Circumstantial Bartering

There will be times in your life when you really want or need something and can find no feasible way to afford to buy it. There aren’t enough coupons or discounts or sales to make it fit your budget. So what can you do? Well, you can think outside of the box and re-discover the art of the barter.

People have bartered for goods and services for centuries, yet bartering fell by the wayside for most of the mainstream popularity as society underwent economic growth and you could buy or pay for just about anything (within reason of course). Now that the world has suffered economic collapses in recent years. it’s time we rethink our idea that we have to pay in cash or use credit to survive.

Bartering can be as simple as trading off services with your friends or neighbors. Perhaps one family can babysit all the kids, while another family does the weekly grocery shopping for both households. If someone is great with children and someone else is a super coupon shopper, this can work out great. By buying in quantities enough for both families, you can often get extra mileage out of coupons and quantity discounts.

Be careful though — you want to be specific about how much work is entailed on both sides. Make sure the details are thoroughly understood and that you both agree the value of your bartered services are equal or close to it.

You can barter for anything you want as long as all parties involved are in agreement. Keep in mind, however, that if you barter for professional services or expensive products, and you turn a profit, you may incur a tax liability. You’ll need to keep records and consult with a tax accountant to avoid future problems.

Like many families, you may find that you can’t afford a real vacation this year. Bartering can work here too! People often swap time-shares or housing to visit other cities, or if you plan a staycation this year, you’ll want entertainment. Trading of video games, movies, books, CDs and the like can help make your staycation free with the benefit of clearing out older items that you and the kids no longer use.

Let your circumstances dictate what you will barter. Make a careful list of what you’d like to receive, but make an even more careful list of what you have to offer and what is the fair value of your goods or services. Keeping the playing field level not only makes it fair, it also opens the door for more bartering with other people as you make new friends and expand your bartering horizons.

Here are some options for bartering sites online, where you can learn more and even do some actual bartering online.

• www.swapace.com/
• baarter.com/
• boston.craigslist.org/