Allowing options in experimental auctions

Experimental auctions are a popular method to examine economic issues. However, given a fixed budget, a concern among experimental economists is maximizing the number of usable bids. A new experimental auction method has the potential to increase the number of usable responses. The options in auctions method allows the winning participant(s) to choose the product they most prefer to purchase from multiple products in the auction. The results of the experimental auction show that allowing options in auctions can increase the number of usable bids, especially when products are substitutes.