Authcodes typically don't expire, but many registrars tend to reset them after some time, supposedly for security (in reality it's usually just to make the transfer harder).
You don't pay for bids, only the winner has to pay for the auction. Sorry, maybe I got confused. But @LoveCatchyDomains is right, the actual bid in this case is $60+10k not $60. Of course it would not look as attractive then. Even for "normal"...
No, no, no. "Domainer registries" sold the initial batch of "premium" domains at auctions and made the rest available at high registration prices, but allowed for normal priced renewals. The geniuses who invented "premium renewals" are just petty...
tl;dr:
1. get a subdomain
2. buy a hosting
3. buy a website builder
4. find a promo
5. find a time machine and get a domain at freenom when it still worked
How about make it more prominent for premium renewals, like different colour (red?) and bolder.
As said above, when bidding on many domains it's easy to overlook it, so it needs to be more explicit.