History Main / IntangiblePrice

** [[http://www.scp-wiki.net/scp-2557 "SCP-2557, A Holding of Envelope Logistics®"]] is one of these itself, with the concept of it as a set of containment procedures being sold to an extradimensional banking firm. The article contains testionials from other investors who have made bank by trading on things such as "cancer rates in Selkirk, Manitoba", "the effectiveness of new HR policies at E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Company", and "Tony Blair's poltical career".

[[quoteright:685:[[WesternAnimation/TheLittleMermiad https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/intangible_price_cropped.jpg]]]]

* ''Literature/TheColdfireTrilogy'' has [[DealWithTheDevil deals with the devil]] as a major theme. While sanity and free will are common tolls levied in exchange for power, the charges can get exotic - identity, memory and moral certainty are traded away too. At one point a character is resurrected in exchange for one of their personality traits.

[[folder:Anime and Manga]]

* In ''WesternAnimation/TheBlackCauldron'' a trio of witches trade the secret of how to destroy the titular artifact for Taran's magic sword. Later, they offer the sword back in exchange for the Cauldron itself, but Taran instead demands the life of his friend, Gurgi, and the witches oblige.

* ''Literature/{{Neverwhere}}'': The London Below has a barter-based economy, but the Marquis de Carabas deals in favours, and Lamia wants to be paid in [[spoiler: Richard's life]].
* In another Creator/NeilGaiman FairyTale example, ''Literature/{{Stardust}}'' has the slave girl discuss various exotic payments, only to settle for Dunstan's kiss.
* In ''Literature/TheLastWish'' Duny (cursed human) asks this sort of payment from Pavetta's father (in hopes it'll turn out to cure his {{curse}}). Duny asks for what Pavetta's father will find unexpectedly upon returning home. Pavetta's mother is not best pleased by her husband's apparent inability to count to nine. [[spoiler: Geralt later asks for a similar payment for sorting out the situation to the satisfaction of all parties.]]
* ''Literature/JonathanStrangeAndMrNorrell'' has Mr. Norrell's make a deal with one of TheFairFolk to bring a politician's fiancee back to life in exchange for a portion of said life and one of her little fingers.

* In ''Literature/WieldingARedSword'' by Creator/PiersAnthony, Mother Nature takes the protagonist's stammer as payment for a favor.
* An exchange based on this trope is a major plot point in Creator/UrsulaVernon's novel ''The Seventh Bride''. An evil sorcerer has figured out that he can use his powers to [[spoiler: make marriage work as a MagicallyBindingContract. So he flatters or coerces various women into marrying him, whereupon he "gives" them his name, and in exchange they owe him a "gift" of his choosing. So far, he has taken his previous wives' life, [[WhoWantsToLiveForever death]], magic, will, sight, and voice, and plans to take the titular bride's youth.]]
* ''Literature/ShadowPolice'': Members of London's magical community often trade in intangibles. In ''The Severed Streets'', Ross exchanges [[spoiler:her capacity to ever feel happiness]] for being allowed to study the auction's ledger for 15 minutes.

* Padraig, a FairFolk in ''Literature/{{Pact}}'' at one point offers Maggie Holt his aid in exchange for his choice of something from her backpack. Thinking there was nothing of value there, she agrees. Then he uses an essay there to ''take her name'' causing her entire power and being to slowly unravel, while he impersonates her.

* ''Literature/TheColdfireTrilogy'' has [[DealWithTheDevil deals with the devil]] as a major theme. While sanity and free will are common tolls levied in exchange for power, the charges can get exotic - identity, memory and moral certainty are traded away too. At one point a character is resurrected in exchange for one of their personality traits.
* In {{Literature/Moonflowers}}, Chinese-American Ned Song makes a BloodOath with his father's patron-spirit the Lady of Scales, since he needs to break TheWildHunt's curse on his family. The Lady goes through memories and the color of his hair before they settle on the color of his eyes, and she notes that there's some risk of going blind--but some people [[TouchedByVorlons gain powers instead.]]

%%* In the ''Series/DoctorWho'' episode "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS33E7TheRingsOfAkhaten The Rings of Akhaten]]", Akhaten has this sort of economy.

* On ''Series/LostGirl'', Dyson gives up his love for Bo to a Norn to be able to help Bo fight her mother. He was expecting to lose his ability to turn into a wolf, which is what the Norn asked for the previous time he'd come to her for help. Kenzi gets his love back by threatening to take a chainsaw to the Norn's sacred tree.

* [[https://www.dmsguild.com/product/209113/WH-Traders--Merchants-Inventories-for-28-different-types-of-merchant-indexed-by-quality&affiliate_rem=853678 This]] fan-made guide to the inventories of various types of merchant in ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' includes a section on the prices that could be charged by a Fey merchant. Some are physical things, like a lock of hair, your firstborn child, or someone ''else's'' firstborn child, but most are these. A few examples include a syllable from your name, the sight from one of your eyes, an important aspect of your beauty, your dreams (allowing the merchant to control your dreams as they wish), your past (causing you to forget everything that happened before that day), and your legacy (causing anyone who goes more than a week without seeing you to start forgetting that you exist).

* In ''Podcast/WelcomeToNightVale'' the pawn shop sometimes pays in cash and sometimes in intangibles like "a good night's sleep" or "an interesting idea about time".

* In the ''Podcast/MetamorCity'' story "Whispers in the Wood" Abbie Preston trades a song to a greater Fae in exchange for the answers to three questions, and only afterwards realizes that the price included her memory of the song as well.

* On ''WesternAnimation/{{Gargoyles}}'' The Weird Sisters oversaw a covenant between Macbeth and Demona. He would give his youth in return for her being able to fight for him. Both would share the other's pain as a side effect, and each would have CompleteImmortality until slayer by the other.
* One ''WesternAnimation/RickAndMorty'' episode involved a shop run by the devil. Everything was free in terms of money, but each item came with an unadvertised curse. For example, one artifact made the user irresistibly attractive to women at the price of impotence. Out of spite, Rick set up a shop across the street that [[FaustianRebellion reversed these negative side effects]] for a trivial amount of money.

There's no free lunch at the LegitimateBusinessmensSocialClub. There's no free passage through a portal in a fantasy story. And no "free tip" from a corrupt stockbroker. We all know that. How you have to pay for these useful things may vary.

There's no free lunch. Or pass through a river. Or, in fact, a bit of knowledge. We all know that. Methods of paying for these useful things, however, may vary.

TheFairFolk, however, has an interesting tendency to only accept payments made in ''actual'' valuables. That is, things you'd be reluctant to part with. Things with emotional value, if [[InsubstantialIngredients little material weight]], or things that are part of you (not necessarily arms and/or legs, but, say, [[Literature/{{Stardust}} the hearing in your left ear]] or your first childhood memory). Or favours that will be pain to pay, sometime in the future.

Similarly, if you ask TheDon for a favor, he doesn't ask you to pay a fee in dollars. He tells you that someday he may return to ask for a favor, which you have to follow through on. Maybe he'll ask you to keep a crate that FellOffTheBackOfATruck hidden for a while. Maybe an "associate" recovering from a wound will stay with you. Maybe you'll be asked to "[[DeadlyEuphemism deal with a problem]]".

This carries a significant risk of being [[{{Foreshadowing}} plot-fuelling]], as well as emotionally engaging for the reader (do you feel sad for a guy who has to pay a copper coin to pass a bridge? How about one who must give up "whatever they find at home that they were not expecting"?)

[[folder:Live Action TV ]]
%%* In ''Series/DoctorWho'', episode "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS33E07TheRingsOfAkhaten The Rings of Akhaten]]", Akhaten has this sort of economy.

* In volume 9 of ''WesternAnimation/{{RWBY}}'', the titular team [[spoiler:ends up in the Ever After, a [[AliceAllusion wonderland-esque]] realm where the surreal is real]], and run into the peddler Jinxy who offer valuable treasures (including Yang's stolen arm) in return for a this kind of price. He sells a statuette for a hug and Yang's arm for "knowing what it feels like to be loved", which Yang is unwilling to pay. Ruby also tries to purchase an item [[TragicKeepsake she's drawn to]], but can't muster up enough to pay "enough hope to fill a jar". Blake mentions that in a fairytale they read as children, the main character ended up in the same situation, and ended up paying her happiest and her saddest memory.

[[folder:Tabletop Games ]]
* ''TabletopGame/ChangelingTheLost'': Goblin Markets accept such items as eye colors, springtime afternoon or a song. Justified in that they can be quite useful as InsubstantialIngredients in the creation of magical Hedgespun items.

* ''Wiki/SCPFoundation''

* In one ''Manga/{{Doraemon}}'' story, Nobita comes across one of Doraemon's abandoned gadgets. It talks to Nobita and introduces itself as "The Devil Card". Its demonic projection tells Nobita that he can shake the card and get virtually limitless amounts of money, but in exchange, his height will be reduced by 1 cm per 100,000 yen he pulled out of the card when the midnight (i.e 12:00 AM) comes. This causes a problem later in the story when his parents found the card and uses it to gain a lot of money without knowing its consequences for Nobita. He later resolves this by [[spoiler: Doraemon using his "Grow-up Flashlight" on Nobita when the next 12:00 AM comes.]]

* In one ''Anime/{{Doraemon}}'' story, Nobita comes across one of Doraemon's abandoned gadgets. It talks to Nobita and introduces itself as "The Devil Card". Its demonic projection tells Nobita that he can shake the card and get virtually limitless amounts of money, but in exchange, his height will be reduced by 1 cm per 100,000 yen he pulled out of the card when the midnight (i.e 12:00 AM) comes. This causes a problem later in the story when his parents found the card and uses it to gain a lot of money without knowing its consequences for Nobita. He later resolves this by [[spoiler: Doraemon using his "Grow-up Flashlight" on Nobita when the next 12:00 AM comes.]]

* One ''WesternAnimation/RickAndMorty'' episode involved a shop run by the devil. Everything was free in terms of money, but each item came with an unadvertised curse. For example, one artifact increased libido at the price of impotence. Out of spite, Rick set up a shop across the street that [[FaustianRebellion reversed these negative side effects]] for a trivial amount of money.

* The [[Literature/BabaYaga Yaga]] in ''VideoGame/DreamfallChapters'' is a primordial being that feeds on fear, but lets Zo#&235; pass for a slightly milder cost of some of her memories (admittedly, ones that Zo#&235; may want to forget, anyway).