The Big Trade - From Paperclip to House

Trade 3: Bottle opener ----> Gibson Guitar Strap

2008-10-23T18:43:00.009+01:00

I was in Manchester meeting one of Ani's friends, Chris. Ani had told him about my big trade and as luck would have it, he had heard of the original red paper clip trade and was eager to help me out.

Luckier still, Chris worked in Game Station and was able to pick up a free Gibson guitar strap from a selection of freebies the employees get. The guitar strap was part of promotion for the game Guitar Hero.

I felt a little bad trading a bottle opener for a far superior guitar strap, particularly since Chris played guitar and had no need for a bottle opener. Still, I wasn't going to argue.

Since then I became rather stuck on the trading. I had a few offers but nothings came to fruition and I lost the momentum that I'd started with.

After complaints I decided I needed to give this venture the time and effort that it deserves. That's why I started this blog. I also posted the trade on to a few swap websites and sent out a message to the members of the facebook group asking for help to get things going again.

Here's where I listed the guitar strap.
http://edinburgh.craigslist.co.uk/wan/890336839.html
http://www.swapcycle.co.uk/detail.asp?id=20601
http://www.swapz.co.uk/swapz/musical_instruments/guitars_amps/gibson_guitar_strap_new_the_big_trade/

Fingers crossed :)

Trade 2: Saftey pin ----> Bottle opener

2008-10-23T17:28:00.002+01:00

A few days had passed and I had grown very attached to my safetypin. It was going to be hard to give up.

I had started up a facebook group to generate some interest and was on my way to a flat party with my safetypin in my pocket. Being that there would be plenty of people drinking I figured my chances of a trade would be high. Sure enough after a bit of coaxing I was able to convince Duncan to give trade his flats bottle opener for my safety pin.

I had mixed emotions, I was very happy to have made the swap but that was an awesome safety pin. All credit to Duncan who actually offered to let me keep it as well as the bottle opener but I felt that wasn't really in the spirit of the big trade.

Trade number two and I was feeling pretty comfortable that there was somebody somewhere in need of a bottle opener.

Trade 1: Paperclip ----> Saftey pin (an awesome saftey pin at that)

2008-10-23T16:52:00.007+01:00

Now in possession of my slightly larger than normal, gray paperclip, I explained to my girlfriend Ani, and her flatmates what my plan was. The enthusiastic response was a good start. Fran was so enthusiastic that she went away and returned with a shiny safety pin to trade for my paperclip.
This was to be the first trade for both me and fran, who was now beginging her own trade.

So, day one of my trade and I had already upgraded to a safety pin. Things were looking good.

The Big Trade - From Paper Clip to House

2008-10-23T16:40:00.001+01:00

Having been inspired by Kyle MacDonald's 'one red paper clip' (http://oneredpaperclip.blogspot.com/ , http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One_red_paperclip) I had been wanting to do something similar for a while. For those of you who don't know the story, basically Kyle started out with a paperclip and traded it for something else and then traded the new thing for something else, until he worked his way up to a house.

Unfortunately when I decided to start my own big trade I wasn't aware that Kyle's paperclip had in fact been giant and red. As such, when I came across my slightly larger than normal, gray paperclip, I was rather pleased with myself.

Since then I've been trading on facebook The Big Trade - From Paperclip to House and now I've decided to start a blog.

This is the story so far...