I'm the guy who traded a red paperclip for a house. AMA

I followed your blog and the story back in the day. I'm too lazy to go research what you're up to now. So...

• Do you still live in the house?
• Didn't you write a book or something? How'd that work out?
• Do you still stay in touch with any of your trading partners?

EDIT: I think he originally missed my questions and then basically answered them at other points in the thread. Or else he has a personal vendetta against me. Maybe it was because I beat him at tether-ball back in the third grade and he's still mad about it.

VERIFY: Here's my passport: http://www.flickr.com/photos/kylemacdonald/5262096659/

VERIFY: Here's my driver's license...along with my pal Steven's...and my dad's: http://www.flickr.com/photos/kylemacdonald/5262096609/

Don't you think you could have gotten a better deal for a blue paper clip? I mean, red's nice and all, but those blue fuckers are awesome.

Yeah, probably. I got a pen shaped like a fish for the red paperclip. The blue paperclip would have at least got a pen shaped like a bear. AT LEAST.

Nothing pops like a red paperclip. A red paperclip says, "Look at me! You can't avoid it!" It signifies a great amount of importance and authority. Blue says, "Hey. How you doin'?"

My 6th grade social studies teacher used a red paperclip to separate failing tests from all the others so she could hand them out last and shame us. I hated her until she got cancer.

Is that your superpower?

My super power is electrifying sheep

Would you be willing to trade the house for...this many?

How many is that? Too blurry to tell.

Looks like about 14, to hazard a guess. Think about it... that's like 14 houses for 1! Talk about a deal.

sure, fax them over to my pager.

Do you ever miss your paperclip?

Best thing I ever did was trade that thing away.

Any other achievement you would like to be known for or instead of the paperclip trade?

One day I hope to discover the identity of these five men and shake each of their hands: http://whoaretheseguys.com

definitely want verification.

Love this story. Was there any object you traded that you really were fond of and would have kept, if you couldn't have traded it up? Any objects that you felt were made better strictly because of their connection to your trade that were interesting?

First time you really felt like this insane project might actually work? first time you felt like a complete fucking fool?

---

Edit: Okay. So, I have long ago decided I completely believe this guy is the red paperclip guy. Actually, his first response to my question was enough, but he continues to provide awesome and hilarious proof. Don't worry about more, kyle- we cool. You're in the clear!

Yeah, how do I verify? I'm noob-ish, as in I've never done an IAmA post before. You can just call me: 514-833-3980

Other than the afternoon with Alice Cooper, everything else I was pretty happy to flip in the chain up to the house. It'd be awesome to spend every afternoon with Alice Cooper. Amazing guy. I guess this 'object' was an amazing trade connection as well.

First time I felt this insane project might work: when BoingBoing posted on it. It was a hack plan up til then. They verified that it had some legitimacy. Still insane, yes, but when a few million folks found out about it, I kinda felt like I'd be a total schmuck if I didn't pull it off.

The first time I felt like a complete fucking fool was when I attached this picture to my Chinese Visa application: http://www.flickr.com/photos/kylemacdonald/65532823/in/set-1413895/

take your number down, homie

THE INTERNET'S COMINGGGGG

The internet came all over my cell phone. Anyone got some kleenex?

Unless he's pulling the ultimate telephonic troll move, in which case he should take someone else's number down.

Yeah, that's me. Call me if you feel like it. Gonna be eating dinner soon, so please don't interrupt.

Gonna be eating dinner soon, so please don't interrupt.

For an internet folk hero, you're not too savvy about the internet.

I called the number...

All I can say is, he's never gonna give us up...

this guy totally never called the number!

email's easier for me though: oneredpaperclip/gmail - If you really don't think this is me, I'll reply to your email as well.

Oh, and if you're going to call the number above: yes, it's actually me. Calling numbers and hanging up right away because you're surprised that the person actually answers the phone = lame!

That said, me getting cell phone audio-rickroll'd just now was pretty awesome.

Seriously, redditor for 4 years and you're putting your number on here?

514-867-5309

I actually called this Montreal 514-867-5309 guy once! He wanted to sell me the number. $1000. No dice.

Related, I called 439-0116 in LBC from the sublime song.

Got this really lovely hispanic lady. This was just after 911 and I didnt know anyone in the states so tried that number to pass on my condolances and let a random stranger know that someone else in the world was thinking about htem.

She cried. a lot.

I kept in touch with her for a couple of years after that, was kinda cool

I left my wallet in El Segundo once.

How many weeds were smoked before that photo?

Not enough, clearly!

Damn, I can't believe the guy that traded a red paperclip for a house is from Montreal.

I'm a bit of a Montreal immigrant. I'm from Belcarra, just outside of Vancouver, but I've been chillin' in the 514 since 2004. Love it here!

What about the tax implications?

Although these were all trades, in reality you ended up with a house for a paper clip. That is income. Did you get taxed on it?

I guess so. I pretty much never thought about it. And in the end, after a couple of years I donate the house back to the town, so whatever I earned in value was deducted as a donation.

Did someone do your taxes for you, or did you just admit to felony tax evasion over the internet?

Yeah, I'm all legit. I've got an incorporated company called One Red Paperclip Inc., and I also work for a company called Legitimate Business Enterprises that fixes up houses. For real. British Columbia corporations. Look 'em up.

I also work for a company called Legitimate Business Enterprises that fixes up houses

That seems legit.

Too legit?

[deleted]

I just can't touch that.

Stop!

IRS: modern day buzzkillington.

Canada Revenue Agency: modern day buzzkillington.

FTFY. (The house was in Alberta... Or Saskatchewan... They're all the same anyway.)

I am from Saskatchewan and I resent that.

Cheer up! At least you're not in Manitoba.

I heard you used a PR firm to spread the story. Assuming this is true

1) When did you bring them on? Right from the beginning or after you had some traction?

2) If you don't mind me asking, how much did they cost?

Also some other questions:

3) On average how many hours a day did you devote to the project?

4) Was the motivation behind the project to start a career for yourself?

Anyways, congrats on everything!

1) At one point about midway when I had the year of rent in Phoenix I was getting something like 400 interview requests a day. It was insane. This student named Evan White called me up and we hit it off. He helped handle the publicity from there on out. I'm not really into discussing what I paid for things or what I make as income. It wasn't very much though. Evan's awesome. He's doing http://iwearyourshirt.com now among other things. He's even Bill Cosby's social media guy now! 3) I devoted about 10-16 hours a day to the project. Less at first, but it quickly became an all-consuming deal. I literally didn't sleep much for the second half of the project. 4) The motivation was to get out and travel to meet people and tell stories. The career stuff came about accidentally. My least favorite things to do as a kid were writing book reports and doing public speaking. Kinda writing books and doing speaking engagements now for a living. Bizarre how things turn out!

Sounds like you got pretty far on your own before you brought in PR. How did you go about promoting your story originally?

craigslist postings in different cities I was traveling to. This led to a small following. BoingBoing posted about it at one point - things really got wild at that stage. But mostly, just putting my email and cell phone right at the top of my website. So easy for media to track you down when you do that. Producers and research people were like "What? You put your phone number on the internet?" And I was like "Yeah, what's up? Want to make a trade?"

Why has everyone already asked you the questions I was going to ask?

Nobody's asked this yet!

You also havnt answered it yet.

I believe we're both satisfied now?

Redditor for four years, wow. You've been lurking amongst us for all this time and never bothered to say hello?

I went through this above, but I'll repeat. I thought it'd be vain to an an AMA...but my pals at Sparta High and Drexel said I should do it, and here we are. Fun stuff!

did some people trade with you because they knew they were going to be on your blog?

For sure, but just as many didn't care about being on the blog, or were actually nervous to have their picture taken. A good mix all around. I only ever traded with people who were actually going to use the trade item I swapped them.

I don't understand why you stopped at the house, at the rate you were going you could've owned a County or become our next President!

Owning a COUNTY would be fantastic, wouldn't it!?

What gave you the idea in the first place? Do you know of anyone else who has tried to replicate your tale? What do you think of the first world's dependence on a monetized economy?

A game called Bigger or Better. You start with a small object and trade it for a bigger or better object. Repeat. Usually a kids game. More knocking on doors, less internet.

Thousands of people have tried (some successfully) to replicate the up-trades. Google 'cell phone for Porsche'. I think it's awesome people are doing this. I stole the idea from the game Bigger and Better in the first place.

I don't really like getting into discussions about monetized economy. Everyone has their opinions, usually completely misinformed. I traded from a red paperclip to a house once. Most of the time I just buy stuff on my credit card and deal with it later...like everyone else. Barter's fun, but incredibly inefficient. That's why money was invented. The real fun part about trading things is meeting people and making a deal. Cash is more wham-bam-thank-you-ma'am, if you pardon the expression. There's room for both in this world of ours.

Barter's fun, but incredibly inefficient. That's why money was invented. The real fun part about trading things is meeting people and making a deal. Cash is more wham-bam-thank-you-ma'am, if you pardon the expression. There's room for both in this world of ours.

Well, and for the most part, the reason the second half of these upward trades worked was the publicity around it at that point. A pen for a paperclip? Sure dude, whatever. Sounds fun. But most people who have a van are not going to be able to shop it around for a recording contract if they don't have the steam of a popular web phenomenon behind them. So it isn't like this was just another round of bartering. The novelty of being first made a big difference.

More power to you, of course. It's a great story and a very clever idea. But it isn't like "This is what bartering's like, and normal transactions are what cash is like."

It's weird though. People out there are actually up for trading their vans or houses for things. But those things are usually quite specific. And the challenge to get those two parties to meet, and then agree on the deal is almost impossible. The fun part about all the publicity, was that I was was able to get a massive reach, and connect those people together. You need a large pool/audience to make large barter deals happen. If Conan or somebody like him tried to trade up on their TV show, they could do it easy. I've seen local radio DJs trade up to brand new Harleys in a matter of days, then auction the item for charity. Awseome stuff.

What would you trade me for an orange rubber band?

my reditt AMA verification piece of paper.

Have you ever played Team Fortress 2? Seems like you would be good at it.

Not yet, but maybe I'll pay Team Fortress 2 in the future!

Where did you get the initial red paper clip? Brand, weight, any other information about it would be nice as well.

Pretty sure it was from a box of 200 multi-colored paperclips from a Dollarama store in Montreal. Tough to say, cause I just found the red paperclip laying on my desk. Regular size. I highly recommend Dollarama brand red paperclips.

Caught you red-handed Dollarama salesman. Prove it!

Man, Dollarama is one of my favorite stores in the whole world. I'm very happy to promote them. Love the catchphrase/username thing you got going on!

Do you know where the red paperclip is now? Do Rhawnie and Corinna still have it?

Corinna's got it, yep.

Were there any main negatives about the entire process?

Dealing with creeps and whiners on the phone was a bit of a drag sometimes. I tried to distance myself from anyone who was slimey, or anyone who was really over dramatic and needy. But overall, the experience was positive and fun. Most people liked the idea, and I got to meet amazing people.

So do you like living in Kipling? Happy with the house?

We lived in Kipling for some time, but my wife and I live in Montreal now. Super happy with the house. It's now a cafe, and along with the world's largest red paperclip, arguably one of the most popular tourist attractions to town!

Any objects you wanted to take, but couldn't/didn't, and didn't blog about?

So many. The toughest part was deciding what to trade for. Each trade item brought in a flood of new offers. I had more than 1000 offers for some of the trade items. It was like living a choose your own adventure. A couple "I'll trade you my virginity" type ones came along, and I'm not sure if I posted those, but some other stuff like "Full Body Tattoo for 2 people" was a tough one to turn down. I would've loved to find somebody who'd want to trade for that!

So I read that you've moved from Kipling to Montreal. I'm curious about how the regulars in Kipling received you. I know the mayor must have been really awesome, but did you get any unwelcome guests or angry stares at the store?

Maybe I've just seen too many fish-out-of-water movies...

Without exaggeration, living in Kipling was like being on the Truman Show. No giant dome, or live TV cameras, but everyone in town knew who my wife and I were, and people drove by the house all the time to take pictures in front of it. It was an very interesting experience. The part I found the most challenging was the fact that while everyone on the streets recognized us and said hello, we simply couldn't know everyone and return the acknowledgment. So there was a funny dual standard going on. We made some great friends, and we try to get back to town to visit folks when we can. By far the best experience of having the house was meeting awesome Kipling residents, and just hanging out...doing stuff like going quading, drinking, etc.

I have a whole box of paperclips, a variety of colours. Would you like to swap them for your house?

What size paperclips we talking about?

How often do people now try to give you paperclips for your house? How many times a day? And do you indulge them every time, or sometimes do you say, "How about I trade the heel of my boot for the skin off your forehead?"

I usually just deflect the question with a response like: "What size paperclips we talking about?"

Dude they did a VW commercial about you! Did you get any royalties from that?

Yeah, VW Spain! It was pretty fun to watch creative ad type guys visit rural Saskatchewan in the middle of winter. They were dressed up like it was an arctic expedition. I got a few paperclips from those guys. Here's the director's cut: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1TJxrF3s454 Grolsch also did a red paperclip-inspired ad around the same time. I never got any beers for it, but they promised 'em to me the next time I visit Amsterdam. Gotta hit those guys up! Here's their ad: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=62lL0xlwoz4

Damnit! A paperclip? Really? I'm 22 and my fiancée is 24 and we are both employed and STILL live with his parents because we can't afford life and you manage to get a house with a paperclip? Kudos to you, my friend. I wonder if I can trade my 20-something pairs of hand-me-down shoes for a wedding. Or maybe my two broken hand-me-down laptops for a year of free rent! Very cool story.

Sure, why not? Go for it!

Do you think you would have ever made it that far without the help of the internet and the press? Alot of the exchanges seemed to happen because people wanted to be part of your 15 minutes...

Sure, it's possible. Google 'cell phone for Porsche'. I went into media-land because they kept calling me and it was really fun.

You said that one cool thing about the trading was the people you met. How many of the people you traded with are you still in contact with, if any?

I kinda answered this one already, but here we go: I see people from time to time. We're spread about quite a bit, so it's tough to keep in touch. Almost all the traders made it to the big housewarming party as well as my wedding the following year. Corinna (the first trader) has a red paperclip tattoo on her shoulder. I'm in touch with more than half of the 12 or so traders.

How much did you have to pay for travel costs between each trade?

I only paid for one flight the entire time. Every other trade was when I was in different places for different jobs and such. Some people scored me airline points to make trades, some chipped in for fuel costs. It was all about maximizing trading opportunities when I was already in different cities for other reasons.