-called sniping tools by bidders on the site, we do believe that they are generally ineffective. Remember, with eBay's proxy bidding system, the winner isn't the person who bids last, it's the person who bids the most, regardless of when the bid is placed. And many sniping tools require you to give your eBay user ID and account password to them, which is not a practice that is recommended if you are trying to avoid identity theft."

The snipe sites told NBC 10 that they use encryption to protect consumers from identity theft. AuctionStealer.com said:

"Our software does two things: It eliminates bidding wars, and we mask your true intentions by placing your bid at the last second. Any user can use our service for free. We have had people using our service for years that have never paid us a penny."

Here are some Web sites that you can check out and make up your own mind whether sniping is for you.

Powersnipe

AuctionStealer.com

Auctionsniper.com

Bidnapper.com

eBay's Description Of How Bidding System Works.

Editor's Note: NBC10 is not affiliated with eBay or any snipe sites.