Swap Talk

Barter Web sites differ widely in inventory, easy of use, and customer service. Choosing one involves some trade-offs. Our panel of CEOs puts barter sites to the test.

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Barter Web sites differ widely in inventory, ease of use, and customer service. Choosing one involves some trade-offs

For a few years running, Jim Green would pick up the phone, hear Bret Wyatt's voice on the other end of the line, and know he was getting a job. Wyatt was a broker working for Itex, one of the nation's largest barter exchanges. Whenever an Itex member needed something built or remodeled, Wyatt would call Green, president of $1-million JP Construction, in Sacramento. The customer would pay JP Construction in Itex's currency, which Green would then use to buy goods or services from other Itex members.

It was a fruitful arrangement for Green, bringing new business in while preventing cash from flowing out. Then one day Wyatt called not to offer Green work but to point him toward Bigvine.com, a Web-based barter exchange that had hired Wyatt as a manager. (Bigvine doesn't use brokers.) Green joined the Web site's trading network by completing an online form and tucked his company listing into the "Construction and Renovation" category. Within a week a Bigvine member asked him to paint a commercial building. After scouting the location, Green agreed to do the job for 12,000 Bigvine dollars, which he later exchanged for business and personal items, including two computers (1,400 trade dollars) and a hot tub (5,000 trade dollars).

Green found Bigvine's savings alluring. The company collects a commission of 3% to 4% from both buyers and sellers, compared with Itex's 5%. In addition, Bigvine charges neither an entry fee nor dues, whereas Itex charges from $795 to $995 to join and $30 every four weeks thereafter. Green also liked the freedom of going brokerless. "On the Web I can make someone an offer right away, without going through a middleman," he says. And while Green is still an Itex member, he finds himself using Bigvine more and more.

Bigvine isn't the only swap shop online: a number of Web-based exchanges of varying content and procedural stripes have emerged in the past two years, offering everything from advertising services and catering to file cabinets and telephone systems. Those exchanges include BarterTrust.com, which uses human brokers to complete trades, iSolve.com, which specializes in inventory management, and TargetBarter.com, a consumer-to-consumer site. To help readers choose where to ply their trades, Inc. asked 20 small-company CEOs to evaluate six barter sites on criteria such as inventory, pricing, and ease of use. Here are their findings.

www.bartertrust.com
What it's good for: People who need people. Unlike the other companies whose sites were reviewed, BarterTrust.com requires members to work with a human broker after they identify desirable trades online. The company's founder, Mike Edelhart, says that human-mediated barter offers big advantages over the automated variety found on other sites. But our CEOs say they prefer the immediacy of a wholly Web-based transaction.
Don't waste your time if: You want to check prices online. At least for now, members rely on BarterTrust's 50 brokers for prices as well as transactions. The panel gave the thumbs-down to that extra step. "It's possible there are some deals here, but it would be a waste of my time to hunt them down," said one reviewer.
What our CEOs had to say: Even if you prefer the human touch of BarterTrust, you won't enjoy signing up for the company's service. In a typical comment, one CEO lamented the "byzantine intricacies of the application and enrollment process."
What you ought to know: BarterTrust charges a onetime joining fee of $99 and 99BT$ (a BT$ is a unit of BarterTrust's own currency), a transaction fee of 5% levied on both buyers and sellers, and a monthly fee of $15 plus 15BT$.

www.bigvine.com
What it's good for: Bartering rookies. Panelists gave the site an A+ for ease of use; no other company did better than a B+ in that category. Bigvine's intuitive interface and detailed information chased away any lurking fears of Web barter. "I liked the layout and the look and feel, which made me feel better about using their services," said one CEO.
Don't waste your time if: You're looking for deficiencies. The only feature our CEOs said the site lacked -- a feedback area where users rate vendors -- was being added at press time.
What our CEOs had to say: "Professional" was a common description of Bigvine's appearance and content. Panelists also smiled on the site's toll-free number, which befuddled traders can call from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. on weekdays and from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. on weekends, Pacific time.
What you ought to know: Bigvine collects a 4% commission from both buyers and sellers on transactions of less than 5,000T$ (BigVine trade dollars), and a 3% commission on transactions of more than 5,000T$.

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