July 11th, 2010

By Shera Dalin         July 7, 2010

If you’re like most people, you’d like to barter but you have difficulty finding trading partners. Of course there’s Craigslist.org, but as much as we love Craig’s List, there are credibility issues with some people who post there. There are also great websites like BarterQuest.com and U-Exchange.com, but sometimes its difficult to find someone in your town who has exactly what you want to trade for.

Meet the local barter club.

Barter clubs are starting to crop up across the United States and for good reason–people want to trade and they want to trade quickly and locally. Barter clubs, versus a commercial barter exchange, also have another gargantuan advantage: they typically don’t charge a fee or only a small one. Paying a $30 annual fee (or less) is far more accessible to individual traders than the $500 average membership fee that commercial exchanges charge. It makes sense that a commercial exchange would have that type of fee because it is geared toward high volume trades from small to large businesses. Bartering a million dollars in product is a normal practice for many businesses. But an individual isn’t usually going to come anywhere near that sort of volume.

That’s why we’re so excited by barter clubs that are entering the scene. Three that have recently started are Michigan Barter Marketplace in Saginaw, Boulder County Trader in Colorado, and Go Local Dallas. These sites give you the best aspects of a commercial exchange (ready access to other traders, Internet listings, personal interaction) and fewer barriers to trading (large membership fees, contracts, transaction fees). If you don’t have a barter club near you, check for a MeetUp group or read The Art of Barter to learn how to start your own.

Barter clubs are the everyman access point for trading outside of websites, and we hope to see more and more of them. (If you have a barter club we haven’t mentioned here, let us know and we’ll list it on our website and in a future blog post.) Let’s hope they take off like wildfire.

–  Shera Dalin

Journalist Shera D. Dalin and barter consultant Karen S. Hoffman are co-authors of recently published “The Art of Barter: How to Trade for Almost Anything” and owners of www.barterstrategies.com.

Tags: barter, barter club, Barter Stategies, Boulder County Trader, Craig's List, Go Local Dallas, Karen S. Hoffman, Michigan Barter Marketplace, Shera D. Dalin, The Art of Barter, The Art of Barter: How to Trade for Almost Anything, trade
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May 29th, 2010

Scenario One

Anne is a landscape designer whose computer is giving her problems. It’s the beginning of the season and cash is tight. Bob is a computer tech who has just gone out on his own and is eager to get the word out about his service.  He’s listed Cash and guitar as his wants, and added Try Me! to his listing for Computer Services.

Anne sees Bob’s listing under Computer Services.  She notices the Try Me! icon on Bob’s listing and uses the Ask this Member! link on his listing to send a message asking if he’d barter for landscape design.  Bob messages back that he lives in an apartment.

Anne goes to Search to look for guitars.  She finds three, returns to Bob’s listing and sends him the listing numbers.  Bob puts the numbers in Search and pulls up the three guitar listings.  He messages Anne that two of them look acceptable. One of the two listings doesn’t have a Try Me!  The guitar listing with the Try Me! belongs to Carl, who has listed his wants as Dining and Furniture repair.  Anne messages Carl asking if he’d consider some landscape design in exchange for the guitar.  Carl responds that he doesn’t need any landscaping, but his mother has wanted to get the yard at her townhouse spruced up.  (This is actually shaping up to be a four-way trade; Carl owes his mom some money.)  If Anne could take a look at the yard, suggest a plan and help him select the new plants, he’d swap for the guitar. Carl asks Anne to email pictures of some examples of her work, Bob visits Carl to check out the guitar, and Anne checks Bob’s customer references.  It’s a deal.

Scenario Two

Diane is moving and won’t have room for her antique hutch in her new condo.  She posts a listing for the hutch under Antiques and under Furniture.  She lists Moving and Hauling and Cash as her wants.   She looks at listings under the Moving and Hauling category and contacts the two nearby movers who both have the Try Me! icon on their listings.  Neither one is interested in the hutch.  Diane goes to Advanced Search and searches for Antiques under Member Wants.  She finds Ed’s listing; Ed restores and resells antiques and has motorcycle to trade.  She messages Ed and sends him a link to her listing for the hutch.  He messages back that he’d like the hutch, subject to inspection, but he thinks his motorcycle worth about $100 more than the hutch.

Diane contacts both movers again, this time with the listing for the motorcycle. One of the movers will accept the motorcycle in exchange for moving Diane’s household to the new condo.  Diane checks the mover’s references and asks for proof of insurance. Ed takes the motorcycle over to the mover for a test ride and inspection and leaves it there.  Later in the day he picks up the hutch and $100 from Diane and gives her the signed and notarized title to the motorcycle.  Diane delivers the title to the mover and they sign a contract to pack and move her to the new condo after her closing next month.  For tax purposes, the three parties agree to assign a value of $1,500 to their trades.

For $100 and a little research, Diane has solved the problem of what to do with the hutch, and now can spend money on things for her condo that she would have otherwise had to use for moving.

Tags: 3-Way trade, Advanced search, barter, exchange, Search, swap, three-way trade, trade, Try Me!
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May 4th, 2010

Here in the Denver area, Spring has been an awful tease. One day it’s spring, then winter, spring, spring, spring, summer, winter, winter, spring, spring, winter, spring.

Springtime is when we do the home maintenance and cleanup from the winter.  My place needs spring cleaning, window washing inside and out, carpet cleaning, gutter repair or replacement in a couple of places (or maybe they just need cleaning out), yard cleanup, more pea gravel brought in, rose and tree pruning, and the interior wall paint completely removed from the garage floor. (Former occupant, what were you thinking?)

Some of the work I’ll do myself, for some I’ll pay cash, and for some I’ll barter.

Very soon now people will be looking for contractors, painters, electricians, gardeners, carpet cleaners, craftspeople, masons, carpenters, handymen and just about anyone who does home repairs or improvements.  If you’re one of the above I hope you’ll try bartering your skills this season.

In the meantime: Spring, spring, winter, spring, winter, winter, spring….

– Bonnie

Tags: barter, carpenter, carpet cleaner, carpet cleaning, contractor, Denver, electrician, gardener, gutter replacement, handyman, home maintenance, home repair, mason, painter, pruning, Spring, trade, window washing, yard cleanup
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April 20th, 2010

Christmas has long ago come and gone, and still those gift cards languish in your top desk drawer. The good news is  they’re fairly easy to sell for cash or exchange for a card you’d use.  There’s an abundance of websites dedicated to just that.  Before you jump in, here’s a few things you may want to know (not the least of which is  a gift card to Essentiels Spa in Boulder would make me one very happy girl).

Several things affect the value of a gift card:

-  If the card is nearing expiration, you’re not exactly going to be in the driver’s seat when it comes to negotiating its value. Worst of all, the card may be worthless because it’s already expired.

-  In this economy, a card for Costco or Target is easier to barter or sell than one for DiamondEarrings.com.

-  A card for Famous Footwear may be easier to swap than one from Joe’s Shoes for Gigantic Feet.

-  A monthly “service fee” is deducted from the face value of some cards.

-  If the barcode has been scraped or bent, the vendor may not be able to accept the card at all.

-  Some cards can be used online but not in the store, and visa versa.

-  Some cards are linked to an individual and cannot be transferred.

To determine the face value of a card, ask customer service where it’s accepted to run the card and give you the details.  Some stores will give you a receipt showing the current face value and expiration date.

To find a website where you can dispose of your card, just run a Google search on “trade gift card” and you’ll get thousands of results.  All the sites are a bit different, so you’ll need to do a little research.  You’ll get a better deal when you trade the card rather than selling it for cash.  Traders are charged around 5% and/or a modest listing fee.  The going discount for cash is usually 25%-40%.  Most, but not all, sites guarantee the value of the card to buyers.

You can list your card on Boulder County Trader to swap it for a different card, something else you’d like or cash.  Whatever you do, get that card out of the drawer and get some value from it before it expires.

- Bonnie

Tags: barter, Essentiels Spa, gift card value, gift card websites, gift cards, sell gifts cards, swap, trade, trade gift card
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January 18th, 2010

I recently had a conversation with a new acquaintance.  We were discussing Boulder and how it had grown since we’d both moved there, then the conversation got around to skiing, and then to ski boots, specifically the new boots she’d bought last month.  She’d just used them for the first time on Sunday, and they’d killed her feet.  She hadn’t even been able to finish the day on the slopes. They’d felt fine to her in the store, but she now realized she wouldn’t be able to ski in them again; they just weren’t designed for “her” feet, not sole-mates. She’d tried to return them, but they’d been worn once, so… She has something she can’t use.

I suggested she might try bartering them.  Her response:  “Yeah, but what would I trade for?   I think I’ll just take them to that used sporting goods place.”  As this was a new acquaintance, I resisted my urge to render advice.  (I usually reserve that until at least  the second encounter.)   Still I wondered, what would she trade for?

The first step, of course, is finding a match for the boots.  There’s probably someone out there right now running a Google shopping search for that exact boot.   Or there’s likely someone in the area who also wears a size eight, who also needs new boots and would be happy to test drive these for a day.  Or there’s another woman whose new size eight boots are killing her and she’s headed out to go buy the same brand of boot that my new acquaintance is thinking about consigning at the used sporting goods store.

When my new friend takes the boots to the consignment store, she and the store clerk are going to have to set the “fair price” a customer would be willing to pay for the boots.  My guess is that will be about half of the retail price new.  Then, when (or if) the boots sell, the store will want their consignment fee, usually 50% of what they got for the boots.  So, my friend is left with about 25%, or $100, of the retail price she originally paid for the boots just a few weeks ago.

But what if she were to trade the boots?   Again, let’s arrive at a fair dollar amount- maybe a 25%-30% reduction in retail.  After all, they’ve been worn- but only once.   That leaves about $300 in value.  So what would she trade for?  The windows washed, upstairs and down?  An afternoon at a spa?  A restaurant gift certificate?  Some new landscaping?   Tax planning advice?   30 hours of babysitting?   A course in dog training?   Having the plumbing around the house tuned up?  $300 cash?

When thinking, “Yeah, but what would I trade for?” ask instead, what you would want or need to spend $300 on.  Whatever it is, you’ll get more in value than the $100 from the consignment store.

Don’t worry.  I’ll tell her next time.  – Bonnie

Tags: barter, consignment store, ski boots, trade, valuation
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