Farewell and may fortune smile on thee in whatever travels lie ahead.

There’s no fee for joining eBay.

However, it’s probably best that you eschew eBay as its auction format is clearly not for you.

For the benefit of anyone else who may come across this thread in the future…

1. Yes, sniping is permitted. See https://www.ebay.com.au/help/buying/auctions-bidding/bid-sniping?id=4224

2. Automatic bidding may see your bid immediately outbid if someone else has placed an automatic bid with a higher maximum than yours. Your visible placed bid will increase by increments if/when other bids are placed that are higher than the current increment of your automatic bid. See https://www.ebay.com.au/help/buying/auctions-bidding/bidding-works?id=4014

3. The latest time at which bids can be placed is apparently not to the second but to the microsecond, wherein a time not reaching the next second is still contained within the allowed timeframe. In other words, whole-time increments to the second, including the final second in full before the next second is reached.