When i gp to bid on am item why is it that i am only able to bid in the hundreds and i see others bidding with cents?

Each bid has to be raised by a certain amount. Most people usually just go by 100coin, because it's small and easy to bid.
If you look at the question mark and black arrow by the bids it tells you the average sale price of the item, and what the next bid has to be for your bid to go through.

I recall something a while back that we were able to purchase through auction house where we got a free hair each month and if im not mistaken it had said something about with this package we would be able to bid smaller amounts instead of hundreds. It may have been something to do with zynga im not really sure.