Bartercard - a frank & honest debate

I've been asked my views on Bartercard by loads of people recently and as a result i promised i'd put a thread up re Bartercard - inviting 4Ners into a frank & honest debate of the benefits and pitfalls of the Barter Network.

My view is it works beautifully. If you can spend. Earning is not hte issue, its spending.

I totally agree with that. Finding suppliers that will take Bartercard takes time and effort. Expect higher prices and slower delivery.

And if, like us, you have really not very much cost, you will need to manage down your income on Bartercard to match what you can realistically spend.

The main lesson is, be willing to invest time and effort in making it work on the spending side.

On the income side - good. You can get a special offer emailed out FOC, and the response is good.

Is it true that Bartercard won't accept payment in Barter$$ or is that just hearsay?

So there you have it.....the man who once hated Bartercard now says it works beautifully!

I would be happy to speak with any 4n member who wants to talk about whether it would suit their business.( No pressure, just simple sound advice and believe me, I have turned many away from joining who I didnt think it would work for and explained why) Call me 07920299190 and I'll call you straight back.

I do represent Bartercard UK and have done so for 9 years but here is my unbiased and honest assessment. Having been a Bartercard member in my own right and an employee I think I am better placed than most to cast a "warts and all" opinion. There are tens of thousands of business members who can leave Bartercard literally whenever they wish as there is no contract. They choose not to leave as it does work, but with the following caveat......

With just circa 7000 UK Bartercard business members, spending will always be the challenge. In the cash economy its damn hard to earn the money and easy to spend it. The absolute reverse is true for Bartercard members. You must be prepared to work with your account manager and put as much effort into identifying Bartercard spending opportunities as you would making sales in the cash world. It is not a perfect tool but tell me what is? Certainly the pure cash economy has some pretty serious issues right now!

Some similar threads on the whole subject of Bartercard can be seen here.... http://www.4networking.biz/forum/8/33384.htm?Page=2

Thanks for reading this far. PM me or call me if you want to chat

I can vouch for Geoff's impartial advice. We discussed Bartercard with him for our business some time ago and for our circumstances he advised it would not work correctly for us.

Neil

Members do pay fees in Barter$$

We take just over 40% of our monthly admin fee in Barter pounds (we call them trade pounds) and 15% of our success only transaction fees ( this is the commission we ONLY earn when members receive a benefit through making a sale or a purchase). Like all members we too cannot run our business just on trade pounds, hence the split. The cash covers our costs for office premises, staff salaries, etc. i.e. all the things that we cannot pay trade pounds for. The trade element covers the cost of things that we can barter for. Hope that helps.

Thanks Paul. I really appreciate that. Same advice still stands by the way!

I do have some instant website business here in Dorset for a proven and competent webdesigner however so if you know any who MUST have the time and the experience to deliver, I would love to talk to them. One site is worth circa £6k and one is circa £2k

HI Paul

Thanks for your valued input.

If you go to page 42 of the current Bartercard directory you will see a "Fair Trade Evaluation" Members use it to record everything from Excellent through to Poor levels of service from another business member. If you would like to indicate which businesses have given you inflated pricing and/or slow delivery and forward to your account manager (Trade Coordinator) they WILL act on it and investigate. If we know about these things we can do something about it but do need specifics to act upon.

Regards

I first came across Bartercard in Melbourne Australia where it really does work beautifully.

Here, in the UK I have found it challenging sourcing the services I want to purchase or use. Until that is, I met Neil Slinn at an Aylesbury meeting last year and then more recently Gary Johannes, both of whom are trusted Area Leaders for 4Networking as well as representing Bartercard UK.

In my experience, the key to making Bartercard work is in developing a solid relationship with an account manager who can guide you and actively help you to make it work. Neil has recently gone out of his way to help me source services and Gary continually seeks to help our members spend their Bartercard T£'s.

I would and do advise anyone who is interested in discussing how Bartercard can work for their business to contact them to discuss it.

Good point Tamsen, The relationship you have with your Bartercard person(s) is pivotal to making it work. We dont just have one office. There are 8 Bartercard offices across the UK to provide local support.

Neil and Gary will be great for anyone in Oxford, Birmingham, Northampton, Leicester ish areas and will travel further on demand. I cover the south and specifically Hampshire, Dorset and Somerset but also will travel further on demand.

Thank you Tamsen

I would alway advise anyone interested in Bartercard to sit down with one of use and see if it would benefit them and the way they run their business, although Bartercard works for every business type it doesn't work for every business owner.

Take a look at it and make your own mind up.

I cover East Midlands and East Anglia so if you want more info just contact me!

I just joined through Geoff yesterday and saw it as a way to make barter money to pay for luxuries for me until I start making enough proper money. It's a way of utilising my time and skills in a format that may make people want me over someone else. I won't do all my business the Barter way as some of the things I do won't work and I still have bills to pay but, hopefully, I can spend the barter money on fripperies that make life worth living that I would find difficult to justify to myself if I was using my real money. Does that make sense?

I also think you have to be careful not to use too much of your time doing stuff for £B.

If it doesn't work for me I'd be sure to let everyone on here know and the reasons why!

Much of Bartercard is about perception and all too often the pereption is wrong. Actually, it is a bit like 4N in that respect!

Most of us know that 4N won't work if you just steam-roller in and try to sell, sell, sell. In the same way, it is a mistake to look at BC as a pure way of increasing sales, because it isn't.

The whole Bartercard philosophy ONLY works if you have spare capacity that would otherwise be wasted. If you are already at 100% with cash paying customers, then don't even consider Bartercard. If, however, you are like the rest of us mere mortals and have that spare capacity, you can use it to reduce the cash cost of your supplies.

Getting your head around the model and the concept of the cost of your trade pounds can be a little tricky, but once you grasp the fact that your cost of fulfilling that spare capacity is smaller than the revenue achieved, it starts to make sense. Equally, it can also make sense to pay a higher price for something on Bartercard than you might get for goods/services in the cash economy.

It's not a panacea and it certainly isn't a license to print money or buy things you don't want, but it can be a useful addition to you business efficiency.

Additional note or Neil:

Do you really expect Bartercard to take 100% of their fees in trade pounds? How would they ever pay salaries, rent, rates, tax, VAT etc? Be fair, we are all in business to make real money. Barter is just a way of helping us.

I saw the potential for Bartercard with 4N from the off - it took Brad a little longer to get it, and that's because you turn the whole buying/selling gig on it's head:- We are used to putting effort into selling, and having suppliers jump given the chance for a sale. With Barter you find yourself negotiating to purchase, and that's a strange concept for many people - but as Steve says if, and only if, you have spare capacity it makes a lot of sense for many businesses.