irina slutsky/Flickr
By Mike Barclay of 10CentsWorth.com.
A few weeks back a friend of mine who works for a local radio station approached me. “Would you be interested in passing out a bunch of flyers for an event we’re doing if I got you some concert tickets?” I instantly said yes, seeing as I’m the world’s biggest concert guru. Now I am the proud owner of free tickets to two shows I’ve been hoping to see.
But were they really free?
Technically the tickets were not free. Did I have to pay money for them? I did not. Was there some type of exchange that was beneficial to both parties? Yes there was. We used a medium that most people today don’t really think about, or even understand they may be doing. It’s called bartering.
Bartering is defined as trading goods or services without the exchange of money, according to Dictionary.com. We should all look into it. How much money would we end up saving if we traded services or items around the house for something we did need?
Here are three great sites I’ve found in my swapping frenzy as of late.
Most people use Craigslist for classifieds, but have you ever clicked on the “barter” section in your cities? Craigslist is great if you want to go super general. And it’s always going to be local. If you’re looking for more specific swapping, check out these next two sites.
SwapTree.com – As I mentioned before, I’m a big music fanatic. So when I found SwapTree, I wet myself. It’s all about media: books, DVD’s, CD’s, etc. You can trade your stuff or browse what other people have and make an offer. Needless to say, I’ve had it up on my computer screen for the past week, constantly looking at what I can find.
Zwaggle.com – Zwaggle is strictly for all things tot-sized. Babies, toddlers, you name it, they’ve got something for it. It’s a perfect site for new couples having their first child and for the couple with kids who’ve outgrown everything and want to get rid of the stash.
So the next time you want a new CD, clothes, books, or need something fixed and can offer something in return, remember you don’t always have to use dollars. Look into trading or swapping and see if you can do it without having to touch your wallet.
April 1st, 2010 at 1:10 pm
The most famous case of bartering I know of is the guy who started with a red paperclip and wound up with a house. It’s not an urban legend. It was in the news a few years back.
April 1st, 2010 at 1:26 pm
Do tell, Michael! Do you have a link to this story? I have to admit, I’m skeptical!
April 1st, 2010 at 1:51 pm
Hi, Mike. Not to worry. I can never get to Snopes.com fast enough when I hear something like this…
http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/2006-04-16-paper-clip-barter_x.htm
http://oneredpaperclip.blogspot.com/
http://www.squidoo.com/myredpaperclip
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BE8b02EdZvw
I wanted to get the story from Cleveland’s “The Plain Dealer” but it’s too olde and the PD probably would have gotten it off the wire anyway. If none of these links work, I Googled “red paperclip” + “barter”. For the YouTube clip of 20/20, I searched “Kyle MacDonald” on You Tube.
April 1st, 2010 at 1:53 pm
Sorry, BargainBabe. Didn’t mean to blow by you. I thought for a second this was Mike’s blog. If forgot he’s a contributor on your blog.
April 1st, 2010 at 1:59 pm
I want to see a link as well. That sounds like a rad story. I need to get colored paperclips. Maybe yellow is the new red, and I can get myself a house.
April 1st, 2010 at 2:14 pm
Hey Mike,
Have you heard about Dibspace.com?
It’s a barter currency website where folks trade stuff like restaurant gift certificates, attorney services and dressers. But they use “Dibits” instead of dollars.
It’s mostly in Seattle right now but anyone can create their own private trading community.
Anyways, thought you might like to know .
Dominic
April 1st, 2010 at 4:47 pm
Please do NOT crap up my neighborhood by posting your barter offer on a telephone pole. (Which is illegal, anyway).
April 1st, 2010 at 8:35 pm
Seriously. That paperclip story is the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever seen. That’s so awesome. Dude traded a RED PAPERCLIP INTO A HOUSE! WHAAAAT?!
http://www.oneredpaperclip.com
Awesome. The power of trading. And bartering.
April 1st, 2010 at 9:09 pm
So how DOES he trade a red paperclip into a house? What’s the catch???
April 1st, 2010 at 9:23 pm
It’s really about his mentality. He’s got an end goal in mind, but he just goes along with whatever he can get. it’s more the idea of “what the…someone is trying to trade a paperclip on craigslist? Seriously?” Then it just goes from there. Random object to random object, until things start to gain more value, and people jumped on the bandwagon.
Pretty rad story actually. I can’t believe I hadn’t seen it before.
April 1st, 2010 at 9:24 pm
PS, Dominic, I haven’t heard about dibspace. Checking it out now. I’ll let you know what I think.
April 29th, 2010 at 12:30 pm
[...] collection that you do? Probably not. I’m constantly going over to my friends houses and trading music with them. If you’re technically savvy, you can sync your iPod to a friends iTunes [...]
May 7th, 2010 at 10:58 am
What template do you use in your website
May 11th, 2010 at 11:34 am
[...] fan as well, because they not only have a “free” section, they also have a “bartering” area where you can exchange items and services. If you pay close attention to what’s [...]