Well if you read what I wrote right above your post, you could have PMed me and asked to be whitelisted to post in an auction.  Or you could just PM the person running it and ask them to put in a bid for you (probably the better option).

No, not vice-versa. Bitcoin is a currency to a merchant that's going to use them. It makes no difference how strong Bitcoin is, because the only way widespread merchant adoption is going to happen is if merchants have the ability to near-instantly cash out of bitcoins into a currency they can use for things like taxes, legal salaries, and so on.

I can confidently say that I'd accept sheep as payment if I could convert them quickly and painlessly into USD. Same with bitcoins. How strong the sheep market or bitcoin market is just doesn't matter to a merchant though, as the merchant isn't going to hold onto those sheep or bitcoin.