Bartering is a simple and cheap exchange of goods and services between people. Bartering is also recommended if you want to live without money or if you want to save money. Bartering is also a fantastic way to get new stuff and it can be a good alternative to the monetary economy.
Examples of online bartering
- Thanks to the internet, many apps and websites have been developed to make bartering easy.
- To get started, download apps like Vinted Trashnothing, Listia, Peerby, The Gone App and many others.
- For trading games, try GameTZ. For books, try PaperBackSwap. For CDs, try SwapaCD. For DVDs, try SwapADVD.
Bartering is a cheap and magnificent way to satisfy certain needs. Many people are bartering, exchanging things or services for other things or services but also companies are doing it more and more. Bartering is recommended if you want to live without money or if you want to save money. Bartering is also a fantastic way to get new stuff and it can be a good alternative to the money economy.
Basics of Bartering
- Bartering in the US or Europe. "Can you fix my computer? Then I'll fix your curtains." In many countries there are examples of functional networks for bartering and local exchange, such as Noppes in Amsterdam, where many people participate. Often these barter networks work with a certain credit or point system. You get an amount of credit if you have offered a service successfully. This credit you can use to request other services. This is also called a LETS system. These exchange system consist of a group of people that barter with each other based on points.
- Online bartering sites. There are also barter sites in the Netherlands to exchange stuff. For example games. But also audio equipment, TVs or furniture. Without introducing credits or money it can be quite hard to find a match if people need something specific. There are also barter websites for companies and independent professionals. There are platforms that work with credits and some that work on a 1 on 1 base.
- Start bartering in your own neighborhood. You can participate in these networks but you can also start one in your own neighborhood, for example on a small scale. Create a list of services you want to offer and which services you think are needed. Afterwards advertise your needs and offerings to the right people, that can make things get started. This is a good way to start a bartering system yourself.
- Free stuff thanks to bartering.Bartering can also be a fantastic way to get free stuff. This is easiest if you have stuff yourself that you want to give away. Inform people in your area which stuff you want to exchange and what you would like to get in return.
- Bartering to live without money. Many people who live without money decide to use bartering. The German Heidemarie Schwermer even created a an entire network: Gib und Nimm (give and take).
- Bartering to borrow money. Bartering can also be a great way to borrow money cheaply, if you need money. For example, you can set up a deal with friends to deliver a service in exchange for borrowing money. For example, a friend of a company gives you a loan and in exchange for that loan you deliver services for a certain period. This could work well if your credit rating is not so good and you need money fast. It does require some creativity however.
- Society based on bartering. A society based on bartering might be hard to imagine. But it could work in combination with the gift economy and the sharing economy. You can think of a way where people share their means of existence such as food, cars and housing. Everyone who has access to this sharing circle, for example by adding something themselves, gets the right to use all of it. You could extend it with services and shared insurance. This is already happening in a small scale, for example in the Twin Oaks intentional community, where 100 people are sharing.
- Advanced forms of Bartering. A system of 1 on 1 bartering (without a point system) needs innovation. It's hard to find a perfect match. A solution could be to develop a system of exchange between 3 or more persons. You can also find a match if through a 3rd or even a 4th person. If that match is made, the barter happens. This could also be without a point system.
- For business. Try BizX which according to their website their purpose is "to improve the lives and businesses of our members. At our core is a deep passion for local business, and a personal understanding of the experience of the business owner."
How did grandma approach it? Very simple. She informed the entire neighborhood that she was going to live in a room in an elderly home and offered her entire belongings in exchange. And successfully. The neighborhood quickly communicated and within less than a week she gathered a complete new set of furniture and interior stuff. Suited for her new room in the elderly home.
Get started bartering: BARTERING WEB SITES
At the beginning you can use pages on facebook for your bartering needs. Maybe you will find other people to share the same value system as you and get this started in your neighborhood. For example, it is possible you can involve your neighbors by starting a facebook trading group among some of you.
There's a lot of option for online bartering sites and bellow we will mention some to you, which also include facebook groups. In these bartering pages and sites it's possible exchange everything from goods (clothes, shoes, jewelry, furniture...) to services (babysitting, cleaning, pet sitting, etc).
When you start bartering you will realize how much money one can save. Items that are useless to some are very useful to other people and you will be amazed at what people find valuable. The best about this is that you don't need money to exchange value!
- Apps like Trademade and letgo are great.
- Currently existing websites that will help you with Bartering, like pages on Facebook's marketplace, Noppes, Bliive, TradeAway, various Craigslist barter pages, Ebay, ZipCar, Freecycle etc.
- Another possibility is try bartering in the local business (fairs, events, talk to neighbors, etc). Also, find out about local trade fairs and other hippy gatherings which are often places where people trade and are willing to trade stuff and services.
Get started bartering: FREE STUFF FROM RICH PEOPLE
It doesn't matter if you have money or not: everyone can barter. A lot of rich people exchange goods and services too and also give away stuff for free. In developed countries like Germany and in the US, it is very normal for rich people to barter things. They use bartering sites or fairs like everyone else!
- You can borrow money from friends if you are in a financial quagmire of some kind.
- Rich people give away free stuff all over, including living stuff on the street and asking for little money for expensive things sold at yard sales.
- Sometimes you can get stuff that rich people sold at pawnshops at reasonably low prices and resell it online.
Get started bartering: GO DUMPSTER DIVING
If you don't have goods or services to exchange you should consider dumpster Diving. You will find things like food, clothes, shoes, furniture, etc. That is a good way to get things without exchange. You can checking bins near supermarkets, restaurants and near your house too. One good option is going at the end of fairs, they put out a lot of food out!
- Go dumpster diving by following tips here.
- Try finding ways of getting 1000 free dollars in various alternative ways.
- You don't have to only go dumpster diving: here are other ways to get 1000 dollars now free.
