WHAT IS BARTER

Essentially, bartering is the cashless, item-for-item trading of goods and services. In short, to "Barter" means you trade whatever you have for whatever it is that you want. You trade personal items, products or services with another person without using money. In the Barter Industry that is called "Direct Trade."

Bartering is the act of attaching a cash value to what you have to trade and trading that for whatever it is that the other person is offering. In turn, the other person has also attached a cash value to what they are trading. Both traders must agree on the approximate value of the trade in order for the trade to get done.

For example Jim wants to trade his Ipod for a Mountain Bike that Tony has. Both Jim and Tony must put a value (or worth) on their item. If the items are in good shape and they both agree on the value or worth of each item, the trade is done and both are satisfied they made a good trade.

Often this type of simple bartering or swapping is done on popular classified sites like Craigslist or Kijiji in the barter section. But, be aware that these barter sections are unregulated and some of the people will be deceptive in their barter offers. Some businesses offer to barter their product or service to trick you into getting into a conversation about their other services you must pay cash for.

Business people usually barter by joining a formal barter exchange and trading with other business members through the exchange. It's a safer way to trade as most barter exchanges have a "Terms of Service" and "Member Agreement" that members must adhere to or face account termination. Barter exchanges provide a stable environment in which business people can safely trade.

Not to mention that you can freely network with other business owners, create new business relationships and get cash paying referrals!

There are many barter exchanges in every country. You probably have several local barter companies in your area that you might not know about. To find a local barter exchange, "Google" the words "your city" "barter company". For example you can seach for "Chicago Barter Company" or "Dallas Barter Exchange" and that will bring up local barter companies you can call or you can visit their site.

People have always bartered and always will-it's not going away! In slow economic times barter is more useful than ever. Put your cash away and trade for what you want and need. Just be sure to be fair about valuing whatever you're bartering and the trade will work out great.

Here are the basic types of barter that most people engage in:

* Direct Barter = Person to Person Trade-usually no money is involved. An example would be someone goes on Craigslist and trades their Gucci Wallet for a pair of Prada Sunglasses.

* Indirect Barter = This is the type of bartering that is done on a formal barter exchange. A member joins the exchange for a fee usually. They then trade their services and products with other members. Every time they trade they do a "transaction" and have to pay a small percentage of the transaction called a fee to the exchange. You can barter with anyone you want in an exchange. You don't have to trade with someone who is trading with you. In other words a fellow member can purchase your carpet cleaning services and pay you barter dollars in payment. You, the carpet cleaner don't have to trade with that person, you can take your trade dollars and buy beautiful flowers from a florist who is a fellow member of the barter exchange.

This sort of bartering takes away the awkwardness and embarrassment that sometimes accompanies direct trading. Just because someone may want to trade for what you have doesn't necessarily mean that you want to trade for what they have to offer. Being a member of a professional barter exchange solves that problem.

* Business to Business Barter = Two or more companies trading with each other. Example: A computer tech needs advertising so he offers his pc repair services to a newspaper in exchange for the ad. They must be in agreement of the value of each other's services for the trade to get done.

* Blends = This is a type of barter where both traders agree to barter a combination of products/services and cash. For example a carpet cleaner buys advertising in a local newspaper. The carpet cleaner will get advertising space by cleaning the carpets of the newspaper office and paying them $2000 cash. In return he gets a large advertising spot in the paper. The trade "Blended" barter and cash together for a successful outcome.

* Multilateral or Triangular Trade = Typically this involves representative of three different countries doing a trade with each other. The traders found that trading this way rectified the problems with just two countries trading.

* Media Barter = This is where a professional media broker works with businesses who want to promote themselves through newspapers, tv, radio, websites, etc. The professional media brokers will arrange business-to-media trades for a fee. You can also buy media advertising through your local barter exchange. Some barter exchanges have newspapers, magazines, tv stations and radio stations as members. You simply buy advertising with them by using your exchange's barter dollars.

Most people by now know of the "One Red Paperclip" barter story. It started in 2005 with a Canadian fellow called Kyle MacDonald wanting to barter his "Red Paperclip".

Here's how the famous barter story goes in Kyle's words:

On July 12th, 2005 I posted a picture of
one red paperclip on this website (his blog).

* I traded my one red paperclip with Rawnie and Corinna for a Fishpen.

* Which was exchanged with Annie for a Doorknob.

* That Shawn saw and bartered his Coleman Stove.

* That was then swapped with Sgt. David J. for his red Generator.

* That Marcin eyed and switched it for one Instant Party.

* That I traded Michel for his Skidoo2.

* That Jeff upped to a trip to Yahk.

* Then swapped with Bruno for a Cintas Cube Truck 1995.

* That Brendan upped the ante with one Recording Contract.

* That Jody traded for one year in Phoenix.

* That was swapped with Leslie for One Afternoon with Alice Cooper.

* That Mark switched for for One "Kiss" Snow Globe".

* That actor Corbin Bernson turned into One Movie Role (Kyle had a very small role in a movie called "Donna in Demand)."

* That was finally traded for One House by the Town of Kipling Saskatchewan Canada in 2006!

He accomplished his bartering goal-he traded a red paper clip for a house! Took approximately a year but he got it done.

The Barter Saga Continues with Kyle making this statement on his blog:

"Let's Make a Deal. Click Here to Make An Offer On The House."

Kyle is now looking to barter the house. He says he has had hundreds of offers so far. But, he emphasizes, the person who trades for it has to understand that the two story house is a tourist attraction. Publicity will bring visitors.
________________________________

The whole story started with Kyle wanting to see how far he could go trading the paper clip. He kept trying to trade for things that were always (in his mind) bigger and better than the last trade.

Currently Kyle and his are living in Montreal as she has started a new job there.

The Hollywood giant "Dreamworks" heard about Kyle's story and bought the rights to it. They are planning on turning it into a movie or TV show!

Even though Kyle will trade the house he still wants to keep it in his name. What he wants is to trade the "space" in the house. He wants somebody to rent it and live there or for a company to open up a shop there.

The town that sold him the rural house is "Kipling" and every year they celebrate "Red Paper Clip Day." On their (Canadian) Labor Day Weekend they will celebrate the third annual "Red Paper Clip Festival." Small town fun.

It will be interesting to see just how far Kyle will take this barter story.

Anybody can do this. Trade what you have for what you want. Take it as far as you want to take the trade. A young Canadian did it so can you-Barter Adventurously!

Here's a relatively new "Swapping" site called "Swap Junkies." This trading site works by people listing what they have for trade. Say you have an old vcr and you value it at $10. You list it and if someone buys it from you-you get paid in "Points." In this case, 10 points. You then trade in those points for whatever you'd like to "buy" that's listed on the site. If you see something you're interested in and don't have enough points then you can purchase points from Swap Junkies with cash to complete the trade.

A buyer must pay the shipping of their item in cash not points.

Any member who "sells" their item(s) does not receive cash-just points. They're theme on this site is to trade your stuff away to someone who is interested rather than toss it in the junk pile that lands up in the landfills across America. They emphasize the greeness of this model.

Their tag line is "Join The Recycling Movement-Don't Throw It Away-Swap It!

Visit Swap Junkies.

To get an idea of what Survival Barter is all you have to do is watch the CBS tv show "Jericho". The show was canceled a few weeks ago but you can see there here:
Jericho TV Show Archive on CBS.com.

The citizens of this fictional town were forced to barter for what they needed after nukes were dropped. After that catastrophe, the regular monetary system didn't work because the banking system was dead.

Survival barter was done during the Great Depression as seen in the video above. When you have no regular cash, you must attach a value to what you want to trade. You must come to an agreement on the value of what you're trading with the person or group you're trading with.

A natural catastrophe like a hurricane, bad storms or an earthquake can cause a situation where you will have to barter for what you need.

An example of Survival Barter would be trading your medical supplies with someone who needs food. In a disasterous situation you start trading for the basics in life: food, medical supplies, firewood, weapons, clothes, batteries, vehicles, fuel, housing, water, etc.

Coffee and Chocolate

An easy way to collect items you can barter in an emergency is to pick something extra up everytime you go to the store. You're there anyway so why not get that extra can of beans or tuna. Grab an extra pack of matches, salt, toilet paper, toothbrushes, toothpaste, etc. Anything that people use regularly that makes them feel comfortable. During emergency situations people crave comfort, if you have items to trade that supply that need, you'll be a popular trading partner!

Two of the most popular comfort items you can possess during these times is Coffee and Chocolate. Stock up on various types of chocolate and coffee. Chocolate in the form of bars, cocoa, packages of candy and hot chocolate will be in great demand I guarantee you. So will fulfilling the need for the daily coffee fix. Grab as much instant and pre-packaged coffee and Cappuccino as you can!

Don't forget to be ready to bag up your medications! Also, don't forget vitamins, bandages, medical tape, gauze, an antiseptic like hydrogen peroxide, soap, blankets.

Buy extra so you can trade them for what you need. Any of the above items may be unimportant to you at the time, but to somebody else the item may help out in a desperate situation.

The important aspect of bartering for survival is the valuing of what you have and what the other person or group has. Human nature comes into play and things could get quite emotional if one of the traders disagrees on the value of the item to be bartered. To get the trade done successfully, a compromise (about value) will probably required from one or both traders. Especially if the trade is of great importance.

* photo courtesy of "apes_abroad."

Another Paperclip is about to become famous. A marketing instructor in Kansas City has possession of one of Donald Trump's paperclips. It's a golden paperclip to be exact.

His project involves teaching an interesting lesson in marketing to his students. He is getting free publicity for this by letting everyone know about it. He can market whatever program, product or service he wants with all the Free Publicity!

It started when his wife told him they need a minivan. He didn't want to pay cash for it so he's decided to trade The Donald's paperclip for one!

The project started recently and he will only trade on the 1st and 15th of each month. So far, he's had a fax machine offered, as well as a picnic in a local park, a Kansas City Royals collectible set, a unicycle, chinese throwing stars and a Shi Tzu dog!

For those interested in following his Donald Trump Golden Paperclip Trade, you can visit his blog at:

Golden Paperclip Blog

In Britain a grocery chain has started a Community Barter Board. The board is located inside the market. It costs nothing for the store to put it up and for people to place their barter offers on the board.

Just regular people offering trades like auto repair work for piano lessons or mowing someones lawn in exchange for computer repair and on and on. You would be surprised how many people would be willing to trade, they just need somebody to get the ball rolling.

In fact here are a couple of women in the Tacoma area who started their own barter boards in various shops in town:

Tacoma Gets a Place to Barter

There's no reason why any community in America can't follow this lead and put up Barter Boards in any well trafficked location in your area like a grocery store or park. You and everyone around you gets to trade for what you need without the use of cash-Sounds Like a Winner!

1) If you're running a small business and can't afford health insurance for employees-trade and aquire barter dollars. There are plenty of doctors, dentists and chiropractors who belong to local barter exchanges. You can use your barter dollars to pay for the medical expenses of your employees.

2) Give barter dollars as an employee incentive for doing a great job. This can be done with barter dollars or barter gift certificates. Depending on the number of employees you could do this once a week or once a month. You could have an employee of the month contest and give a barter gift certificate to a spa or restaurant as the prize instead of showing a photo on a bulletin board.

3) Order gifts for your employees for birthdays, anniversaries or holidays. You can order clothes, jewelry, electronics, computer services, etc. and pay for these gifts with barter dollars instead of shelling out cash.

Our boss just used some gift certificates from a restaurant and bought pies for all the employees for Thanksgiving. He bought twenty pies and it just cost him a small cash transaction fee! If you're going to get something for someone-use trade dollars and save your regular cash. It's another no-brainer.

*** Humor site featuring fake blogs written on behalf of famous people. This blog features "Ben Bernanke" telling people the economy is so bad we must start bartering and forget cash......

Ben Bernanke's Fake Bartering Blog Post

*** Here's a satirical spoof site that has an article that mentions the U.S. economy is so bad that "All Trade Will Take Place Through Barter" and that if they have nothing to trade they can start bartering body parts and fluids for food, water and movie tickets-Yuck!

U.S. Economy Ends!

*** Look Behind You Before Trading!

A New Zealand man went into a gas station store and ate some goodies. He realized he forgot his money so he offered the cashier some marijuana and a pipe for payment. He did not realize that a policeman was standing in back of him in line. He was arrested and was sentenced on July 3rd '08!

Andy Warhol once traded his self-portraits to an electronics publisher in exchange for a video camera.

Famous New York artist "Ed Kienholz" was known in that area as the "King of Trade." He would trade his watercolors for things like cars, jeeps, haircuts, a sauna, Nikon camera, etc. He even traded some of his guns with the milkman in exchange for some milk!

He got so into bartering that he would create paintings solely to barter them. He would stamp on the back of them trade offers like: "FOR A 4-WHEEL-DRIVE DATSUN JEEP" when he needed a car or with "FOR 2 GOOD MOUNTAIN HORSES" when he wanted transportation with 4 legs. His widow "Nancy" says he was quite systematic about it and loved the game of bartering.

Almost a century ago well known artists like "Mattise" and "Picasso" would trade their early works for whatever it was they wanted. Sometimes they would trade with fellow young artists and hang each other's work in their studios or apartments.

Many newer and established artists trade their artwork for mundane but important services such as dental, medical, chiropractic, eye care, etc. The reason why so many of these medical practitioners trade is that they are sole proprietors and are free to do any level of trading they want. Medical facility or hospital based medical practitioners simply don't have that freedom.

In fact Nancy Kienholz says it's quite common for well known artists to trade for these services although she won't name names.

The problem is "bartering" is Mistakenly viewed by uneducated people as something that is less than desirable and even shameful and embarrassing in some cases! These people who refuse to learn a simple business technique like bartering are limiting themselves to using cash only. When cash isn't available they're up the proverbial creek!

Sad but true, only the cool and hip among us barter and trade.

Scroll down to the bottom of the page to find your state and you can click to see your local barter companies:

http://www.barternews.com/mappage/default.htm