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In this world, many things are more valuable because of scarcity, which is also the biggest motivation for people to choose sky-high auspicious numbers. If everyone can use a number ending in "888", the mobile phone number will naturally not be "sky-high". Because of the scarcity of resources, people either spend more money to choose an auspicious number or spend less money to choose an ordinary number when choosing a mobile phone number.

According to netizens' reports, a "13802222220" mobile phone number in Shenzhen was sold for nearly 100,000 yuan, and a "15888888888" mobile phone number also appeared on the Internet recently, and the price was as high as 800,000 yuan! This sky-high mobile phone number belonging to Zhejiang is only a few different from the auspicious number "13888888888" that was once priced at 880,000 yuan. A few days ago, the reporter found through investigation that with the opening of new number segments such as 159 and 158, the "auspicious number" that has almost disappeared has been marked with sky-high prices and sold at sky-high prices, and has been highly sought after in Shenzhen and other places.

It is understood that at present, a large number of professional websites operating the sale and transfer of mobile phone numbers have appeared on the Internet, and many websites mainly operate "auspicious numbers" and "beautiful numbers".

The reporter saw on the "Shenzhen 17591" website reported by netizens that the mobile phone number of "13802222220" in a conspicuous position was priced at 88,000 yuan, and even a "13510363333" mobile phone number was sold at a high price of 28,000 yuan. Since this is the Olympic year, the number with the "2008" number string has also risen. Some "Olympic" numbers have been sold for nearly 20,000 yuan. In addition, the "couple number", which is only one digit apart from each other, and the "birthday number", "license plate number", and "commemorative number" with the end number of the mobile phone alluding to the year and month of the month are all popular.

According to people familiar with the matter, those mobile phone numbers marked with high prices on the website only account for a small part of all "beautiful numbers", and those that can really sell for a large price generally need to negotiate the price in person, such as numbers with "8888", "6666" and other "auspicious" number strings are basically around tens of thousands of yuan.

Why do these numbers sell for sky-high prices? Who will pay for these sky-high prices?

According to the survey, these sky-high prices are nothing more than buying them as gifts, or the personal hobbies of some wealthy people. What is the special value of these sky-high goods? According to reports, almost all buyers are businessmen, they are not only for the convenience of memory and the worship of auspicious numbers, but more importantly, they are used to "support the façade", of course, they can also be used as gifts.

"Auspicious number", also known as "personality number", refers to the worship of a certain number or a certain set of numbers due to people's traditional concepts and personal preferences. Some people believe that these numbers bring good luck to themselves, so these numbers are favored by people like the "totem worship" that we usually practice.

The cult of these numbers is often formed as a result of homophony or traditional habits of mind. Just like totem worship, different tribes and ethnic groups often have their own different objects of worship. People in different places have different concepts and living habits; Even for the same number, different auspicious ideas will arise. For example, in many parts of China, there are people who believe that "8" can bring good luck to themselves, mainly because 8 is homophonic with "fat", which is often associated with "fortune". Who doesn't want to be rich? Yu "8" is loved by people. There is also "168" as "all the way to fa" explanation, "888" is the meaning of "fafafa", and "666" means "six six major shun", and so on.

It is precisely out of the worship of "auspicious numbers" that the phenomenon of auspicious number auctions is widespread in our country. Auspicious days and auspicious times have long become the preferred days for economic activities such as welcoming new marriages, opening celebrations, signing contracts and cutting ribbons. In many places, there have been phenomena such as abnormal traffic congestion and festive atmosphere on these so-called auspicious days. On the contrary, some numbers are disliked by people, such as mobile phone numbers with 4, which can often be given away for free, and some properties do not even have 13 or 14 floors, which is in line with the preferences of some residents.

In the new Guinness Book of World Records in 2009, Qatari telecom operators were recognized as having the world's most expensive mobile phone number. A mobile phone number for "6666666" was auctioned on May 23, 2006, and the final price was 10 million Qatari riyals, or about $2.75 million based on the exchange rate at the time. The most expensive mobile phone number previously recorded by Guinness World Records was the mobile phone number of "88888888" sold by China Sichuan Airlines for $480,000.

In order to attract high-end users, China Unicom opened the online application for the auspicious number of section 156 in 2008. For example, the tail number "88888, 6666, 2008, 6699" and other numbers, users can obtain them through online bidding, and different "beautiful numbers" need to deposit phone bills in advance, ranging from 1,200 yuan to 240,000 yuan.

However, these numbers are finite after all, and it is impossible for limited resources to satisfy everyone. Therefore, under the premise of scarce resources, for these auspicious numbers, they must be obtained at a high price. Scarcity is one of the distinguishing characteristics of economic goods.

The scarcity of resources, some of which are innate, such as gold, diamonds, etc.; Some are derivative, such as arable land, which becomes less and less per capita as the population increases. Because scarcity can show its value more, which is also the biggest motivation for people to choose sky-high auspicious numbers. If everyone can use a number ending in "888", the mobile phone number will naturally not be "sky-high". Because of the scarcity of resources, people either spend more money to choose an auspicious number or spend less money to choose an ordinary number when choosing a mobile phone number.

There is a well-known theory in economics: useful water is worthless; Useless drills, sky-high prices. Water, because of its constant supply, can be harvested anywhere, is worthless; Drills, a rarity, so valuable.

It is precisely because the supply of auspicious numbers is too small, and its demand is too large, so invisibly, its price will naturally be very high. For example, when Chow Yun-fat filmed "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon", his salary was as high as more than $15 million. Why is his salary so high? This is because Chow Yun-fat is famous, and without Chow Yun-fat, the box office of "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" cannot be guaranteed, and investors will not dare to invest. It is basically impossible to find a star with international appeal like Chow Yun-fat, and other big-name stars cannot be replaced, for investors, it must be Chow Yun-fat. In the language of economics, Chow Yun-fat's supply is too scarce, but his demand is too much, including his loyal fans, so it is impossible to think that his salary is not high.

Commodities that are in extreme supply but in great demand will be priced high. Such an explanation just explains the reason why auspicious numbers can be auctioned at sky-high prices.

Therefore, smart businessmen know how to exploit the imbalance between resource demand and supply to make huge profits for themselves. For example, if an antique dealer owns two identical Xuande incense burners, each worth 1 million, the merchant will inevitably smash one of them. Maybe you will feel a pity, but you have to pay attention, if there is only this one Xuande incense burner left, then this treasure will become the only one, and its value will not be measured by 1 million. Why, it is because of its uniqueness, only is more scarce than scarce, which shows that it is extremely scarce like Chow Yun-fat, so it will be more competitive.

Although the auction of auspicious numbers has been criticized by many people, from an economic point of view, its emergence is in line with economic laws.