A lot of bidders decide: "no one values this more than I do, so I'll put my maximum bid of $100", for something that typically goes for $10. This technique works "well" in certain cases.
However, when two or more bidders think this, well, the bidding can proceed as described in the
B3 auction or a lot worse. I've seen fairly cheap magazines (not role-playing ones) go for hundreds of dollars due to (I suspect) this very phenomenon.