July 15, 2020

How much would you pay for a copy of Super Mario Bros?

Long time reader LN Grogan sent in this article from Ars Technica (shared with permission):

A sealed, early copy of Super Mario Bros. for the NES sold for $114,000 Friday at specialist house Heritage Auctions, setting a new record for the sale price of an individual video game.

That’s right… someone paid over $100,000 for a copy of an old video game.

One that they will almost surely never even play.

Or even take out of the box.

How does this happen?

This happens when something scores well on my Max Price Formula:

(DESIRE * MONEY) / OPTIONS

In the case of this particular video game cartridge, someone evidently wanted it really bad (i.e., desire), had a lot of money (i.e., buying power), and we know from the article that there were very few copies in existence (i.e., alternatives).

Here’s the thing…

If you want to increase the maximum acceptable price folks will be willing to pay for your products and services, you can do so by:

• Offering something that some people want very badly
• Attracting clients who have very high buying power
• Strongly differentiating yourself from your competitors so that your buyers perceive fewer available alternatives

Improving any of these factors will help you raise your price ceiling.

Yours,

—J

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