Bartering is Back

re: Bartering is Back

marilynjames — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 09:29:18 GMT

Bartering lets people also buy at a discount (up to 95%) which is sometimes forgotten or misunderstood.

Imagine you are a hotel. In return for issuing $5000 worth of vouchers you receive $5000 worth of printing. Until those vouchers are used you haven't paid out anything, even though you are getting your printing up-front. Even better - the printing is now costing you less than 10% of what you would pay if you were spending cash.

By purchasing using your own products or services you can automatically reduce the net cash cost on anything you buy. This is because you are buying using the wholesale cost of your product or service (the difference between the cost you would pay in cash to service a new customer versus the purchase price of the item you just purchased).

Bartering allows you to take your excess capacity or stock and convert it into things you need without loosing regular business or affecting your cashflow.

Turn Non-Producing Assets Into

… Advertising, Asset Purchases, Business Supplies, Capital Expenditure , Client Entertainment, Equipment Purchases, Food, Freight, Graphic Design, Hardware Leases, Health and Beauty, Holidays, Maintenance & Repairs, Marketing, Medical Services, Needed Goods, Office Supplies, Packaging, Promotional Items, Refurbishments, Signage , Staff Rewards, Stationery, Technical Supplies & Services, Travel, Wholesale Items… and more...

There is a good history of barter at the Ormita Commerce Network website http://www.ormita.com under About Us > History of Barter. Excellent information on the website about general barter ideas as well. I think they arent a barter exchange though (they consider themselves offset trade).

Excess capacity exchange is only useful if a business owner can offset their existing cash expenses and/or acquire additional desired goods and services.

Selling is only one side of the equation. Many Trade Exchanges simply ignore the fact that true value lies in a businesses ability to spend their Trade Credits – not just earn them.

Ormita differs from other Exchanges because it actively works with business owners to offset their current and planned expenses and works with a Buying Schedule. Our business is a member but I also recommend people look at other commodity exchanges and even corporate barter and offset trade networks.

re: Bartering is Back

Millers Grain House — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 21:01:20 GMT

We do barter in our 'home-life' items and skills more than in our business, for the same reason as above. Business bills and taxes don't respond well to bartering (o: too bad....

But we barter bread (my skill) for milk (which makes our butter and whipped cream as well)! We also barter organic apples for our bread and our blueberries for things we can't grow....like strawberries (I flop at them every year!)

Love the system...just wish it worked for MORE!

Great post!

Best Blessings!

Donna Miller

re: Bartering is Back

Anne Cross — Sun, 15 Mar 2009 21:14:45 GMT

Great post! I've had some very satisfying barters -- in my area, posting on Craigslist (for free) is a great way to advertise things or services that one has to barter. I've traded plants, bartered things I didn't want for services I needed, and swapped equipment.

I always try to find free first, second-hand second, then retail as a last resort.

re: Bartering is Back

cheapChic — Sun, 15 Mar 2009 01:50:12 GMT

I barter house cleaning for an hour or two and I get a ride where I have to go if its two hours of cleaning means I billed up for two days of them taking me to the docter to store or just a ride just to get away from my goofey farm and other things..

Usally helps me because Im not allowed to get paid I don't do the heavey house work like moving furniture around thats another story by itself...

re: Bartering is Back

SavvyFrugality — Sat, 14 Mar 2009 04:40:59 GMT

That's a good point Karen K. Bartering is not meant to take the place of income. As I mentioned in my post, bartering is a means of trading something you have for something you want. In the example of the radio station trading free advertising on the air for something like, say, a station vehicle, they are trading something they have (air time) for something they want (the vehicle). Normally, the station would sell this air time, but perhaps they have some open ad slots that they haven't been able to completely sell out. They have an excess of "air time", so they can afford to give it away for something they need. The car dealership also benefits from the deal. They may have more cars on their lot that they can hope to sell on a particular month. In order to move those cars, they need to advertise their sales and vehicles. They trade something they have in excess (the vehicle) from something they need (radio station ad time). Neither business could survive on barter alone, but in this example they are both bartering for something they need that will benefit them.

re: Bartering is Back

Karen K — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 10:08:34 GMT

As a business, bartering is not always the best option. We have had customers that want to trade service for service but the problem is that we still need money to pay our bills.