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Barter Bing, Barter Boom

Money woes got you down? Return to a time before it existed.

Overlooking a waterfall in his Cranston studio, Bill Rosenberg applies modern technology to an age-old practice: bartering. Barter Bing, an online service he created in 1999, taps into a network of more than 50,000 businesses and individuals worldwide who trade goods and services.

Bartering traces back to the earliest human interactions. (Imagine the scene: “I’ll give you these blackberries if you’ll give me that pelt.”) But its weakness is a principle called a “double coincidence problem.” In other words, blackberries may not be in season when you need your pelt. Rosenberg’s solution is “barter bucks.” When a trade is made, the recipient earns dollars to be used as currency on the site. There’s no end to what your barter bucks can buy, from acupuncture to window-tinting. In Rhode Island, members have posted an automobile repair shop, menswear store, even restaurants.

 “It’s like eBay, but unlike eBay we don’t charge you to put stuff into the system,” says Rosenberg. Members can use photos and web links to make their listings as elaborate as they want. The cost to participate is a $9.99 fee and ten barter bucks monthly, plus a 10 percent transaction fee paid by the buyer when a purchase is made.

As the economic crunch descends, people are increasingly enticed to bypass cash and credit to try trade. Word of mouth has attracted a growing number of members, says Rosenberg, especially businesses, which appreciate the marketing potential and the chance to reach new customers.

Rosenberg is one of those customers. Forty-five years ago, he started trading paintings for rent, the humble origins of Barter Bing. Now his dream studio overlooking the waterfall? It was built 100 percent through barter.

By Jan Faust Dane
Illustration by Keith Negley