Bartering Makes a Comeback
By Sherril Steele-Carlin
Bartering, popular in the 80s, is catching on again. Everyone is getting in on the bartering bandwagon -- from large companies, to small home businesses. Most simply, bartering is trading goods or services for goods and services of comparative worth.
Bartering can also be more complicated, like bartering for large quantities of an item, and then selling the items, or bartering them for something else that you sell. Bartering can actually be a home business for many entrepreneurs.
What is Bartering?
In an article in the London Times, Christopher Warman writes, "In a typical transaction, Mr. Knowles acquired £137 million-worth of buses from Brazil for the Ecuadorian Government and paid for them with bananas. Countertrade [Mr. Knowles company] then sold the bananas in Europe to turn the deal into hard currency." This is a perfect example of how bartering works, and how it can work for the businessperson. It's also a great example of how bartering can actually become your business. Mr. Knowles runs his company himself, and does most of his business online with a high-speed Internet connection, and occasionally a meeting via video-conferencing. Bartering could be one of the best home-businesses to get into while the economy is rearranging.
Say you would like a new brochure, or business cards to advertise your business. You discover your local printing company would like a new newspaper ad, and needs someone to do the copywriting. You barter your writing services for the ad, for the printing of business cards and a brochure to highlight your freelance services. You've both gotten what you need, and it didn't cost either of you anything other than your time.
Increase Your Business
In tough economic times, bartering may be a way to increase your business without any dollar cost. Many large companies are building their business around bartering. Other companies are doing business all over the world through bartering. A company doing something similar in the US is the Ruffin Trading Company of Savannah, Georgia. In an article in the Carolina Morning News, reporter Mark Kreuzwieser says, "In many instances, the deals in other countries will be made through bartering, essentially trading goods for other goods that are in demand here in the United States...."
Businesspeople who hope to barter their services can look for a bartering service in their area, where they can sign up and barter with other local merchants and service providers. Or, they might want to try some online bartering services listed in the resources below. They each offer bartering services for a wide variety of goods and services, and some offer world-wide bartering for their members. Or, they might consider setting up their own bartering service. They could trade with other barterers, or even create specialized services specialized needs, such as freelancers or contractors. It could provide the goods and services that can make or break a freelancer, like office supplies and machines, computers, phone equipment and long distance cards, Internet connections, and much more.
Clearly, bartering can solve some problems for businesses in a wide variety of areas. It may not be for everyone, but bartering may be able to put some new spark in a business.