So what exactly is auction sniping? The shortest answer is that is involved placing bids at the last second so that other bidders don't have a chance to outbid you. This occurs on a number of other auction sites but it's actually not possible in a penny auction.
With a penny auction, a bid coming in at the last second has the same effect as a bid coming in at the beginning of the timer the countdown just resets.
Now from an outside perspective someone might look at this and believe that pretty much every penny auction site is a scam due to the fact that the timer constantly resets. If that's the case then when does the auction actually come to a close?
Most people are used to the traditional model of auctions that were developed by sites like eBay, so seeing an unusual feature like a countdown timer would seem a bit alien. Truth be told, it's not a scam as long as the site handles sales fairly and it's the perfect way to eliminate auction sniping. Truth be told, it's not the penny auctions that are doing things differently it's the mainstream auction sites.
Sniping in penny auctions aside, consider how a traditional auction works. The auctioneer continues to ramble off the number as they come in and at a given point the auctioneer will get ready to close the deal by saying "going once, twice" and if the bids continue then everything "resets" and the bidding continues. Essentially, the timer is reset.
The penny auction holds true to the traditional style of auctions where people never worried about auction sniping, they only had to worry about whales with a lot of money to throw around. It's sites like eBay that gave birth to the auction sniper and the clever strategies people use to push other bidders out of the running or drive the price up and wander off.
Penny auctions offer the safer way to bid on items because not only is sniping not available, driving the bid up and walking away without a loss isn't possible either. The pay-per-bid model means that bids spent equals money spent. There's no way for another bidder to drive a price up on your without throwing their own money out the window.
There's no fairer model for ensuring that you can get the items you want as long as you're willing to go the distance throughout the penny auction.