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New Zealand InfoTech Weekly , May 1, 2000 Online bartering system for new economy firmsBy RICHARD TROW UNITED STATES-BASED company BarterItOnline.com has launched an online bartering system in an e-marketplace. The system is an "online model of the traditional land-based barter exchange", and is an efficient way of new economy companies increasing sales and decreasing cash expenditures, says the company's chief executive Richard Cravatts. "Dotcom startups can use barter to minimise cash outlays for Web site development, marketing, public relations . . . and personnel costs - all of which are normally paid for with expensive, borrowed cash in the early years of a business." The company says allowing startups to trade parts of their equity and future earnings instead of paying in cash gives entrepreneurs flexibility, and security to venture capitalists "who find so much of their early-stage investment being consumed by expensive marketing and advertising costs." Buyers and sellers use an online currency called "E-dollars" and BarterItOnline takes a transaction fee from the buyer. Services include Barter Talent - a list of professionals, such as Web designers, lawyers and accountants; Barter RFP - a means for users to broadcast their project needs they want to be met; and Media Buyer, which trades online advertising. http://www.infotech.co.nz/may_1/p1.html
Bartering
Boom: Finally, an Internet trend Fred Flintstone could grok. Barter, which has been around since a hunter first traded a woolly mammoth tusk for a flint ax, has moved online in a big way. Its primary adherents are small businesses that benefit by getting goods and services without having to lay out cash. ``When you're starting out, cash flow is everything,'' said Catherine Fischer, co-owner of the Parkway Theater, an Oakland movie house that serves up pizza, pasta and beer to its audiences. ``By bartering, you can get goods and services you need to get your business going without tying up your cash.'' During the past two years, she estimates that she has bartered for $10,000 to $15,000 of services -- plumbing repairs, bulk mailing, pest control, even a $2,000 security system. ``It's like having a credit card that you don't have to pay back in cash,'' she said. ``You do pay it back, but it's by people using your business as opposed to your sending in money.'' Fischer uses a site called BarterTrust after starting with a service that was acquired by BarterTrust. Plenty of other Web sites have sprung up recently to help small businesses barter online, including BigVine, LassoBucks, BarterItOnline and uBarter. They list a diverse range of professional services -- accounting, consulting, legal, photography, training -- and some nuts and bolts like car repair, office cleaning and printing. Travel and entertainment items, such as restaurant meals, catering services, airline tickets, hotel rooms and meeting rooms are also big, as is advertising space. Products available for barter include fax machines, credenzas and laptops. Even though most cultures adopted cash-based economies millennia ago, barter never really went away. About $16 billion worth of goods and services were bartered in 1999. Much of that happened through small regional exchanges and informal community networking. What Internet barter sites bring to the party are a broader reach, unconstrained by geography, and critical mass -- plus the ability to add services such as escrow and financing . . . . http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2000/05/17/BU108357.DTL
BARTER IS ALIVE AND WELL . . . ONLINE BarterItOnline provides small and medium-sized businesses with the opportunity to trade products and services while conserving cash. Your free registration gives you access to listings of professional services, products, media, education opportunities, and suggestions for employee incentives (all available for barter, of course). BarterItOnline records members' purchases and sales, and earns revenue by charging a fee to the buyer. You keep track of the value of what you're trading using e-dollars (currency conversion available at the top of the home page). University of Minnesota, The College of Education & Human Development, Web Log, May 22, 2000. http://edpsy.coled.umn.edu/oea/New_Site/WebLog/wlog5-22-00.htm
BarterItOnline.com Swaps Equity for Media WESTON, MA -BarterItOnline.com recently struck a deal with Publications Management Co. to help promote its e-marketplace for bartering media, products, services, and skills. In exchange for a stake in BarterItOnline.com, Publications Management Co. will help the site access print media space in its various properties, as well as committing additional broadcast and print advertising from other sources. BarterItOnline can use the dedicated media either to promote its own brand or to make it available to its member businesses. VC Buzz, August 21, 2000 http://www.internetvcwatch.com/vcdeal/article/0,2112,3181_441221,00.html#barter
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