Adwords estimator showing high CPC for terms with no ad units beside results
 

Even for a couple of terms I am pretty sure no one else would bid on .... Is this normal?? Will they sit there and charge me $1+ cpc when there is no competition?

Yes. Its a sham.

What you pay is based on the 'quality' of your ad. The 'quality' of your ad is based on how 'relevant' it is to the search.

There are some terms that won't show ads no matter how much you throw at it as they aren't considered commercial.

they will charge you some KWS more even if your quality score is big and you have no competition, because they dont estimate price that easy...

Lol- just like when they use to base quality on ctr- oh your ad causes more clicks, it goes to the top.... I wonder who wins THAT game :1orglaugh

Yes, I've run into this problem for my own personal web sites (not the dating sites of course!) I have an educational site and tried out their $100 credit to set up a new account ... most of the keywords were saying $1.50 - $3.00 minimum bid, and these were educational keywords with absolutely no bidders, completely non-competitive keywords almost nobody would ever bid on. The reason Google gave was site quality (because I was a new advertiser). Gone are the days of 1 cent a click for obscure search terms.