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Description:  The premise of the story creates a logical paradox similar to the unexpected hanging paradox. Clearly no rational person would buy it for one cent as this would make it impossible for it to be sold at a loss. However, it follows that no rational person would buy it for two cents either if it is later to be sold only to a rational person for a loss. By induction, the bottle cannot be sold for any price in a perfectly rational world. And yet, the actions of the people in the story do not seem particularly unwise. The story shows that the paradox could be resolved by the existence of certain characters: ´ Someone who loves the bottle's current owner enough to sacrifice his or her own soul for that person. ´ Someone who believes he or she is inevitably destined for Hell already. ´ Someone who believes he or she will never die. ´ Someone who believes there is someone else willing to make an irrational decision to purchase the bottle. Since the exchange rates of different currencies can fluctuate with respect to one another, it is also possible that the value of the bottle could increase from one transaction to the next even if the stated price decreases. This leads to an endless staircase-type paradox which would make it possible, in theory, for the bottle to keep getting sold infinitely many times. However, this might be forbidden depending on how the bottle imp interprets the idea of "selling at a loss".