Comments on: Review: The Art of Barter

By: barter sites

barter sites — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 19:57:49 +0000

It was actually pretty attention getting coincidence, only a hand full of hours after stumbling across this book in the book store and flipping through it for a while, my google alerts pointed me to This Review!

Couple of things I’d like to add in responce to the review, if you’re looking for a barter exchange in your local area, try the ‘local’ searches in google or yahoo. also, there is a directory of barter exchanges by location over at barternews.com

When it comes to bartering for a living, if you’re the right kind of person- it’s fun! Getting to know other entrepreneurs and people in the community, helping other people grow their business, and moving lots of different products around. I suggest if you’re at all curious you look deeper into the possibility. And if you want to start your own barter club, and operate as ceo And barter broker (plus then you can hire other brokers on commission) you can do so with a barter exchange site from curomuto.com

And lastly, we’re building a search engine that searches multiple barter sites from one place, and that’s over at barter-sites.com We’re making it easier to find the trades you’re looking for online.

Oh wait- one more thing. In the article you mentioned that barter comes with some inconvenience. If we look at it in terms of trade being part of commerce and therefor business, the work it takes to find and negotiate a trade can be seen as marketing work. We are finding transactions.

p.s.- I love the comment about the car top carrier. I think every town should have a ‘borrow’ list. In fact, maybe I’ll start one…

By: Steven James

Steven James — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 13:16:51 +0000

Great article and i totally agree, bartering is awesome. I mean there are no rules, you can barter really everything which is a great thing and you save a lot money and you are green, so it is a win win situation for everybody! Im trading with neighbors or on barterquest.com, give it a try…

By: the other Tammy

the other Tammy — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 19:09:40 +0000

My husband bartered his IT skills to our local YMCA–he does about 1 hour of IT support for the YMCA per month (maintenance, virus removal, etc.) in exchange for a family membership, which we never would have paid for on our own (it’s about $70 per month!). So now we can go use the Y’s facilities whenever we want…it’s great! I’m so glad he looked into it.

By: Karen Hoffman

Karen Hoffman — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 15:09:00 +0000

Trent,

Thanks so much for reviewing our book! We LOVE to hear that you found it in a library and libraries are ordering it! We heard a couple of weeks ago about another library having it, which is so cool! To your blog contributors, sharing your stories is an awesome way to spark ideas! Keep it up! Although I’d been in the barter industry for 20 years I learned so much from writing this book with my co-author Shera. There are a trillion ways to use barter! Just be open to being creative!

By: Tricia

Tricia — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 00:59:14 +0000

My mechanic was going thru a nasty divorce and worked 60 hours a week, and had full custody of the kids. I bartered to clean his house every week in exchange for car care. We did this for 2 years, and I got new tires, brakes, oil changes etc. He came home to a spotless house, beds changed and bathrooms cleaned! I just kept a record of my hours and his hours, so that neither one of us were losing anything. We stopped when he got married….:)

By: Jan

Jan — Mon, 23 Aug 2010 22:50:12 +0000

I have bartered my sewing skills for chiropractic care. This was at the request of my chiropractor.

By: AniVee

AniVee — Mon, 23 Aug 2010 19:31:52 +0000

Under “downside of bartering” you mention “taxes (you’re going to have to pay them),” -

Let’s not be naieve here, Trent, one of the great appeals for barterer (at least outside the home – not the home baked bread for baby-sitting, domestic bartering) is that the “income” from the “sale” of your own services is not reported as revenue (and then taxed, federally or locally.)

I know of successful barters of citizenship papers/legal fees for waterproofing a roof, construction work on a new building in exchange for one apartment, outboard motors for air conditioners, medical services for upholstery, etc etc. Advertising agencies regularly traded publicity for hotels in exchange for free days/weekends in the suites (usually used by the top executives and their families) and, since no cash came in for the use of the rooms, no revenue was reported.

The ethics of all this is open to endless discussion and I wouldn’t dare go into it, pro or con, but I am long convinced that all or most of it in business goes totally unreported.

By: Pikkewyn

Pikkewyn — Mon, 23 Aug 2010 16:50:45 +0000

The discussion of bartering for health care reminds me of a Michael Moore film I saw several years ago (don’t remember which one–they all kind of run together to me) where he was having people who needed minor care do things like sweep floors or knit things or whatever. He was mocking the idea, of course, but I didn’t see why it was such a bad thing. Sure, people who are critically injured or ill should not be doing work, but why not barter for a flu shot or a new set of dentures (I say that because my dad’s lower plate just broke and he’s going to have to shell out $400).
And you’re right, Andi. Old country doctors bartered for care all the time. Setting a broken arm would cost roughly one chicken. (I’m guessing. I don’t really know.)
As for kids, they are natural barterers. Just watch them trade rides on a scooter for rides on a bike or Hot Wheels cars or lunch items back before the schools put the kibosh on that (darned kids with their allergies!). Kids are not bashful about it at all! We can certainly learn from them, but we all have this inborn ability. We just need to tap into our inner child and remember how. Start by repeating after me: TRADE YA! :D

By: David/moneycrashers

David/moneycrashers — Mon, 23 Aug 2010 11:08:24 +0000

In the past, I certainly didn’t have what it took to “barter” or “negotitate”. It is certainly a skill. However, once I realized the financial benefits you can gain from it, I learned. And fast.

Its not hard–just take a little guts and bravado, for want of better terms.

By: Andi

Andi — Mon, 23 Aug 2010 02:24:17 +0000

Chapter 12 – Barter for your health care. Just for the record, it used to be routine for country doctors to barter for their services. Not uncommon to be paid with foodstuffs or other services because cash was pretty limited on the prairie.

By: Anitra

Anitra — Mon, 23 Aug 2010 01:47:13 +0000

I would tell more moms that feel overwhelmed that you can barter for childcare! And I don’t necessarily mean by trading babysitting with other moms (although that’s good, too).

A friend who homeschools her older children asked me if I could tutor her oldest in math this past year. We ended up agreeing to exchange 1 hour of tutoring for 2 hours of babysitting every week.

I’m hoping to do it again this year! And now another mom is tutoring the same family with chemistry. :)

By: Luke

Luke — Sun, 22 Aug 2010 21:59:22 +0000

I recently bartered my services as a web designer to get my deck stained. My wife and I were out working on the deck and after two hours, I realized I’d be out there the rest of the summer stripping, sanding, conditioning and staining. I started looking around for local people who could stain it for me, and found one who looked like they needed a new website design. I asked called him up and asked if he’d consider a barter of services. Turns out, he was looking for a web designer anyway and was thrilled to make the deal.

I spent about 13 hours on his site (much less time than I would have spent on the deck), and he finished my deck in a day and a half. All in all, I am THRILLED with how this turned out. I’ll definitely be bartering my skills more in the future.

By: triLcat

triLcat — Sun, 22 Aug 2010 21:31:58 +0000

Beyond plain bartering, now that many small communities have lists, it’s easy for a community to share items.

Several years ago, my husband bought his friend (Call him J) a roof-rack for his car so that J could take his camping/juggling equipment to a yearly juggling event. (husband didn’t have or want a car, and this yearly event caused an issue for him)

J lives in a small town, and let it be known in his town that if anyone needs to borrow a roof rack, they’re welcome to borrow this roof rack any time except the week of the juggling event.

This past week, I noticed that a fellow blogger (and good friend) mentioned she had borrowed a roof rack from J even though she lives about 30 miles away…

Instead of sitting in a shed collecting dust, the roof rack has been used dozens of times to help dozens of people who need a roof rack once in a few years and don’t want to buy one.

(Cars and gasoline are very expensive here, so people tend to buy the smallest car they can manage with. Families with three kids will drive a Toyota Corolla or a Mazda 323 rather than a Camry or a 626 – which means that people are often short cargo space in their cars. Borrowing a roof rack is a very common way of managing your camping supplies or taking someone to the airport.