Talked with a guy from Nubarter today. Sounds pretty cool. Read a couple articles on it. One was in the Wall Street Journal yesterday: Barter Fits the Bill for Strapped Firms - WSJ
The other was in a local newspaper: http://www.beaufortgazette.com/322/story/657771.html
The guy says he already has a job lined up for a hotel. He says its a pretty big one. What do you guys think.
Bartering has worked out for me some. I was at my vets last year, found out what the bill was going to be, (more then what I thought). Then asked if they had any interest in exchanging services the owner said yes. It started out as an exterior clean of the office, residential cleaning at the owners home, interior/exterior of the office, and then an exterior cleaning and sidewalk pressure wash. Exterior cleaning and pressure wash is due in March. Is it paying for all the services for my pets, no but it is a help. She just adds the credit to my account when I bill her for service. When I worked for my friends company we would clean a pizza or sandwich shop and get lunch in exchange for the cleaning. I think it is easy to do, by just asking shop owners if it is something that interests them, and they offer a service that you can use. With the economy the way it is just beware of shops that may close before you can cash in any credit. Printing,oil changes,lunch/dinner any thing that will benefit you is a plus.
Alberto E.
Window Cleaning for bacon is always a good thing to barter also.:)
Alberto E.
Heck yes!
I bartered with this same customer of mine for 4 years straight on a condo in the Outer Banks of North Carolina. We cleaned her windows only 2 times per year inside and outside (About 800.00 of work for the whole year). I always took my wife and kids the last weekend in August. Condo was ON the beach too with an in ground pool on the deck below. I checked with the realty company that rents it out for them and it rents for $2,300 a week during peak.
My client even gave the key to their personal storage unit with all of their beach gear. It was an Awesome experience!
I know quite a few of my clients that own property like this. Its just hard to bring it up bartering services for this type of thing.
Steve
Made a quick note about it in the blog - has anyone tried or considered [URL=“http://www.nubarter.com/”]nubarter?
I’m not sure if it is the same in all states, but in Ohio you must count the value of the bartered exchange as income and pay the appropriate taxes, even if money does’nt change hands.
Unless you make this clear with the person you are trading with, they may get the impression you are not a honest buisiness person.
Wow, that’s a great idea. We are going down to the OBX in September. Off- season rates, still warm. I’ve always wanted to work something out with a rental company, but never followed through. How did this whole idea come up with your customer?
Yea its the same down here.
I barter with my now ex-wife for her graphic design skills in exchange for her home windows and mirrors cleaned a few times a year. Beats paying someone else to do it for me.
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Dan,
She actually brought it up in a conversation. She said that I could stay there for free for a week. No strings attached. I brought up the bartering thing of two cleanings per year. I love it there. Great food and a kick back kind of atmosphere. I currently have a customer that has a group of neighbors that were wanting me to to do their beach houses out on Hatteras. I looked them up and they are crazy huge homes in the sand. The salt is hard as heck to get off of the glass and most of the homes I saw online were 40’ laddersets:eek: Its about a 12 hour drive from where I live. They wanted me there around the 1st part of April. Something like 10 of em. I just dont have the time in April to be away from my business. We are already hammered by then.
Steve
I barter with my:
CPA
Lawyer
Dentist
Doctor(Although this ones my uncle)
Land Lord
Website designer
I bartered for my dog!
All of these services are “free” or discounted just for a little winder warshin…
Josh
if you really want to learn to barter…go live in Thailand for a bit. They barter for everything at all times of the day… even at McDonalds they barter! lol
Steve, If I’m ever game for trying to pick one of them up, could I get in touch with you? What area of the OBX are they near?
I like being able to exchage services, it keeps cash in my pocket. As far as going with a company that offers the services I would recommend doing alot of research about the company or companies you are considering. Make sure that these companies are strong and not about to file for chapter 7 like Bartercard United States, Inc. back in 06.
We use ITEX. Its great and its the oldest form of commerce. Still works today.
I was attending a local business to business expo last week. As I went from booth to booth I was asked what my company did. Nearly every time the response was “Oh, that’s nice.”
Then I visited the booth for a local bartering company called BancMarc. They surprised me and showed great interest and spent about 20 minutes explaining the way their service works. They assured me that my company would be in demand.
Turns out that they were telling me the truth. A few days later I signed up with the service and 15 minutes later they had me on a conference call with another member who wanted his house cleaned. The next day it was a resturant owner who wanted regular cleaning for his place. I got both jobs right away.
The trick with their service is that they handle the 1099 for tax purposes, and instead of trading service for service, you trade for “money” that they provide. Then, I can use it to purchase products or services from over 500 other businesses in the area, and thousands around the country. Nice.
We have the same thing here in Az. And you can barter with several different advertising companies and get full page color ads in sseveral newspapers here just by bartering. And you get to charge your “going rate” for services whatever that might be. No price matching, coupons, discounts, etc.
I have a few small, family owned cafe’s I barter window cleaning for meals. We had breakfast there this morning
I belong to a local barter company and ITEX as well. Here is how we are able to make it work well to get CASH jobs too. A barter member might request a house wash, we go out to wash it and flyer all the neighbors. We usually get a cash job everytime we do a barter job. Activity begets activety. Also, we use the barter “dollars” to purchase ad space in magazines etc. It is nice to know that you can leverage 1 hour and $20 worth of chems to get a $400 ad. Then you get a cash job or two from the ad. I did a house wash once for the owner of a Moes Southwest Grill for $1400 worth of “Moe’s Bucks” We ate Moe’s for a long time. Gave them to customers, paid babysitters with them and even used them to cater a Round Table I hosted.
Bartering is cool especially when you find ways to attract cash jobs.
What’s a “cash job?”
