Bartering is Big Business Online

In these tough economic times, where every dollar is hard to come by, a lot of people are doing away with cash and turning to an ancient by highly effective means to get the things the need and want.

The Internet is bringing about a revival in…bartering.

Do a Google search on the word Barter and you’ll see that bartering is becoming big business online.

Building on the popularity of eBay and Craigs List by spawning there are dozens of sites where goods and services are traded, bartered instead of bought with bucks. Think “I’ll give you this, in exchange for that.”

Some sites, like International Monetary Services, are membership only, geared towards businesses and corporations.

But many are aimed at consumers, like U-Exchange, which requires registration but is absolutely free to use. You can list what you have to trade, what you want, browse for things like vacation home trades, electronics, cars, just about anything… anywhere. This site has nearly 60,000 members.

Tradeaway is another big site. It has loads of services, talents, real estate and other assets available for barter.

And across the country, regional sites are cropping up, like the Midwest Business Exchange. It is a membership site and issues script, or credits, with all sorts of businesses and services participating.