Bartering - Have you done it?

[TrueNorthTreasures]

Well, early in Dec my DD and I lucked into a shoe store we had never known was there, AND they happened to have boots in her large size!! After he told me the price I nodded and DD liked them a lot,they fit, so that was that!
Then he blurts " I will give you discount " in his accent. I turned red and said OMG! Was I supposed to barter with you?
I remmebered reading on sc that it does not hurt to do it, but I plum forgot! Then I told him that we were born here and we are kind of " trained " from birth NOT to ask for a discount. We just see the sticker price and go ok that is what it costs.
Well he laughed so hard and was genuinley honest in saying that most white customers he gets never do! What a great salesman he was.

We ended up getting 2 pairs of boots from him because of the discount I did not ask for. lol!!

Great post! This is so true. Learned from the womb, through osmosis: Don't even *attempt* to haggle on a price. I think the unspoken understanding (at least in my culture/according to my upbringing - I am a WASP Canadian) is that it is insulting and disrespectful to the person selling the good or service, is undignified, or sends the (supposedly shameful) message, "I can't afford to pay a fair price for xyz". Operating under the premise that you want to be respectful of the person selling the product or service is fine....except now, unfair and incredibly inflated costs for poor quality products is the norm, so it seems very unbalanced.

I stopped for a moment to think of it honestly - would I be offended it someone tried to haggle with me about the cost of my services? Trading items or services for my services I am fine with, and have done. I have also quietly offered people I knew were having a difficult time financially a much lower rate. But people haggling for a lower price "just because"? That would not go over well with me. I work hard doing what I do, and charge what my time and effort is worth. I would much prefer to trade for fair value.

[smilingstar]

I've bartered for business services where I did x for their business and they did y for my business. I think it works out ok. I've found its much better if you are very specific and set a good timeline for the barter. The more vague it is, the higher chance of the barter relationship not working (we all knew that already though). I think it's a common business practise for slightly older (or more experienced) business owners. I was quite shocked when my mentor suggested it for my business but apparnetly it's a practise that works quite well and I've got a lot out of it.


One site I've used to find these arrangements is barterquest.com (Mostly with american businesses but sometimes it doesn't matter where your service provider is). If anyone's interested, they also have personal services and goods section there. You might even be able to find something local. I didn't find much for Calgary though.

I've never bartered for personal items or services though so I have no idea if/how those work!

[shmeelady]

Has anyone barter'd before? If so what was it for. Please give details!

In my family yes...
DH and I are in no position financially to purchase a car right now, but it is something that we REALLY need. My grandfather bought a new car and instead of selling it offered it to us at a reasonably cheap price. Well of course we couldn't afford it so we came to another agreement. We would work off the car doing things he needed done around the house. This summer DH tore down and built him a new fence, did weekly yard work (mowing, planting, etc), and when there's a storm he's over there shovelling snow. I periodically go over and clean the house (his wife is a lousy housewife.. lol) We agreed that at $10/hr, 200 hours of work had to be done before the car was paid off and the keys handed over to us. Hoping to have it by spring, only 35hrs left!


My aunt was looking to sell her captains beds, brand new and in great condition. They were bought a year ago for their foster kids but they ended up going back to their mother. She wanted $200 for the bed. Instead I offered to pay it off in stock items, so for a month I supplied her with laundry soaps, shampoo's, razors... etc etc. BAM bed paid off, now DS has an amazingly nice bed for when he's older.

[tjthemanto]

The OP is talking about , " the BARTER system " and not about Bartering as in haggling or negotiating a price. ( some posters are confusing the two )

In the Barter system if you have a goods or service or skill you exchange it for the service or expertise with someone else.

For example if you cut hair or are a hairstylist , you barter with someone who is say a car mechanic . You cut the hair of the mechanic or his family for FREE and in return he will fix your car or do an oil change or something.

Its like I mow your lawn and in return you baby sit my kids or something . No money is exchanged ..its more like a service or expertise is exchanged.

[cheekysaver]

I agree, not everything you have to pay the full asking price for. Garage sales and flea markets as well as house and car sales are the obvious haggling but I'm talking about bartering in which you offer something for a product or service.

For example I'll clean your house if you fix my car.

There used to be a barter group in calgary... ohh about 12 years ago. I used to sell... i mean barter jewelry I made at it. They held a pot luck once a month and anybody could have a table to set up what they were bartering. They had a barter currency so if you sold to one person you could purchase off someone else completely different. I found the group to be... well honestly they were a little clicky. I sold enough every month to get a book of bus tickets... it was a small group there is only so much you can sell there.

I had far better luck bartering for services. For one guy that bought and sold cars and drove big rigs I cleaned his big rigs to lower the cost on a vehicle. That was a great bargain for me.

Now I can't do that stuff. It simply hurts too much... but I do have something to offer at some point and barter... I don't know if you have ever heard of this... people that do this are weird and cheap but it is this thing called couponing... I will trade you this extra out of my stock pile for that thing I NEED. This is something I will be doing to keep costs down and to keep decent control of my stockpile.

[tjthemanto]

My brother does it sometimes .

He is pretty good at computers and web site design etc.

He designed a website ( simple nothing fancy ) for a friend of his who has a small business . Helped him host it and all the other details..as this guy knows next to nothing about computers etc.

This guy is a former construction worker , so in return that friend helped him in finishing his basement ... ( mostly dry wall installation and some painting )

[tjthemanto]

The problem with the barter system is don't always expect an equal monetary value in terms of the bartering done.

Say if I am a lawyer and give you 1 hour of my time for free to help you with a legal problem and in return if you have a cleaning service ,you give me 1 hr of your time to clean my house or something , what you did might not have the same monetary value.

But the bottom line is not money , I did something you can't do for you and in return you did something for me that I couldn't do or wanted to do.

Its more like doing favours for each other where we used our respective skills/ expertise.

[lindsbeth112984]

Have never bartered myself, but can I just say how much I love the show Barter Kings? Anyone ever seen it?

[vesper]

I always seem to barter manual labour (snow removal, hauling away old furniture etc) in exchange for cooked meals and baked goods. I'm ripping those old ladies off!! Yahoo!!

[PurpleBunny89]

Have never bartered myself, but can I just say how much I love the show Barter Kings? Anyone ever seen it?

Ugh I hate it! Those two guys really bother me and now the new chick they have? Gosh, makes me want to puke. Bartering is not like tattoos, please do not ever compare the two. *end rant*

In other news I have successfully bartered some of my stockpile items for some movie rentals!

I'm giving away $120 retail product that I paid about $5 for in exchange for 20 movie rentals + one TV season rental. Now thats something to be super excited about! I drop off the product either tomorrow or Wednesday (probably wednesday) and he will add the movie credits to my account.

I'm hoping in a few months he will want more from my stockpile as we will blow threw those 20 movie rentals fairly quickly.

AND an added bonus for him? Now that he has been so amazing it makes me want to promote his store more often to friends and family members.

[BuggaBugga]

I think I bartered last weekend.. I did up a resume for a relative and in exchange they gave me a vcr.

[vesper]

I think I bartered last weekend.. I did up a resume for a relative and in exchange they gave me a vcr.

A VCR can save you a lot of money. I get films for .25 - 1.00 all the time. Yahoo!

[tjthemanto]

I know people who barter doing your tax returns at this time of year .

So they will do tax returns for you and your family and in return you do something else for them instead of paying them.

[cheekysaver]

I think I am going to challenge myself with a list of items that I want / need and try to barter my way through the list buy the end of the year. I think I can get many of my items by simply giving this a real effort. On my list will be a kitchenaid stand up mixer, living room furniture (but I have to LOVE it), upright freezer (I will watch for a giveaway freezer as well), sturdy desk (free or bartered), shelving (will talk to brother in law to see if I can get some for free), . I want to purchase a 40 - 50inch tv... OK OK this I want new with a warranty. My tv is a 27 inch picture tube tv... it really is time for a upgrade! A video camera for making youtube vids will be on my new list as well. I will still do my best to get a amazing deal on these. I don't want to purchase electronics used because I think it has a higher risk of being a item that is stolen and I really want the warranty.

I think it will value out like this

Kitchenaid mixer $150 used
Living room furniture $250 used
Upright freezer $150 used (I will try and get this for free)
Shelving $200 used (it is commercial heavy grade and perfect for a stockpile)
Sturdy Desk $100


A new 40 - 50inch led or lcd tv. $450 cash budget with tax included
A new vid camera $250 cash with tax and a warranty included (youtubers tend to go through cameras)
I am going to say a $700 budget for all and I don't have the $700 yet LOL

I am sure I will find other things to tack on this list later.

I find when I start looking for the deals that is when I find them. I can't give you tips and tricks yet because I have figure it out and see just how well this will work.

[PurpleBunny89]

An update to my movie rental barter - I dropped off the stuff on wednesday and so far we have rented 1 TV season and 3 regular DVD new releases.

He says his wife owns a cleaning company so is always looking for cleaning supplies. Anyone in the couponing world knows this is great news for future barter deals!