Greed I think has a large impact on such auctions. People who, bidding are eager and hellbent to get a picture from the artist. Which, in and of itself is fine and dandy. I support the artist in that respect if they are talented and popular enough to make ludicrous amounts of money, then they should. Think of all the artists long ago who were broke consistently until long after they died.
As for the artists, maximum bids seem a bit out of place as it is an auction. An original Monet wouldn't have a max bid placed on it afterall. In the same respect, I do see where you are coming from. But, most people don't see it as, "All I really want is fifty dollars, so once the bidding reaches fifty, I'll do that person a picture." I believe it is seen more in the realm of, "I'd like to get fifty dollars, but if someone is willing to spend a hundred and fifty, I'm not going to say no to it."

Such is my thoughts on the matter anyway.

Honestly, I pretty much agree with Thunder on this. It's 90% greed and folks being hellbent on winning ALL the things. Either way... nothing to be done or said about it.

I can't help but agree with you on this. Every time I see YCHes from folks, the money offered is just beyond ridiculous. If I had any talent, people that made such jumps would be ignored, really. As would be people that already have a picture by me. I would put that in the information about the auction, obviously.

Just my two cents though, my boy.

A solution could be to make it a "5dollar increments only" kind of thing in which people can also end up at 150$ picture but they'd have to follow the auction to get their final bid?

Idk if that helps though people may lose interest in ych auctions from an artist that they can't outbid immediately?