How much does the paper clip cost?

Well, that is going to depend on a lot of things, like what kind of paper clip, how large it is, etc. But for an example, we'll go with a price I just found on Amazon for 1000 paperclips for $7.63.

At that price, they cost less and one cent each ($0.00763), so if you could really sell single paper clips (which no one really does), then you could make a small profit by selling them for one cent each.

This same brand and size of paper clip is even cheaper if you buy 2,000 or 5,000 at a time. For instance, if you bought the 50 box option (100/box) instead of the 10 box option, it is $15.99, which works out to 0.003198 per paper clip.