Bartering has been practiced for necessities since before currency. It involves trading goods or services directly instead of using money. While currency makes exchanges simpler, bartering still occurs, such as prisoners trading cigarettes or children swapping food. When bartering, it is best to consider an item's value relative to what is being received in exchange. Basic safety and quality precautions should be followed to avoid problems.

1. The Basics of Bartering
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2. Bartering has been around as long as people have.
Before the exchange of money for goods and services,
people would trade for the necessities of life. I’ll give you
my basket of apples for your basket of potatoes. I’ll trade
you some of my grain for that load of wood you
chopped.
The exchange of currency for goods and services may
be simpler but bartering has never really disappeared.
For example, prisoners commonly use cigarettes as
currencies to get protection or extra food because that’s
all they have to work with and kids transact lunch-box
trades every day.
The value of something is relative. The kid who gets
cookies every day might crave the cream-filled cupcake
of his friend and be willing to trade more of his lunch for
it. As in all bartering, the ideal situation is when each
party gets something they consider more valuable than
the thing they’re giving away.
The recent economic downturn made bartering a
popular undertaking again for both businesses and
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3. individuals and bartering websites have been popping
up. You list the items and/or services you have to trade
along with the thing or service you want to acquire and
wait for someone with what you need to reply.
Trading with someone seems simple enough but there
are a few basic rules to keep in mind.
Think of all of the skills and possessions you would
be willing to trade and list everything. There’s a
greater chance of getting a favourable response .
You may see something you would like to trade for
that hasn’t been offered. It can’t hurt to ask the
person about it. The worst that can happen is they
will say “no.”
Stay safe. When meeting for an exchange, have
someone you know go with you and meet in a
public place.
Don’t let someone coax you into trading something
you don’t want to trade and don’t barter for
something you really don’t want.
Be prepared to just walk away. People may try to
offer services that don’t quite seem on the level. If
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4. you wouldn’t pay them for it, don’t barter with them
for it, either.
There are no guarantees when bartering. You can
turn something on to make sure it works but, even if
it starts up, you still can’t be sure that a laptop
doesn’t have a dying battery.
You can’t blame the other party for a bad trade. The
choice to barter was yours and, just as you can
make a bad decision when making a retail
purchase, it can happen when you barter, as well.
Bartering gave way to currency because it could be just
plain impractical at times, taking a lot of time and work
to find someone who wanted what you had to offer who
also had what you needed. Even today, trying to decide
on what constitutes a fair trade can be problematic.
For those reasons, bartering probably isn’t for everyone
but trading for what you need could be the solution
when you find yourself short of cash.
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