Hey man,
Sorry you didn't like the suggestion! :P You said that "the only way to make auto bid work is to set your limit higher than anyone else is willing to pay". How is that different to not having auto bid, the only way you can get a player is by paying more than anyone else is willing to pay.
I agree that it would remove some strategy, but in another sense it wouldn't because people would pay the maximum amount they are willing for a player. If I think a player is worth 1 mil, and you think he is worth 900k, then why does it matter if there is an auto bid or not? At the end of the day, I'm going to pay up to 1 mil for it, and you are going to stop at 900k.
The reason I suggested it, was because there are a lot of players (such as players in Australia, where the timezone is different) that aren't able to be awake for the times when there are a lot of good players available (the time when the site is busiest), and so I thought this would allow these users to use the auto bid feature. I understand that they could just go out there and bid the most they are willing to pay, but if you are happy with them going out and bidding the maximum they want, why not allow them to use this auto bid feature?
I'm not sure how a tie would be determined. Perhaps it would simply be a matter of whichever server bids first. What would happen in the game (without the auto bid) if 10 people wanted to bid 1 million? The answer is that whoever manages to bid first (get through the server first) will be the bid that counts. And if, no one is willing to pay more than that then so be it.