Originally posted by Sean Rasmussen on http://seanseo.com/internet-business/bartering-tips-for-online-business/comment-page-1/#comment-8462

Bartering Tips For Online Business

Back in the early days of civilization when there was no accepted form of currency, purchasing was based on the barter system. If the caveman down the way had a hunk of dinosaur meat you were interested in, you could offer him a pelt of fur in exchange for it. You got to eat, the other guy got to stay warm. It was a win-win situation.

Things have certainly changed in modern society but the barter system is still in use. Trading products, services, or promotional efforts provides an affordable way to extend your internet marketing reach.
Trading Services

You might be in need of professional services for your company. Often accounting or legal services, necessary for the growth and compliance of your e-commerce company, present prohibitive costs to the small business owner. Why not barter for these services?

Consider offering a free banner ad or a complimentary write-up on your blog in exchange for an initial consultation or a service from a professional who offers the services you need.

If your first offer doesn’t pique the interest of a professional provider don’t give up. Provide a list of things they can choose from. There is bound to be something you can offer that is of interest.

Promotional Bartering

You can really extend your marketing reach if you partner with others to help spread the word about your online business. This is a simple concept, usually offered in exchange for like promotional efforts.

Working with another online individual or company, you can offer to exchange banner ads, blog posts, a link in a blogroll, or even do-follow comments.

But you can also use other items to barter with. If your website sells products, consider giving something away in return for a posted review, a testimonial, or a referral on a social media site.

Planning an event? Whether it is an online or offline gathering, find the vendors who can supply the needed components, such as webinar software. Ask if you can exchange the necessary product or service for advertising spots on your website or a complete write-up of the event afterward that showcases the vendor’s offerings.

Need a logo for your start-up? Why not offer the graphics artist a direct link from your site in exchange for the design or a deep discount?
General Bartering Tips

Bartering works best if you attempt to exchange items or services of similar value. Offering a blog post in exchange for the complete legal setup of your business is probably not going to entice a lawyer to take you up on this deal. It is easier to make appropriate offers by first assigning a dollar value to the product or service you are using to barter.

If you don’t already have a relationship established with a vendor, provide them a show of good faith by giving something upfront. With so many scam artists on the internet these days, many people are leery of deals from an unknown source.

Bartering can save the internet marketer a lot of money while extending their marketing reach. Even if you don’t have cash, there are ways to attain the things you need by offering an even exchange.

Originally posted by Melissa Preddy on http://businessjournalism.org/2010/06/11/check-into-your-local-barter-economy/comment-page-1/#comment-5710

Check Into Your Local Barter Economy
Bartering – trading goods and services with no exchange of cash – is doubtless the oldest method of commerce on the planet. We don’t think of it much today, but by some estimates it’s a multi-billion angle to our national economy and a huge percentage of global trade.

In addition to companies that trade goods and services, there is a seemingly endless parade of land-based and Internet-based exchanges.

Barter also is a survival tool in tough times, and finding local examples of how your area’s businesses are coping or even thriving by using cashless commerce would make for a fascinating business feature. One approach: Follow the trail of series of barters: Imagine, for example, if a local plumber received a laptop in exchange for an emergency call; then she trades the laptop to an e-commerce firm in exchange for a new website. The site designer uses the laptop to create a new home page for a car dealer, who in turn repairs the designer’s vehicle free of charge.

You get the idea. Imagine the graphics, photo and multimedia possibilities there, too.

Alternatively, make this a consumer or personal finance piece. Contact some local dentists and eye doctors; as more and more laid-off workers lose insurance, it’s a decent bet that some of these practitioners have been approached with barter offers by patients in need. Same goes for attorneys, accountants and other professionals as well as tradespersons and service provides.

One site you should check out is that of the International Reciprocal Trade Association (IRTA); you’ll find background information, statistics and member directory which may point you to local sources.

Originally posted by Mark Boyle
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/blog/2010/jun/02/mark-boyle-moneyless-man-food-for-free?showallcomments=true#end-of-comments

Moneyless man reveals how to live a cashless life without starving

For most of us, food comes in plastic packets from the supermarket. A friend, who runs tours of an organic farm for school children, gives much anecdotal evidence of this. One week, while pointing to a rosemary bush, he asked the kids if anyone knew what it was. After 20 seconds, one 12-year-old raised his hand and proclaimed it to be “corned beef”. Worse still, none of the others laughed.

The answer to this FAQ is in the query itself – I eat from the earth. Food is free, and indiscriminately so. The apple tree doesn’t ask if you’ve got enough cash when you go to pick its fruit; it just gives to whoever wants an apple. We are the only species, out of millions on the planet, that is deluded enough to think that it needs money to eat. And what’s worse, I often observe people walking straight past free food on their way to buy it from all over the world via the supermarket.

There are four legs to the money-free food table. The most exciting, and my favourite, is foraging, which originally meant to wander in search of food and provisions, but is used these days to describe the act of picking and eating wild foods. Although this can take a lifetime to learn, anyone can start today. I’d recommend picking up a pocket-sized book called Food for Free by Richard Mabey (sourced for free via Read It Swap It) or perhaps taking a weekend course with people such as the BBC’s “roadkill chef” Fergus the Forager, before hitting the hedgerows.

At the moment look out for giant puffballs, bristly ox-tongue and rocket, the latter often found in the cracks between walls and paths in cities. If you need any more excuse to hit the coast, now is the perfect time to collect seaweed. The real beauty of wild food is not only that it’s highly nutritious and ecologically sound, but that picking it is also a fantastic excuse to go adventuring with friends.

Great Britain has been tamed, so its remaining wilds could no longer feed its population. This makes the next leg – growing your own food – crucial, both in terms of tackling climate change and rebuilding a resilient local food network. Whether it be on your kitchen windowsill, in your back garden, or on the allotment, start with whatever you can manage. Choose crops you love eating and if you are time poor, choose varieties that require little work. Not only will you reduce your food miles and packaging, you’ll also get to eat food that tastes of your own sweat, a flavour no spice can match.

Growing and foraging all your calorific needs is a huge task, especially without fossil fuel inputs such as fertiliser. This is where the third leg comes in: bartering. Bartering can either be an exchange of food, especially in the summer when many people have gluts of one crop or another, or an exchange of skills for food you can’t get elsewhere without money. In many ways barter is just an awkward form of money and lacks the deeper benefits of doing something completely for free (such as you do with close family and friends), and it brings up the age old problem of “the double coincidence of wants”, where both parties have to have something the other desires. But it has got huge benefits. Not only does it localise the economy, it helps build bonds between neighbours, leading eventually to communities that are more resilient to external shocks; societies where friendships, not cash, are seen as security.

Posted on December 2nd, 2009
By: DDFD on Self Reliance Exchange
http://www.self-reliance-exchange.com/?p=2907

Self reliance by its very name implies going it alone, but I think cooperation and exchange (barter) has a place in self reliant living. Barter is a non-monetary exchange of value. I am not discussing formal bartering between commercial professionals– that can result in a taxable event. For example, an accountant offering tax prep services to a home improvement contractor in exchange for work at his house is probably a taxable event.

What I am talking about are the non-taxable exchanges between family, friends, and neighbors. This is not a new idea– just a neglected or forgotten one.

When I was a kid, I remember a neighbor with talent for auto repair who helped on almost all auto repair projects in the neighborhood. In return, he received assistance on yard work, painting, and other odd jobs. This is the sort of “bartering” I am thinking of these days.

What can be bartered? I thought I would share just a few ideas:

* Repair or improvement skills– auto, carpentry, electrical, painting, plumbing
* Ride services– kids to school or events, elderly to appointments, trips to the airport
* Food– cooking or grocery runs for the sick or shut-in
* People watching– sitting for kids or companionship for elderly
* Tutoring– educational, art, or musical
* Boarding animals– vacation or regular sitting

So how do you barter? Here is a simple approach:

* Communicate– let people know what you have and what you need
* Commit– a handshake and your word
* Deliver– be sure to come through for people
* Share– talk your fellow barterers up describing the experience to others

Sometimes cash isn’t needed to get things done or as valuable to others as an exchange might be. Always try to identify opportunities to barter– as in all things self reliant, be creative!

It’s almost summer! Everybody is enjoying the sunny weather and thinking about going to the beach… but where to go? Where can you be trustful enough to let your children and dogs play in the water? Are there still non polluted rivers and beaches in your area? Can you go swimming where 2 years ago was a prohibition?

Scary Facts:

- Earth consist of 2/3 water. but all the fresh water streams only represent one hundredth of one percent.
- 14 billion pounds of trash is dumped into the ocean every year
- Plastic bags and other plastic garbage thrown into the ocean kill about 1,000,000 sea creatures every year!

- Approximately 5 million tons of oil produced in the world each ear ends up in the ocean. - Most American families throw away about 88 pounds of plastic every year. - Every year enough trash is carried down the LA River to fill the Rosebowl.

Join green living! Help the world to save the water of the earth. Create a future for your kids and give them the opportunity to enjoy the ocean. Already small steps can bring changes. Recycle! Use reusable bags! Start using tumblers instead of plastic cups. Be green!

Big Up to all the supporters of Oceans Day!

Everybody, Everyday. Some updating Facts:

Waste of Water: ♦3-7 gallons for toilet ♦25-30 gallons for tub ♦50-70 gallons for a 10 minute shower ♦1 washing machine load uses 25-40 gallons ♦1 dishwasher load uses 9-12 gallons

We each use about 12,000 gallons of water every year
1/3 of all water is used to flush the toilet.

Break Down: ♦plastics take 500 years ♦aluminum cans take 500 years ♦organic materials, take 6 months ♦cotton, rags, paper take 6 months

The garbage in a landfill stays for about 30 years.
In 1995 over 200 of the world landfills were full.
Approximately only 10 percent of every landfill can be cleaned up.
Each person throws away approximately four pounds of garbage every day.

What	Why
aluminum cans	- it takes 90% less energy to recycle aluminum cans than to make new ones ! - Recycling one aluminum can saves enough energy to power a television for four hours!
glass bottles	– The energy we save when we recycle one glass bottle is enough to light a traditional light bulb for four hours
paper	– For every 2000 pounds of paper (1 ton) recycled, we save 7,000 gallons of water free from chemicals. -Recycled paper requires 64% less energy than making paper from virgin wood pulp, and can save many trees - Every ton of paper that is recycled saves 17 trees

84 percent of all household waste can be recycled.