FAQ: Why is a patron bid being blocked?

Question:  A patron was trying to increase their bid substantially, but the system would not let them - what's up?

Answer:  The system has a rule to prevent mistakes being made.  No bid can be larger than 4x the current high bid.  At small values, this may seem like nothing, but it is very useful at larger numbers.  In practice, bidders won't make huge bids unless they are making a mistake, which the system prevents.  If they want to make a proxy bid for the maximum they are prepared to pay for an item, they can set the maximum limit as high as they want.