The Art of Bartering

Bartering is a great tool to have if you want to acquire something you need while ridding yourself of something that you don’t need, but someone else may want. There are three methods of bartering. One is bartering an object or service for another object or service. The second way is you barter, plus offer partial payment, for another object or service. The third, you list what you need and offer to buy it outright or directly sell what you have outright. I noticed by checking online that there are a few websites that you can do this directly. Most, you join with a fee, others are listed as join for free. Two sites I noticed that looked promising are www.u-exchange.com and www.trashbank.com. There are others out there. You will need to read through them carefully to see what they require and what they offer you, as far as how much traffic their site generates and what fees or percentage they require, if any. As of now, I am listing a barter deal on Craigslist which is totally free, of course. I need to have 5 acres bush hogged and will pay for it by designing door hangers or flyers for their business and also pay for gas. Graphic design has been my business for over 20 years.

In the past, around 20 years ago, I bartered with a farmer to bush hog 5 acres of hay, twice a year. He then baled it up in about 30 round bales of hay and removed it. Later he felt like he needed to pay us back for the hay. He graveled our driveway, over 2 acres in length and fertilized the 5 acres for us. This went on for 12 years. One year he was kind enough to pay us with a small hog, that when full grown, fed us well over 6 months with very tender pork and ribs. We never asked for this, but were pleased to have it mowed for free and have our driveway graveled. That would have been enough for us. I am offering basically the same deal, but throwing in the graphic design and payment for gas. I know times have changed. People nowadays are out of work and don’t consider this as extra money or deal, on the side. They are desperate for money to pay their bills. I’m there too. I’ve had offers to bush hog the property for $200.-$300. which I can not afford right now. So bartering is my way to go. Hopefully, I’ll run into another farmer who will need the hay. 

I do recommend the barter system. Sometimes you can barter repair work for dental work or antique furniture for a good working car. And sometimes it can might actually lead to future employment. There is no limit. You should really check out bartering on the sites I mentioned or if you need more information about how to go about it, then check out www.howstuffworks.com or www.answers.com.