To barter or not to barter - that is the question.....

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Permalink Reply by E. Jake Gamble on April 28, 2009 at 11:39am

The Today Show just aired a segment on this. Times are ripe for bartering as competition is fierce and cash-flow is challenged. Everything is negotiable, including products and services.

Good article on the web:
http://www.usnews.com/articles/business/your-money/2009/03/13/if-yo...

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Permalink Reply by Nancy Lee on April 28, 2009 at 4:58pm

I barter! Bartering has definitely become part of my life since becoming a full-time artist last fall. It has helped me move my small business (www.ndesignsmetal.com) forward.

I don't have all the "rules" down and I have made some mistakes along the way, but it does work and it works well. And lots and lots of people do it. You never know what someone might be willing to trade for unless you ask.

I have traded time for time and price for price. Be careful with this. I have agreed to trade "retail" dollar for dollar before and then found out that the other barterer charged more than double per-hour for the product than my hourly rate. Lesson learned! All in all, though, this has been a very positive experience. This is what people did before money.

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Permalink Reply by Emily Abel on April 28, 2009 at 11:07pm

I think bartering is smart, although I haven't done much. I am not aware of Itex or other formal bartering systems, but I do plan to investigate them. Any advice you can share will be helpful.

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Permalink Reply by Samantha on April 29, 2009 at 12:32am

At Lemleys' Catering, we love to barter. We think of ITEX (our barter network) as an advertising/marketing opportunity with fringe benefits. For our ITEX customers, it is usually the first time to use our services. So far, all of them have loved our catering and suggested us to others. We were able to use our ITEX dollars to book a condo in Chicago for ten days in May--something for which we would not have spent the cash outright.

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Permalink Reply by Deanna Sipe on May 1, 2009 at 3:25am

Samantha,

I have signed up with Itex and I am hoping for results as good as yours. I guess we will see. I just wanted to some input from others on bartering in this economic environment.

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Permalink Reply by Brian Morgan on May 2, 2009 at 11:25am

Insights not facts from experience.

I would say that a barter system would be lopsided. If I needed website development and wanted to barter with a specific contractor (web designer) their first consideration should be - does this business actually offer something we need & are they the 'level' of service provider that we use.

I really think that bartering would lead to many lopsided deals.

And that economies are based on money for a reason, perhaps.
- Brian

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Permalink Reply by Ashley Kersh-Fletcher on May 3, 2009 at 8:46pm

I have bartered on several occasions. I am swapping a complete company website at the moment for rental of space at the moment. I am fairly confident that they are getting much more dollar wise than myself, but in the end I felt it was worth it.

From my experience any bartering has to be carefully considered just to make certain that equality will be maintained.

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Permalink Reply by Deanna Sipe on May 4, 2009 at 12:54am

Thanks Brian and Ashley I appreciate your input.

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