It’s an ancient but pretty simple concept: Instead of paying for things with currency, you trade goods or services for things of equal value. You’ve probably bartered at some point in your life, but you might not realize that you can barter a lot more than you think. There are apps, networks, and local businesses that have embraced bartering, allowing you to trade time, skills, and items in kind. Here are the best places where you can barter instead of spending cash.
Apps and sites
Modern technology has been a real boon to bartering. There are a lot of apps and websites that give you access to different bartering communities:
Barterchain: This app is fairly straightforward: Choose the goods or services you need, list the goods or services you have, and then look for a match. Once you find someone that matches your need and offer, you can contact them and negotiate a deal.
HaveNeed: The HaveNeed app automates the bartering process—you create a list of haves and needs, and the app will match you with other users (up to five, allowing for some creative deals to be struck) that have what you need or need what you have.
Bartershop: Focused on business-to-business as opposed to individuals, Bartershop facilitates trading goods and services between small businesses that find themselves “cash distressed.”
BarterUp Online: This is a web-based platform that lets people list items they want to trade and search for items they need. There are paid subscriptions that let you set up “garage sales” for bulk items or advertise your stuff, but the free tier allows you to barter at no cost.
Exchanges
Barter exchanges are more formal, and are typically more business-to-business barter oriented. If you have a small business that needs to conserve cash and you want something a bit less chaotic than an app platform, you can look for barter partners at an exchange:
The National Association of Trade Exchanges (NATE) maintains a database of barter exchanges, although you have to become a member (at $495 annually) to search it. Whether they are aware of the irony of charging cash to gain access to barter is unknown.
The International Reciprocal Trade Association (IRTA) offers connections to other barter-friendly businesses and other contacts, and also requires a membership to access the network and information.
Barter Network specifically connects businesses so they can trade unsold goods for materials they need, converting a loss into cash savings. A membership fee, dues, and transaction fees are required to access the network.
BizX is similar to Barter Network, but does not charge any membership fees or dues (though it does charge a transaction fee).
IMS Barter allows business to trade both unsold goods and excess capacity on an international scale. There is a membership required.
There are also regional exchanges, like BarterPay, which is Canada-only; The Barter Company, which serves the Atlanta metro area; or TBT Barter, which operates in southern New Jersey. If you’re looking for a B2B barter solution, it might be worth searching for a local organization.
Local businesses
It’s entirely possible that a local business is willing to barter its goods or services. Unregular Pizza and Unregular Bakery in New York have regular barter events that allow folks to trade stuff for food, for example. Searching in your local business community for retail stores or other businesses that have barter policies may yield fruit, or you could simply contact a business that has something you need and ask if there’s a barter arrangement that would work for them.
Taxes
One caveat: Bartering may not involve cash, but the IRS considers barter to be a taxable transaction, and it’s on you to figure out the fair market value of the goods or services you’ve traded. In short, you have to treat the goods or services you provide as money you paid, and goods and services you receive as money you earned. Don’t assume that just because there’s no currency involved you don’t have to worry about taxes.
