These days, experts say entrepreneurs interested in bartering
are gravitating toward online barter companies instead of
traditional brick-and-mortar ones. The reasons are obvious: Online
barter companies offer a wider universe of possible partners,
faster matches between those partners and lower service fees. In
fact, most online barter companies collect commission fees of just
3 to 10 percent on transactions. In contrast, offline exchanges
usually charge 10 to 15 percent. Plus, almost all offline exchanges
require pricey membership sign-up fees that run anywhere from $45
to $395. Additional monthly dues cost about $30.
Online bartering services also allow busy entrepreneurs to
participate in exchanges and trades at any time of day or night.
Offline exchanges, on the other hand, are only open during business
hours, and they usually require that business owners deal with
brokers.
There are a variety of online barter companies to choose from.
Some popular options worth looking into include Bigvine.com, iSolve.com, Tradaq and Ubarter.com.
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Perhaps the most popular online barter company is currently San
Francisco-based Bigvine, whose parent company is Allbusiness.com.
Bigvine collects a 4 percent commission from both buyers and
sellers on transactions of less than 5,000 trade dollars, and a 3
percent commission on transactions of 5,000 trade dollars or
more.
Moin Ghatala, 50, founder of A & M Computers Inc., a San
Francisco, California-based six-person company that sells computers
and software, began using BigVine's barter site last year and
now swears by it. Ghatala says he uses the service regularly to
trade his excess inventory for things such as restaurant meals he
gives to his best customers.
"In the computer world, the moment a new model hits the
market, the old model becomes obsolete," says Ghatala.
"Oftentimes, we're left with excess inventory because of
this. However, instead of sitting on the inventory in a warehouse,
I can place them on BigVine, and there are still people out there
looking for those items."
Before signing on with any bartering company, it's a good
idea to do a little research. The IRTA suggests you ask for a
referral list of clients, check their barter prices to see whether
products and services are priced fairly and competitively, and
check the geographic coverage of the exchange's customer
base.
But whatever exchange you choose, don't forget that barter
sales count as taxable income. In the United States, barter
exchanges annually report the barter income of each client to the
tax authorities. It's in your best interest not to do business
with anyone who sells barter as a tax dodge.
Melissa Campanelli is a marketing and technology writer in
Brooklyn, New York. E-mail her at mcampanelli@earthlink.net.
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