What do you think about bartering?

I think it's a great way to get items you like without having to spend a lot of cash. A lot of people here do this as I see many ads putting options for trade with specific items as options to cash when selling their items. I have a bit of hesitation when accepting second hand items though because I'm always skeptical of the history and I don't know how long it will last after it switches to my hands, but I'm more willing to accept it if I know I'll just be trading an unused item for it.

 

I have never experienced this, but I think it's a good idea. I was recently speaking to a business lady friend of mine who regularly barters with another business woman. They each have services that the other can use and regularly use each other for them. Instead of paying each other, they have decide to swap services and it seems to work well for them. Sadly, I've yet to identify anything I could offer in exchange. Times are hard, and people are finding innovative ways of saving money. So I think if you can find someone with whom to barter and it works, kudos to you

 

I tried bartering for services one time. The people I bartered with didn't have any interest in what I was willing to offer though. One of them wanted me to trade my roomates older vehicle to paint the porch...like that was gonna happen!!! As for now, I am painting it myself, that shows how well my bartering experience worked! Although one time I had a lawnmower delivered for some cash and giving away my old lawn mower to them.

 

Bartering is a great way to get rid of things you don't want and to exchange them for things that you need. The practice is much more prevailent in ruralareas as opposed to cities where people are much more llikely to just go out and buy what they need. I personallylove to barter because it saves you money.

 

I'm not really against this kind of system. At one time, I was all for it since it seems to me money has held many people ransom. The world can no longer function without money and it's a sad sight. However, if we try to impose the bartering system in this era, it's going to be chaotic. People place different values on different things and what may be valuable for one may not be so for another. Bartering will end up breeding feelings of unfairness.

 

Bartering can be great only for things which you no longer need and would get rid off anyway. It works great for swapping clothing, toys and a few other things. Good thing is there are numerous sites where you can list stuff you want to "trade" for something else which makes the whole process [of finding someone who wants something you want to barter] somewhat easier.

 

I think the bartering system can work only when done right. If you are going to exchange your service in return for another service or good I hope what skills you have is valuable. Sometimes people do things for the sake of money but then become mediocre and no longer worth paying for. But what about the legal aspects when it comes to bartering? How do you barter with someone who is a doctor that performs surgery and things go bad do to malpractice? How would you settle a claim in court if you use the barter system? So I think bartering is OK up to a certain point.

 

There is a province here that bartering is still in fashion. However, only the natives of the place can do that because they mostly barter farm produce like live chickens for rice. Money is still their main pecuniary measure since they themselves said that bartering is inconvenient for some items particularly items that are imported from the city.

 

Bartering is indeed a good idea, if you don't want something anymore then you can offer to barter it for something else. I see that happen a lot on buy and sell websites, like they trade their items for another item.

 

Hmm, it doesn't happen much where I live on Oahu, at least I haven't tried it. It is one of the oldest systems in the world bartering for goods and services. On television my Mom watches Little House on the Prairie and they barter for the doctors services all the time. It is good to have a option of bartering though I feel.

 

I always thought it was a great idea, at least the premise of it. I know people who belonged to groups that exchanged services in such a fashion. One of the groups was later closed down, because apparently, you still need to pay taxes on specific goods and/or services, even if you obtained them by way of a barter system (so that's something worth checking out). Lame.

 

I'm a bit apprehensive about bartering to be honest, because in many cases, one person was clearly getting more value out of it than the other. If something is worth X amount of dollars, why not simply pay that much for it to each other vs. exchanging the services/items directly?

For example, a friend of mine had a lease on an office, and he was letting a friend of his use one of the rooms as her "office" as well in exchange for her cleaning up the place from time to time. Honestly, she was not really keeping the place clean at all and even if she was doing a good job, the hourly rate she would get cleaning the office would not be enough for her to actually sublease it herself.

Similarly, if someone has a garden and let's say they have a surplus of zucchini, giving away a basket of zucchini which admittedly would cost a lot if you were to buy all those in a grocery store, isn't necessarily worth that value. For one thing, there is no way I would ever be able to use all of those, nor want to use all of those, before they all went bad.

 

Bartering is still alive in various locals. However, in relating to world trade bartering is been conducted on an insignificant scale. It's mostly been practised in rural farming areas which are not of close proximity to developed areas, where it's mostly convenient to trade produce in order to readily satisfy needs.
In the early days when the items which would have been traded were mostly simplistic and their worth was easily measured, the barter system was an adequate process for trading goods and services. However, The complexities of emerging goods and services soon made it difficult to match goods by worth, which resulted in the bartering system been deemed inefficient for trading. Money as a trading tool evolved from the need for a more appropriate commercial instrument which would replace bartering.
Bartering may still be partially useful especially in deep rural areas, however, It has definitely outlived is usefulness as an effective trading instrument in modern society.

 

I don't think bartering would work well because everyone has a different idea of what things are worth.
An ex friend of mine let me sleep on her couch for one night because my place was being fumigated.
Instead of asking me for something reasonable, she simply kept my $250 juice machine as compensation.
So in her mind , one night on a couch is worth $250. Remember how I called her an ex friend?
This crappy deal is why. All she had to say when I asked for my juicer back is "I deserve it."

 

I see no problem with it cause money is basically represents bartering. For instance, you normally cannot trade work for work, but you can give someone something, money, that they can use to get work from someone else. Also, the stuff people buy was made via human labor which isn't gotten via bartering.

 

Money is called the pecuniary measure used for goods and services to make commerce mire convenient. Everything is measured in terms of money. But bartering is still okay. However, I would join bartering with used items only. Like a garage sale where the prices if used clothes are not commercial in amount, perhaps bartering or swapping of used items is a good idea. It goes well with items that you cannot put a tag price.