Posted on 04/19/2006 2:06:41 PM PDT by rawhide
Kyle MacDonald harnessed the power of the Internet to trade a red paper clip for something better, over and over again.
Since last July, he’s managed to turn a red paper clip into a year’s free rent on a house in the desert, the Associated Press reports.
"It's totally overwhelming; I'm not going to lie," he said by phone from Montreal, where he and his girlfriend, Dominique Dupuis, live with two roommates. "But I'm still trading for that house. It's this obsessive thing."
MacDonald’s obsession started with an ad he placed in the Craigslist.org barter section, saying he wanted something bigger and better for his red paper clip — just a trade, of course.
From there he was able to trade his paper clip for a fish-shaped pen.
He traded that for a doorknob, which he traded for a camping stove, which he traded for a generator, which he traded for a keg of beer and a neon party sign.
The trading — and his ever-increasing celebrity — escalated until he traded a studio recording contract in Toronto for a year’s stay at a singer’s duplex in Phoenix.
Where his trading takes him from Phoenix is anybody’s guess, but MacDonald says he’s had offers from Hollywood to turn his story into a movie.
"If you say you're going to do something and you start to do it, and people enjoy it or respect it or are entertained by it, people will step up and help you," he said.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
I love this! God bless the free market...
I wanna trade his "Original great ides" for a winning mega-millions lottery ticket.
LOL, Pay it forward! :)
The taxman cometh.
Can you imagine the tax bill he is going to get?
The guy's got his own web-site with many more details of his bartering here (with pictures of things he bartered for):
http://oneredpaperclip.blogspot.com/
One of these days he's going to wish he had that paperclip back...
Wonder what he would have gotten by now for a red stapler!
Lol. Exactly. He's going to find out bartering is best left in the shadows.
yeah, but he'd have to fill out an updated TPS report for each trade ...
And think what he could have traded for if he'd had Milton's red Swingline stapler!
Not to mention the new cover sheet!
You have, without a doubt, the best profile page I've seen.
Thanks, I'll go look!
Um, yeah,
Ill need you to use the new cover sheet for that.
Did you get the memo.........
http://homepage.mac.com/payote/TPSMemo.pdf
And uh, here is the cover sheet.........
http://www.zooass.com/officespace/tps.pdf
Ill need you to come in on Saturday too.
Thaaaanks!
Available for all business ventures in SE Asia - contact me
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.