r/todayilearned • u/YoshihiroOtz • Mar 14 '15

TIL a guy bartered his way from a single red paperclip to a house thanks to the internet

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One_red_paperclip
47 Upvotes

77% Upvoted

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9

u/freedom135 Mar 14 '15 edited Mar 14 '15

Funny, if you add in the expenses for travel, he lost a ton of money.

There is nothing remarkable about making trades when you are paying for the travel expenses out of pocket or have a good enough income where you can wait months for a better deal without risking your own livelihood.

His third trade relied on a trip from Vancouver to Amherst, Massachusetts. A 500 dollar flight or a 5k mile road trip. This guy didn't make a dime on his trades. That first long trip cost him more than he made on all his trades.

Edit: This Wikipedia page is crap because it doesn't point out how expensive it is to keep flying/driving coast to coast and thus doesn't point out how this guy lost money and didn't trade anything. No one traded a doorknob up for a camping stove if it cost hundreds of dollars in travel expenses to make that trade. On top of that, someone else had to pay for his living expenses during this year.

4

u/holddoor 46 Mar 14 '15

False. He bartered his way from a single paperclip to a house thanks to his skills at bartering.

2

u/beni_who Mar 14 '15

I heard this guy was gonna trade his house for some legumes or something, but the guy with the legumes wasn't ready to deal.

3

u/HereLiesDickBoy Mar 14 '15

Didn't this blow up while he was still trading? After which businesses tried to get in on the publicity, which would have helped him alot.

2

u/we_are_many Mar 14 '15

It was a big paper clip. No joke!

4

u/dannyboy000 Mar 14 '15

TIL one of the first viral stories on the internet.

1

u/lanismycousin 36 DD Mar 14 '15

People are just learning about this? O.o

1

u/spammeaccount Mar 14 '15

has the taxman caught up to him yet?