“Choice” is a live-auction selling method used when multiple identical or near-identical lots are grouped together. The high bidder gets to pick which one (or how many) of the group they want at their winning price — they can take “one, several, or all.”
After the choice winner picks, the remaining lots can be sold again to the next-highest bidder (with another round of choice) or rolled into a single bulk sale. Choice is common in livestock auctions (“choice of the calves”), inventory liquidations, and farm equipment sales where multiple similar lots exist. It speeds the sale and rewards the most aggressive bidder with first pick.
The economics of choice are clever: the auctioneer extracts a premium price on the “best” item by letting the high bidder pick first, while the remaining items often sell at lower individual prices once the cream is skimmed. This is the opposite of bulk-lot pricing, where uniform groups are sold at one price. Choice works best when there’s clear visual differentiation between similar lots — one calf is bigger, one truck has lower miles — so bidders can express preferences.