The Steam Holiday Auction page reveals that this event was halted shortly after last night's launch. Though Valve doesn't reveal the "issues" they are "working frantically" to sort out, a post on reddit says a gem duplication exploit is what they are scrambling to address. Here's Valve's official statement:

Sorry, but there have been some issues with Gems and the Steam Holiday Auction has been temporarily closed. The elves are working frantically to get the issues sorted out, and the auction will start again as soon as they're done.