Online Barter Exchange – Rescue Global Economy

In general, bartering is a method of exchanging goods, between parties who have an interest in either the goods, or a profit to be made from the exchange.

On a state-wide level, bartering hasn’t really existed as a primary form of economy. However, several organisations exist that provide this facility to the public for free, or a small fee. The phenomenon of manifesting value, sometimes equal to monetary, from your old possessions, creates a lucrative opportunity on the World Wide Web.

The typical individual may have not adopted bartering as an economical lifestyle for the following reasons:

• Credit – Current economy provides you with the power of purchasing goods without actually having the cash. Simple bartering does not cater for this.
• Availability – A lot more goods are available on the market when using cash or credit as a medium to purchase.
• Consumer Confidence – The consumer market is regulated and governed by several laws, which may not be the case when bartering.
• Time-sensitive purchases – Typical examples would be airline tickets and hotel bookings. Through simple bartering, individuals cannot purchase these time sensitive items within the current economy. These can only be purchased from agencies that are dominated by the standard economy, and are prone to expiry. Therefore they do not make a valuable bartering asset.
• Blocked Swapping – For bilateral bartering, someone may not have what you want, even though you have what someone wants.

However, the typical individual chooses to ignore the following facts about the points above:

• Credit – This causes individuals to live in an economy that is always in debt, resulting in several expenses to be burdened on the people, in the form of taxes. Additionally, the individual pays interest on all loans, losing value for all purchases, whereas when bartering, some value is always retained after depreciation. Sometimes, value is actually increased, depending on the demand of the purchased items. E.g. Antiques and discontinued items from the manufacturer. Therefore the individual would eventually not require the need to take credit, if this value of his/her possessions is harnessed instead of being wasted.
• Availability – This problem is one that fixes itself logarithmically, as more people join into the bartering economy. Because more goods become available in the bartering market, as more people join and vice versa. However, there is nothing to stop customers from using the bartering option as a preference, where the desired items are available, thereby saving the total cost of the item they wish to purchase.
• Consumer Confidence – Facilities are now available to barter with confidence, if one wishes to barter through clubs as well as online.
• Time-sensitive purchases – This problem remains, until it can be solved through dedication and revolt. Currently organisations that provide these force customers to use cash. As long as they do so, individuals have little choice. However, if the economy has other mediums in circulation at a large scale, eventually these organisations will be forced to accept them, in order to be competitive.
• Blocked Swapping – This is a misconception, since in the bartering world, facilities exist that provide you with points in exchange for your items. These points can then be used to obtain items from others. Also known as Bartering Exchanges.

Additionally, bartering has the following benefits over the current economy being isolated:

• Conservation of value – Your items hold value, cash is saved for rainy days
• Less dependency on Credit – Harness value from your possessions and save yourself and others from the global economical crisis.
• Environmentally friendly – Reusing items means less production and less waste. So manufacturers reduce burning fuel, and you have created your own recycling mechanism.
• Better business & Improve cash flow – Transactions are more likely if customers don’t have to pay away their cash, rather using something they no longer need. This works between businesses too, as they can provide services for each other, without needing to lose any money.

Now we know that bartering is a good idea, but to make life even easier, this facility is provided online. This way, you can actually barter and make ties with people that you don’t even know, and enjoy the benefits to your bank balance, without even stepping out of your home. Why wait? First see what’s available before going and spending that hard earned cash!