Trading site forms Advisory Committee of industry experts

NEW YORK, March 02, 2010 – BarterQuest (www.barterquest.com), a platform that supports the cashless exchange of goods, services and real estate, today announced that it has formed an Advisory Committee to provide expertise and guidance to senior management. The areas in which the Committee will compliment senior management include B2B e-barter, marketing, and business development. The members of the Committee are the following:

Ray Bastarache is a pioneer in B2B e-barter. He founded Barter Network in 1985, which was a clearinghouse for businesses that traded the goods and services which they produced for the goods and services they needed. The company was one of the largest and most successful trading networks in the United States. After its sale, he remained active in the e-barter industry in various capacities. Mr. Bastarache has served as Treasurer, Vice President, and President of the International Reciprocal Trade Association (IRTA). He received two Distinguished Service Awards from the Association and its first Mentorship Award. In 2009, the barter industry awarded him the “Legends of Barter” Award.

Harjiv Singh is the co-founder and Co-CEO of Gutenberg Communications, a global strategic communications firm. A serial entrepreneur, he has more than 15 years experience in the communications, technology and financial services industries. Mr. Singh frequently speaks and writes on a range of public relations issues, including the impact of globalization. In 2007, he was recognized as one of the leading PR professionals in the Asia Pacific region.

Dr. Sheldon Weinig founded Materials Research Corporation, a multinational semiconductor company listed on the American Stock Exchange that was thereafter acquired by Sony. In 1996, he retired as Vice Chairman of Engineering and Manufacturing of Sony America. He is currently an Adjunct Professor at Columbia University and SUNY at Stony Brook. Dr. Weinig was inducted into the National Academy of Engineering in 1984 and in 1988 was awarded the rank of Chevalier dans l’Ordre National de la Legion d’Honneur by the French government.

“We are excited about the value that the Advisory Committee can bring to the future development of BarterQuest,” stated Paul Bocheck, President. “We are gratified that people of the caliber of Ray, Harjiv, and Shelly have been willing to lend their experience and insight to our company. Not only should this make BarterQuest a more successful business, but it should help us better serve our users.”

About BarterQuest

BarterQuest supports the cashless exchange of all types of goods, services, and real estate. BarterQuest provides a trading platform based on proprietary technology (patents filed) that instantly matches the haves and wants of users for two party and multi-party trades. Barter is facilitated by a user friendly Web design that is unique in its combination of features that support trading.  BarterQuest is headquartered in New York, NY and is owned and operated by JPM Global, Inc., a Delaware corporation. For more information, visit www.BarterQuest.com.

We have released major new enhancements to BarterQuest. Two of the more important changes that we have introduced are account verification and the equalization of trading values by using points, a non-cash exchange currency.

As part of making BarterQuest a safe and enjoyable trading platform, we now encourage all users to verify their accounts.  There is a one time verification fee of $1.99 to complete the verification process.

Why do I need to be verified?

We want everyone to have a good experience when they trade with any of the thousands of other users on our site. Account verification increases the security of trades, providing greater confidence that you will get what you bargained for. When you verify, others will have more confidence that you are who you say you are. They will be more likely to trade with you. Moreover, you must verify before you can use points.

How do I verify my account?

Verification is fast and easy. The whole process should take less than three minutes.

We are using PayPal to process our account verifications. PayPal has a well earned reputation for keeping personal information safe. From our site, you will be redirected to PayPal, where you can either use your existing PayPal account to login or securely enter your billing information with a valid credit card. After PayPal processes the payment of the verification fee, we will capture your address and telephone number for our records. Your account will then be verified on BarterQuest and you will be able to use points.

There are several ways our site will direct you to the verification process:

• At the time of your first login, new users will be asked to verify their account. Account verification is not required at this point, but we encourage all new users to verify their accounts as soon as possible. As a verified user you are someone with whom other users are more likely to initiate trading activity. In short, you will be more likely to receive offers and more offers.
• For existing users, simply click the “My Account” icon on the upper right hand corner of the site. Under “Account Settings,” there will be a new link named “Verify My Account.”
• If a user tries to send or receive points  as part of a trade,  they will need to verify their account before taking this action.

Upon successful verification, the user will have a “Verified” checkmark next to their user name wherever it appears on the site.

What are points and why do I need them?

Points are our non-cash exchange currency. One point equals one dollar. You can purchase points at any time and your points can be redeemed for cash. You can “accumulate wealth” by trading for points and then use the points to acquire items.

The principal use of points is to allow you to equalize the value of a trade, for example, my item plus 10 points for your item. Consequently, points are best utilized when the parties believe that there is a significant difference in the value of the items to be traded. Points are not meant to substitute for your judgment that a trade is generally fair, that is, that you are getting something of equal or greater value to you than the item you are trading. If you try to be too precise in your valuation, your opportunities to trade can and probably will seriously diminish. This being said, points can represent a material portion of the total value of what you are offering or what you will receive (and, as previously mentioned, you can, in fact, offer points alone to acquire items posted on our site). As is the case with any offer, the owner of the item is never obligated to accept points as part of or in lieu of a trade.

Users are not able to request points alone as payment for their items. This is to prevent users from bombarding you with what amounts to solicitations for the purchase of whatever they have to sell. After all, you are on our site to trade, not buy.

The transfer of points from one trading partner to another is subject to our Secure Payment feature. Secure Payment is intended to provide you with greater assurance that if you use points in a trade (or alone for the acquisition of an item), you will not lose the points if you don’t get what you bargained for. It is a form of escrow, pending the satisfactory completion of the trade. Your trading partner will not be able to use the points in another trade or redeem the points for a period of 14 days following (1) the confirmation of a trade involving goods, (2) the completion date for services, or (3) the first occupancy date for real estate, unless you have decided to release the points earlier. If you dispute the trade during this period, the points will not be released to your trading partner until the dispute is resolved.

How do I purchase points?

There will be two ways you can purchase points:

• Under “My Account,” there will be a new section named “My Points.” This section will show all your points activity, like point purchases or the points you received in a trade – similar to a bank statement. Here, the user can purchase any amount of points for use when sending an offer, counter offer, or accepting a trade.
• If you send an offer (or counter offer) involving points, or if you receive an offer requesting points (in addition to your item) and want to accept the offer, the necessary amount of points must be available in your account or any deficiency will be pre-authorized for your purchase at that time. The actual purchase of any points necessary to complete the trade will occur only when you enter into a trade agreement (when the trade is confirmed).

We are very excited about the “re-launch” of BarterQuest and believe that the site is better than ever. Please let us know of any comments or questions you may have. Good luck and good trading!

Bianca, Paul and I just returned from the PayPal X Innovate 2009 developers conference, where we exhibited BarterQuest as a silver sponsor. PayPal has been working with us to develop tailored applications for the payment of  fees and charges in an easy and secure manner when introduced onto the site. Starting at the top with Scott Thompson, the President of PayPal, and including John Donahoe, the CEO of eBay (which owns PayPal), we were able to meet and greet various people at PayPal and, we hope, further cement the  positive perception that PayPal has of BarterQuest and the BarterQuest platform.

The conference presented a tremendous opportunity for the company to network with the Internet community more generally. We met numerous participants in the technology area and initiated a number of discussions relating to applications for our platform. There is no doubt that we were able to unfurl our flag, wave it repeatedly, and raise our profile. There was constant activity around the BarterQuest kiosk. Responses ranged from very interesting to a great idea.

On a more personal note, it was a thrill for us to see the BarterQuest name projected on a giant screen in the same space as very well established players in the technology arena. It was more than interesting to note that at the closing keynote address in the “big hall” specific mention was made of “innovative developers who have created a global bartering platform with a virtual currency” as an example of how the Internet will be pushed forward into the future. Sounded a lot like BarterQuest! In the words of my generation, it was all very groovy.

We are happy to announce that, Trading Clubs and Forums are now online on Barterquest.com!

So go ahead and join the club that best fits your interests, and afterward why not talk about it with other users on the forum.

Trading Clubs	Forums

In the near future we will be introducing Trading Clubs to our site. This feature will allow you to form your own trading club or join an existing one. You will be able to easily find what other members have to trade and discuss your trading experience in a forum dedicated to your club’s members. Trading clubs will be formed to bring together friends and family or people with shared interests. Organizations that represent special interest groups for whom trading is an attractive alternative will also be able to form Trading Clubs for their memberships. Our site will support clubs sponsored by small businesses that may have trading affinities.

The purpose of the Trading Clubs is to allow our users to search for trades within a community to which they naturally belong, in which they feel comfortable, and through which they can pursue trading opportunities with like minded individuals.

Trading Clubs will be organized by and within categories. In addition to your own friends and family, clubs could be organized by your geographic region, by specific types of services, by your interest in items related to the environment (green), or by your lifestyle and what types of items you may be interested in. The major club categories will include, among other things, artists and entertainers, books, collectors, gamers and hobbyists, moms and dads, music, seniors, sports and exercise, students, technology and travelers.

Once introduced, we encourage you to use the clubs as another way of organizing your trading activity. While you will be able to join certain clubs (like those organized around another user’s friends) by invitation only, other clubs will be available to anyone with a shared interest. Again, if you don’t find a club that matches your trading interests, we will urge you to sponsor your own.

Think Trading Clubs is a good idea? Any suggestions related to this feature (such as a special category, or type, of club)? Let us know.

Michael

Recently, we added our own BarterQuest Help Desk, to make it easier for you to communicate with us! Our Help Desk contains lots of information related to our site, such as Frequently Asked Questions, our User’s Guide. It will also allow you to send user or site-related issues directly to us, so we can solve them as quickly as possible and make your trading experience a much smoother one.

To start using our Help Desk, you’ll need to register with BarterQuest first. If you haven’t registered yet, what are you waiting for? Lots of new users are registering and posting items for barter every day, so join in on the fun! It’s free, so you have nothing to lose.

Thanks to the awesome work by the guys at Zendesk for powering our Help Desk!

BarterQuest was recently featured on WalletPop by Aaron Crowe.

Three weeks later, the porcelain frog your cousin gave you for Christmas doesn’t look so fun. Instead of hiding it away to regift next Christmas, barter it on the Internet for something you want.

You don’t have to just let unwanted gifts sit around in your house, gathering dust. With belts tightening, you need to make use of all your assets, so a new site, barterquest.com has found a way to match up people and their stuff to barter…

read the full article

Yesterday afternoon, we sent out a message to all our users, with details about the current promotion running on our site. However, we mistakenly sent the message multiple times, causing most of our users to also receive multiple Emails of the same message in a short period of time.

We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused. This was a mistake on our part. We are currently investigating the issue and taking the necessary steps to make sure this won’t happen again. We appreciate all of our users, and want everyone to be 100% satisfied with our site and services.

If you have further inquiries about this issue, feel free to contact us. We’ll be more than happy to answer your questions.

BarterQuest was recently featured on Fox My9 News (New York) during a feature piece on the rise of bartering and its advantages. It’s a great piece on how in this economy, trading can help everyone with a lot of their needs.

To celebrate both the Holiday Season and our launch, we have some really great things to trade with you!

Until January 15, 2009, we want to see who can send us the best offer for a Prada Leather Handbag, a Nintendo Wii, or an iPod Touch. If you offer us something good, you might be trading it in for one of these items! All you need to do is register on BarterQuest, post the item (or items) you want to barter, make us an offer we can’t refuse before January 15, and on January 21st we’ll choose the best offer for each of these items. It’s that simple, and it’s free!

For more information on the promotion and the items, check out our Promotion page.

Happy Trading!