Bartering boom

Posted: Saturday, March 14, 2009 5:02 PM by Sam Singal

By Janet Shamlian, NBC News correspondent

A friend summed it up when she said 'bartering is the new black.' Trading, swapping, however you describe it -- the exchange of goods and services has been around for ages, but it's seeing a tremendous resurgence during this recession. Log on to your local Craigslist and you'll find hundreds of people hoping to trade the skills they used to get a weekly paycheck for; a Houston pool cleaner offering to swap his services for dental work or a Chicago maid who says she'll clean the home of a plumber who can help her with water leaks.

Tonight, in our Nightly News series of reports on "Seeking Solutions", we'll look at the ways people are bartering during these tough times, and we'll talk to an expert who has advice for those new to the game. If you've got a skill or something you'd like to trade, here are some websites to help launch your effort.

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Comments

I have a hard time feeling sorry for Medical students and a student loan for $150,000. My daughter, who is a veterinarian, also had a veterinary medicine school loan also for $150,000 and she has no prospect of making anywhere near the amount of money in her career that medical doctors can make.

Ginger Pippert, DeForest, WI (Sent Saturday, March 14, 2009 6:53 PM)

talked to the guys that built favorpals, I happened to have worked with one of them in the past, they truly believe in helping the economy recover by providing alternatives to the traditional finance system, very interesting stuff

Sebastien, san francisco, ca (Sent Sunday, March 15, 2009 5:19 PM)

swaptree.com is brilliant! The best site on the web in this economy. It's BOOMING!

drew (Sent Sunday, March 15, 2009 8:48 PM)

none of the links to the sites work; they should go directly to the site, rather than through a non-existent link on the blogs pages.

Rick (Sent Monday, March 16, 2009 11:53 AM)

Hey this is cheating our beloved government out of money. How will they be able to pay benefits for our union protected overlords if people keep doing this? Come one folks, It's time to be patriotic.

Dave, Tn (Sent Monday, March 16, 2009 1:28 PM)

I use swapstyle.com pretty much every week, has saved me hundreds if not thousands.

Sarah, America (Sent Monday, March 16, 2009 6:38 PM)

Careful everyone. The IRS requires barter of services to be reported. The dentist who exchanged services hopefully has included this in his accounting as income. Check irs.gov, search barter.

kate, marietta, OH (Sent Monday, March 16, 2009 7:23 PM)

BARTER BARGAIN-THE NEW B&B! $50.00 RATE PER NIGHT FOR 4 HOURS OF SPRING SPRUCE UP HELP!!! A working spring vacation on the rocky coast of Maine!
You will still have time to get out for LOBSTER!!!

Dianne Ward, Boothbay, Maine (Sent Tuesday, March 17, 2009 11:10 PM)

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