ArtsAutosBooksBusinessEducationEntertainmentFamilyFashionFoodGamesGenderHealthHolidaysHomeHubPagesPersonal FinancePetsPoliticsReligionSportsTechnologyTravel

Is Bartering Back...Has It Ever Left

Updated on December 13, 2011

What is Bartering

With the economy being what it is today, there's an old concept that has made a resurgence. It's called bartering. Is bartering really back? Did it ever leave? First let's define bartering; it is the exchange of goods or services without the exchange of money. I can imagine some young people today would call that stealing. Well, no it's not. You see, today with the advent of the credit card, getting what you want without ever paying for it, is almost unheard of, except to steal it, although some never pay for it even when they charge it, but that's a horse of a different color.

From the research, It's hard to tell when bartering began. Some say it began somewhere around 2000 B.C., in China. Others say it has been around since the beginning of time, I'm inclined to believe the latter. Maybe it wasn't called bartering, but the concept was there. However, somewhere along the line it took a backseat, with the advent of money, then along came credit, it was pushed even further back, then came the credit card, oh, who needs to barter. Well, nowadays money is in short supply, credit is hard to come by, and don't even mention credit cards, they've become the bane of most of our existence. But with bartering we have a chance to redeem ourselves.

Would Bartering Work

With the economy being what it is today, bartering has made a resurgence. Just take a look around the Internet, you'll see bartering sites popping up all over the place. Even with that, I don't think it it gets enough attention. I think it should begin within the family, extend to the neighborhood and so on. Of course if bartering were to come back full force, it would totally wreck the economy, so I'm not advocating all out bartering. However, I'm sure you would agree most of us have too much of a lot of things. For instance I have entirely too many clothes. When I had my home I had too many Televisions, actually I had too much of a lot of things, I found this out when I moved.

What if I had the foresight to barter away some of those things, I would have been better off. Well, as they say, hindsight is 20/20. So, I'm learning, because of my present circumstances.

The way bartering works is, say you need a babysitter, but no money to pay for one, well your potential baby sitter could need to do some shopping, but she doesn't have transportation, but you do. Wouldn't you agree that could be a mutual exchange. In this instance bartering works.

Barter What

Let's examine this bartering thing a little closer. Look around your home, what do you see that you don't really need, or could do without. Before we go any further, this is for those of us who, don't mind used items. I'm sure there are some who wouldn't be caught dead using something that someone else has used, at least "not yet," (I'm just saying). Back down to earth. So, you've found that, or those items, you can do without, now what do you do. As I said before, begin within the family, and work your way out from there, friends, neighbors, workmates, and so on.

Let's start with that old car, that may only need a little tender loving care, but you don't want to give it, and would like to move it off your property. Say, could you use another TV? I think that would be a suitable exchange. Make a few calls, personally I'd buy you a TV for that car. But remember this is bartering, "exchange goods, or services without the exchange of money." Still some would not feel money is exchanged even if they had to buy a Television. So go for it.

Here's another idea; you need your home cleaned, you don't have time, or just don't like housekeeping. Again make a few calls, see what a friends, or family member would exchange for a day of housecleaning. You just might find someone like me, who loves to clean, and would take anything useful for a day to indulge themselves, and maybe has been itching to get at your house anyway.

Do you need a night out on the town? Why not form a consortium, (a consortium is an association of two or more individuals with the objective of participating in a common activity or pooling their resources for achieving a common goal), of sorts, with the express purpose of giving each family a night on the town, or some other mutually agreed upon activity. Why not make a schedule, to avoid confusion.

Do you want a new wardrobe, but "your money is funny and your change is strange?" Why not do what a group of ladies in my area did, they put together a little clothing exchange. They made a party of it. Everyone who wanted to participate brought their really "nice" clothes they no longer wanted together, and simply exchanged for someone else discarded "nice" clothes. This is not the opportunity to get rid of those worn out, or outdated items, that neither you nor anyone else wants. Again this would not work for everyone. For each person there would obviously have to be someone of like size. For instance if you're a size 2 and there's no other size 2 in your area, then this would be a waste of time for you, or any size larger or smaller for that matter. Why not look into this great idea of bartering.

Where To Barter

We've already mentioned bartering within our familiar surroundings, family, friends neighbors, workmates, etc. There are more organized forms, and places of bartering. Here are a few:

  1. Craigslist, has a section for bartering, however upon closer examination, there are also items listed for money, but since you are bartering, you can skip those.
  2. The Internet it literally littered with ads for bartering, however during my Internet search, what I found were sites that lead to other sites, some of which were membership based. Since online bartering is in its infancy, the field might not be ripe for harvesting. However, you can do your own careful search.
  3. Bartering locally might be a better way to go. Most cities have now created bartering centers. I would assume calling your local Chamber of Commerce, would be your first stop. Then there's the Internet for your local area, for instance I looked up Bartering in Atlanta, Ga, and here's what I found, among others, u-exchange, barter Atlanta. Then I tried bartering in Washing, D.C., and I found this, u-exchange Washington D.C. It appears there's a common thread here, this bears looking into. So do your own research.

I'm sure there are other avenues to be explored, where upon you might find good bartering places. If so please share them with us here by way of your comments.

The New Age Of Bartering

Being that bartering has made somewhat of a comeback, there is also a new, and up to date, concept of the idea. This is where a bartering fee is involved, however, the fee seems to be small enough to entertain the idea still. Take a look at the video, and you'll see what I mean.

Conclusion

Whether you like the old idea of bartering, or the new, it is, nevertheless, an idea whose time has come. So, let's all jump on the bandwagon, and see where it takes us.

working

This website uses cookies

As a user in the EEA, your approval is needed on a few things. To provide a better website experience, hubpages.com uses cookies (and other similar technologies) and may collect, process, and share personal data. Please choose which areas of our service you consent to our doing so.

For more information on managing or withdrawing consents and how we handle data, visit our Privacy Policy at: https://corp.maven.io/privacy-policy

Show Details
Necessary
HubPages Device IDThis is used to identify particular browsers or devices when the access the service, and is used for security reasons.
LoginThis is necessary to sign in to the HubPages Service.
Google RecaptchaThis is used to prevent bots and spam. (Privacy Policy)
AkismetThis is used to detect comment spam. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide data on traffic to our website, all personally identifyable data is anonymized. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Traffic PixelThis is used to collect data on traffic to articles and other pages on our site. Unless you are signed in to a HubPages account, all personally identifiable information is anonymized.
Amazon Web ServicesThis is a cloud services platform that we used to host our service. (Privacy Policy)
CloudflareThis is a cloud CDN service that we use to efficiently deliver files required for our service to operate such as javascript, cascading style sheets, images, and videos. (Privacy Policy)
Google Hosted LibrariesJavascript software libraries such as jQuery are loaded at endpoints on the googleapis.com or gstatic.com domains, for performance and efficiency reasons. (Privacy Policy)
Features
Google Custom SearchThis is feature allows you to search the site. (Privacy Policy)
Google MapsSome articles have Google Maps embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
Google ChartsThis is used to display charts and graphs on articles and the author center. (Privacy Policy)
Google AdSense Host APIThis service allows you to sign up for or associate a Google AdSense account with HubPages, so that you can earn money from ads on your articles. No data is shared unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Google YouTubeSome articles have YouTube videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
VimeoSome articles have Vimeo videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
PaypalThis is used for a registered author who enrolls in the HubPages Earnings program and requests to be paid via PayPal. No data is shared with Paypal unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook LoginYou can use this to streamline signing up for, or signing in to your Hubpages account. No data is shared with Facebook unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
MavenThis supports the Maven widget and search functionality. (Privacy Policy)
Marketing
Google AdSenseThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Google DoubleClickGoogle provides ad serving technology and runs an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Index ExchangeThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
SovrnThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook AdsThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Unified Ad MarketplaceThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
AppNexusThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
OpenxThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Rubicon ProjectThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
TripleLiftThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Say MediaWe partner with Say Media to deliver ad campaigns on our sites. (Privacy Policy)
Remarketing PixelsWe may use remarketing pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to advertise the HubPages Service to people that have visited our sites.
Conversion Tracking PixelsWe may use conversion tracking pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to identify when an advertisement has successfully resulted in the desired action, such as signing up for the HubPages Service or publishing an article on the HubPages Service.
Statistics
Author Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide traffic data and reports to the authors of articles on the HubPages Service. (Privacy Policy)
ComscoreComScore is a media measurement and analytics company providing marketing data and analytics to enterprises, media and advertising agencies, and publishers. Non-consent will result in ComScore only processing obfuscated personal data. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Tracking PixelSome articles display amazon products as part of the Amazon Affiliate program, this pixel provides traffic statistics for those products (Privacy Policy)
ClickscoThis is a data management platform studying reader behavior (Privacy Policy)