The most money I have spent in a battle at DIII was about 9K, and I was willing to go to 12, which was all I had left or it would have been even more, had I been pushed that far. Once you start getting higher, it's usually pretty obvious who will win and one side will smartly bow out rather than blow their entire recruiting period on a stupid battle. Oh, that actually reminds me... I'm wrong, I did spend over 10K once, because the guy was a newbie who sunk his entire budget into a player he had no chance at winning.
However, there isn't a single player you ever NEED so much that you completely strike out on recruiting. Can you always find a comparative player for cheaper? No. Can you often find one? Yes. I owe Ike some thanks in Naismith for pushing me for a huge star guard in recruiting. I then crunched some figurative numbers and my experience in knowing his recruiting tactics and calculated that it would be close but I was more likely than not to lose. I gave up early and signed my top big man prospect (had to pull down and steal from simmy), and took a flier on a cheap guard. Well, that cheap guard was my best offensive player on my last title team. It ended up being a steal as a 2 for 1. The first thing you have to do is figure out if a battle is really worth it and part of that calculation is looking around at what your possible backup options are. Sometimes it's worth the battle and sometimes it's not. But don't go into recruiting with inflexible expectations. That's how good teams start missing the big dance.