Trade a worthless item for a HOUSE!

[savedandsaving]

...or any other high-ticket item, for that matter!

I recently found this incredibly cool--and somewhat Mustachian--trend that's been blowing up TikTok. Kids are literally taking small, insignificant objects and using them for a series of increasingly more profitable barters with strangers using Craigslist and other marketplace sites.

Some of them have also gotten major social media traction and used that to fuel their future trades, like the one I'm following, "trademeproject" on TikTok (link at bottom of post). This young lady took a spare bobby pin and set the goal of trading it up to an actual house...she was apparently inspired by the One Red Paperclip barters completed by Canadian blogger Kyle MacDonald, whose end goal was also a house. She's completed 7-8 trades thus far and has worked her way up to a new-looking camera set, complete with a Canon T6 body, multiple lenses, a memory card, AND a camera light! (Worth at least $350-400, from what I can tell.)

I'm incredibly inspired, to say the least. Social media fame doesn't interest me, and I don't have an end goal in mind, but I'm going to see how far I can get trading up like this...or if I can get anywhere at all! I'll start with a simple brown clothespin since we have a surplus of those in our house. I think ideally, the starting object would be worth no more than a few cents USD.

Anybody want to join me and compare the monetary worth of our final items??

https://www.tiktok.com/@trademeproject?_d=db8a1el0ehb64j&language=en&sec_uid=MS4wLjABAAAA5rknXVKxiVfLgmWrWrWPyC-hV8kKY7L2cTy2PLpIayxLGd0bz9NLfvqgqD1aqeS9&share_author_id=6799076413804299269&u_code=db8a18m5024l84&utm_campaign=client_share&app=musically&utm_medium=ios&user_id=6801572820389250053&tt_from=copy&utm_source=copy&source=h5_m

[RWD]

There is a popular Japanese Buddhist folk tale from roughly a thousand years ago called the Straw Millionaire which is this same concept. Very cool idea.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Straw_Millionaire

[MudPuppy]

A person did this a few years ago with a large red paperclip.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/from-paper-clip-to-house-in-14-trades-1.573973

[Optimiser]

We used to play this game in Jr. High. We called it Bigger or Better. We'd split up in groups and go door to door trying to trade for a bigger or better item. We'd usually start with a paperclip or something similar and only played for a few hours. I remember people coming back with couches, but it's been so long I don't remember what else people got.

[HPstache]

Fun idea.  I used to do something like this with vehicles, basically buy a car with problems, put some money in, sell it for more.  Use that sale money to buy a more expensive vehicle with problems, put some money in, sell it for more.  I got stuck somewhere around an 8,000 car that I sold for 14,000... might be fun to try and take another step!

[savedandsaving]

There is a popular Japanese Buddhist folk tale from roughly a thousand years ago called the Straw Millionaire which is this same concept. Very cool idea.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Straw_Millionaire

WOW! I love this! Thanks, RWD! I also love how humble and selfless the protagonist of this tale turns out to be, giving some of his items to others without the expectation of anything in return. I'm setting out with a significantly more selfish goal, but I'm glad his good-hearted trades worked out for him! :)

A person did this a few years ago with a large red paperclip.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/from-paper-clip-to-house-in-14-trades-1.573973

The trade I'm most interested in with that story is the doorknob-for-stove one...someone must have really wanted to get rid of that appliance!! An objectively unequal swap, I'd say.

We used to play this game in Jr. High. We called it Bigger or Better. We'd split up in groups and go door to door trying to trade for a bigger or better item. We'd usually start with a paperclip or something similar and only played for a few hours. I remember people coming back with couches, but it's been so long I don't remember what else people got.

This is so cute! Sounds like you had a super resourceful group of friends!

I got stuck somewhere around an 8,000 car that I sold for 14,000... might be fun to try and take another step!

Yes! Consider this your challenge to fly even higher! This is a great idea, by the way. Maybe when I finally force myself to learn some DIY mechanic skills, I can try the same.

[Prairie Gal]

That is a pretty cool idea. I think making the first trade would be hard, but you could look on FB Marketplace for something free. A quick look on my own city's and two used bikes came up.

[soccerluvof4]

Used to be that show on TV Barter Kings. Thought it was interesting concept and hey if you can do it more power to ya!

[maisymouser]

I'm just going to leave this here...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JWxcCCVJ1aU

[bigblock440]

A person did this a few years ago with a large red paperclip.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/from-paper-clip-to-house-in-14-trades-1.573973

The trade I'm most interested in with that story is the doorknob-for-stove one...someone must have really wanted to get rid of that appliance!! An objectively unequal swap, I'd say.

I just read it, it's not an appliance stove, it's a camp stove.  Something that you travel with and put on a countertop or table to use, either propane, kerosene, or some older versions used a blend of gasoline.  Also, people give away free stoves, or sell them for $50 somewhat frequently here.

[Optimiser]

There is a show on Netflix right now called Car Masters: Rust to Riches about a custom car building shop that buys a cheap car modifies and fixes it up and trades it up to a more valuable car, they then repeat the process until the get to a $100,000 car that they sell and split the profits. The premise is based on the idea that they can consistently get more value by trading cars than by selling them for cash.