Pricing niche products: Why sell a mechanical keyboard kit for $1,668?

On their next sale, my friend held out 10 kits to sell via auction

So, rather than speculate on a price, I convinced my friend to run a Vickrey auction to let their market determine the price. The auction worked as follows:

All buyers will likely all pay less than they were willing to pay, which makes ‘em feel like they got a good deal.

The auction yields a full demand curve, including the maximum price each customer is willing to pay and their freaking email address!

Bidders had 24 hours to submit a sealed bid (“sealed” meaning bidders can’t see each other’s bids)

The highest 10 bidders won, and they all paid the same price — the 11th highest bid

The price is set by “the community”, which deflects whining from toxic nerds.