Paperclip Challenge Discussion Thread

[Galaxy Figs]

Look at this guy I got from @okeke! I'm super grateful. My goal is a low-tier advent list <:

Congrats! I've always liked that dog's design. What did you give for that fellow?

[kittycat24]

I am new to the paperclip challenge ☺

[Clueless™]

Heya~
I'm a bit new to this CS, so I figured this would be a fun challenge to try out

I first started trading with one of the 2018 May VC cats, and I've worked my way up to this lil guy~

Pet's name: ✧Drake✧
Adopt virtual pets at Chicken Smoothie!

I've been at a bit of an impasse, since there don't seem to be many rares within the three month rule, but someone gifted me another VC cat so I've been working to build them up~

My ultimate goal is to get one of the Zodiac dogs- I wanted something challenging yet achievable. I'll keep y'all posted, I guess? ^^

[MazdaTiger]

Looking for august to October 2010 rares

[ArtGirl]

I wanted to write up my paperclip story for those who are also trying get some pet goals. This is a great way to mark off some pets and is a fun challenge to work on. Just make sure you do your research before starting.
I hope my paperclip adventure helps those in the future. 📎
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I was introduced to the paperclip challenge on CS by another user who had sent me a trade. Having heard of the real-life story in the past I thought it was a great idea and decided to try it myself.
I officially started in 4/1/18.
I wanted to start as low as I possibly could to add to the thrill of the finished challenge. I had heard of users starting with event pets, monthly adopts, pound pets, ext. but the one that caught my eye was starting with the current months most unloved rat design. Unfortunately, that month had no rats sooooo I started with this guy.


Pet's name: copy of the pet I started with

I saved a copy so I had an example for the future. This poor guy wasn't as loved as his siblings and I often found them in open giveaways. Everyone thought he was going to be OMG so common so that what he was valued at.

So I had my pet. I then needed a pet goal. I knew that I wanted something on the rares list (which was still running at the time) but not too hard to get. Some people have luck with getting to the main list but I decided I wanted to get this bunny dreamie of mine. The dutch bun. Hard but not impossible.



Now for my strategy. Knowing about the 3 month rule at the time and that I wanted to make sure I was doing everything in a fair manor I knew that I needed to follow this and try to trade up 3 months at a time.
This is the long way, but it is one of the only fair ways to do it where users are not getting cheated out of pets. I have had so many trades from users asking for like a 2010 rare for their 2012 uncommon because they are doing the challenge. THIS is why users hate the challenge and call it unfair. No one in real life is going to trade their dirt bike for a soda pop.

So when i started I knew i needed to get to K-9's at least first of all or other high value pets. Dogs are the popular pets and the type with the most outcomes throughout the years so it makes easy trading. Dragons and lions are even more popular so even though there aren't that many of them around they are great for passing year steeping stones and things like that.

I first got the dog of that month and went from there. 3 months at a time I traded up which worked great since people already view this as fair to them. The hardest part I found was skipping years.
When skipping years I would try to aim for a event like pets from January or valentine’s day and then try to find a pet from mid to end December that was pretty plain. Sometimes I traded for something lower value like a cat just to get past the year bump and then just trade for something better later.
Once I got to 2016 I traded my common pet for a 2017 uncommon. From there I only traded in uncommons since trading up in rares was too difficult with the limited options.
The first few years were easy but once you get to the older years like 2011 you start to notice a little bit more holding back on the trades.Not only are people more choosy with these pets but there harder to find since they are older and not as many were adopted.
Finally I managed to trade for a 2009 uncommon but then I realized I couldn't go on like this. The only pets that were left were all rares so I knew I needed a new plan. The math for 1 rare is 1=2-4 uncommons from the same year as far as most users values so I knew before I could cross that bridge I needed to multiply. Not just by a little bit either.
The first tier of the list pets at the time, which was where my bun was at, was valued at 3-4 09 rares. Also remember that list pets are very hard to find and that most people wont trade them for just 3 rares so I needed overpay. I decided I needed at least 6 09 rares so I had tier flexibility depending on what I found.

1 09 rare = 2 2010 rares = 8 2010 uncommons X I needed 6 rares = 48 2010 uncommons.

That sounded like a ton, so I decided to stick with 2 uncommons for a rare which still left me needing 24 uncommons.
This is what took me forever. What I did was trade my 2010 uncommon for 2 2011 uncommons. Then I would 3 month trade up each one to 2010's again and be sure to trade for ones that were special like event pets. After a long process of back and forth from years I had all 24 uncommons.
Even with 4 uncommons for a rare it was VERY hard to trade for a rare from what I had been doing. The trick was to find a not so pretty/cool rare from late 10 from a user with lots of rares or someone that didn't care about rarity. At that point I had to make a mental list of users I had traded so I wouldn't offer twice.
I thought that that was the hard part until I got all the 09 rares I needed. For sure the hardest part was trading my basic rares for a list pet. EVERYONE wants to trade list for list only and list pets are hard to find as it is. It's a little better with the discontinued list but still hard. This part took me nearly 6 months of off and on searching.
Finally, I managed to find a kind user that got it in the Dec 18th box. They didn't even want all 6 rares for it so I got to keep my wishlist lion too.
Here's my babe! Finished Paperclip Challenge 4/19/19! 1 year later!



And the queen of hearts lion I got along the way!


The group:
accounts/viewgroup.php?groupid=6108990&userid=714781


Now for those new to this here are some great tips.

1. DO NOT send out paperclip suggestions like....

I'm doing the P.Challenge! Please help me get my dreamie and edit on a pet that's same age/rarity or better!

This not only is VERY annoying to others and gets cancelled but most view this as begging for a valuable pet for nothing in return. This is also frustrating as most don't know about the challenge and don't know what you are looking to get in return.

2. Don't send a message stating paperclip.
This may seem backwards, and you will come across nice people now and then that will trade you a AWESOME pet if you say that but most of the time users will cancel what is considered a fair trade simply because you mentioned the challenge. This is because of paperclip scams in the past or bad experiences. Plus, if you are acting like you are just trading you can trade with users that usually cancel those trades or have no paperclips in their trade message as long as you are trading fair.

3. Don’t trade up by rotating species.
Let’s say you've just traded a nov 2018 cat for a Aug 2018 rat. The trade was accepted within a few minutes. Good. Or so you thought.
Now you go out and try to trade your Aug 18 rat for a May 18 dog. No one want to trade huh? that's because no matter how sad it is no one will trade a rat for a dog without overpay not to mention the date difference. Stick with dogs, dragons, or lions. You'll have an easier time.

4. Don't trade by swapping years.
Many users try to trade up by trading like this. For example, they would trade a 2014 dog for a 2013 dog and then for a 2013 dog. This not only will not be accepted by users that know better, but this isn't fair at all to the person your trading. A 2016 common for example is valued at 2 2017 commons. Not 1.

5.Be willing to trade away the pets you'll get, even if they are on your wish list. Also do not add to your paperclip pets with your personal collection.
There were so many times I got a pet on my wishlist that I wanted to keep. I technically could have done this once I started multiplying my pets, but it would have put me farther behind and it's much better to stick to the challenge. Not just collect wishlist pets.
Also, adding to your paperclip destroys the whole challenge and can be considered cheating. The challenge is to trade your 1 paperclip pet for your dream whatever that may be. Even if you get a great offer with pets from your collection do not accept it. This is cheating and isn't a challenge. If your trading your collection for wishlist go out and do it but it's not considered a paperclip challenge.

[ぽうひ]

started my first paperclip challenge... hope it goes well.
i started with this pet:

a very common october 2018 dog.

here we go...

[ArcticWaterDrake]

Hello! So I've been wanting to do a paperclip challenge just for fun, but I have a few questions. First of all, would people think I'm annoying or not like me if I sent paperclip trades, and second, should I use a a copy paste message or type different ones each time, and third, what pet should I start with? Thanks for your help!

[ぽうひ]

Hello! So I've been wanting to do a paperclip challenge just for fun, but I have a few questions. First of all, would people think I'm annoying or not like me if I sent paperclip trades, and second, should I use a a copy paste message or type different ones each time, and third, what pet should I start with? Thanks for your help!

well so far its been going alright for me so ill just give my opinion...
avoid people who in their trade rules say no paperclip trades or suggestions (one sided or otherwise). this is just an autocancel, save yourself the time. (you can press ctrl+f and search for "paper" and "suggestions" in the rules to save more time).

for the message, i use the same message each time, but theres nothing wrong with writing something new each time. just make sure your message explains what the paperclip challenge is so in case the person doesnt know what the paperclip challenge is can figure it out, and let them know they arent obligated to help out (dont worry, if you keep trying different people you should eventually move up. theres plenty of kind and generous people here on CS!) and personally i like to thank them for considering but its not needed. just make sure your message is informative and kind, whatever you decide to type.

and lastly, for the pet, i would recommend starting with something like a 2018 common or something. id avoid starting with uncommons or higher.

hope this helps c:

[ArcticWaterDrake]

Hiya! I’ve decided I’m just going to trade and not say it’s a paper clip, it feels more authentic to me that way,’, but thank you for your help!

[lovenoted]

I'm thinking of doing this challenge! Tips?