function getXMLHTTPObject() {
		var XMLHTTP = false;
		try {
			if (window.XMLHttpRequest) {
				XMLHTTP = new XMLHttpRequest();	
			}
			else if (window.ActiveXObject) {
				XMLHTTP = new ActiveXObject("Msxml2.XMLHTTP");
			}
			else alert("Error: Failed to instantiate XMLHTTP Object");
		}
		catch (exception) {
			alert("Error: XMLHTTP Object Fails! Please try again later!");
			return false;
		}
		return XMLHTTP;	
	}
	
	function placeBid(handler, property, bidder)
	{
		var bidValue = document.getElementById("bid_value").value;
		var minBidValue = document.getElementById('min_bid').value;
		var minBidFormat = document.getElementById('f_min_bid').value;
		var bidNumeric = bidValue;
		
		bidNumeric = bidNumeric.replace(/\./g, ""); // remove points
		bidNumeric = bidNumeric.replace(/\,/g, ""); // remove commas
		bidValue = bidNumeric; // reassign
		
		if (isNaN(bidValue)) {
			alert("Bid value not a numeric value - Please try again");
			return false;
		}
		else if (bidValue == "" || Number(bidValue) <= Number(minBidValue)) {
			alert("Minimum bid must be greater than " + minBidFormat + " Euro");
			return false;
		}
		
		var data = "";
		
		var XMLHTTP = getXMLHTTPObject();
		XMLHTTP.onreadystatechange = function() {
			if ((XMLHTTP.readyState == 4) && (XMLHTTP.status == 200))
				document.getElementById("bidInformation").innerHTML = XMLHTTP.responseText;
		}
		
		XMLHTTP.open("GET", (handler + "?id=" + property + "&bidder=" + bidder + "&bid=" + bidValue + "&min=" + minBidValue), true);
		XMLHTTP.setRequestHeader("Content-Type", "application/x-www-form-urlencoded");
		XMLHTTP.send(data);	
		
		document.getElementById("bid_value").value="";
		
		return false;
	}