Trading Up
I remember, a few years ago, reading about the man who had swopped a paperclip for a house. There had been many swops along the way, each time the item being exchanged was a little more valuable, until eventually he was given a house. It was a great story. It got linked to Runescape via the recent machinima contest, when Trebuchet111 traded up from a needle to a dragon axe. His progress may be watched in his
I walked into the GE, in World 84, and saw Mike455555 attempting to trade up from a needle. The idea so enchanted me that I ended up staying in the GE. I got over 100k fletching xp watching him trading up. Something I should say about this is that Mike was doing it because he was bored. He wanted to see how far he'd get. He didn't need the money. Halfway through this, I watched him pause to buy a dragon pickaxe for 5m. He also stood doing this whilst wielding a spectral sigil shield and once got out his Godsword to show another player. He was also a thoroughly nice person. I watched him turning items down because they were way more than he was offering in exchange. It was common to hear him go, 'Ok, just a few less. Few less. Ok that's about right.' LOL I also overheard him answering questions on various subjects, as people asked for assistance.
This isn't a fast way to make money. Trebuchet111 said it took him six hours of trading to get from his needle to a dragon axe. Mike was there for well over an hour and made it just about to 60k by the time I left. It was fun to watch it happen though and I took a load of screenshots. Mike455555, if you're reading, good luck with the trade up and please let us know if your results end up on the internet. I'd love to see what happened!

Edit: I've just nipped back and Mike455555 is still in World 84 GE. He's up to trading an elite black full helm now (worth 106.1k). Not bad from a needle!
Edit: 15th September, 2009: Mike has finished his trading up experiment. I caught up with him in the GE and got him to pose for a final picture. Here it it, with his last items before stopping:

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