We just got through the first mad dash of the holiday season â Black Friday. I couldnât believe it when the retailers were opening at midnight on Thanksgiving day to start Black Friday early. There were some outstanding deals to be had at the additional expense of not getting to bed that night. Our bleak economy has us all shopping for the best deals. A renewed trend that is picking up popularity is bartering. Why use cash or credit when you can swap your âtreasuresâ for what you need? You donât have to hold a garage sale to sell your collectibles.
There are a couple of ways to enter the âbarterâ game. AMAZON.COM started with selling books on the web. They then added music and videos, and now they have a wide variety of products to choose from. Did you know you can âtrade-inâ your used items (electronics and DVDs/Bluerays etc…)to AMAZON.COM? Of course, you wonât get back the price you paid for the item. But from what I have gleaned from customers who have tried it, the price you get for your goods is fair. With AMAZON.COM, you receive a gift card for the value of your trade-in. You can then use the gift card to acquire what you want. I have a close friend that traded in a number of used CDs and DVDs. They indicated that they didnât even have to pay for postage to ship the CDs and DVDs to AMAZON.COM. They were able to get one of those new Kindles, the Kindle Fire, with their gift card. They are going to use more gift cards to purchase some Christmas gifts too.
Another website that is really considered a âbarterâ site is SWAP.COM. SWAP.COM operates differently from AMAZON.COM. With SWAP.COM, you register on their site and add your items to a âhave itâ list. You then state what you want by adding it to their âneed itâ list. SWAP.COM matches you up with a registrant that wants what you have and has what you want. They become your âswap partner.â You ship directly to your âswap partnerâ and they ship to you. But, you say: âHey, Don, I wasnât born yesterday. What if they donât ship it to me?â Well, SWAP.COM has a guarantee policy that you will either get your product or you are insured for its value. Again, the comments I browsed on the web from satisfied customers looked pretty good – better than the comments I hear from folks who go to Garage Sales. If this new way of shopping appeals to you, I would suggest you âswapâ small to test the waters. Why buy when you can barter.
Keep those letters coming, folks. Send your ideas to: The Frugal Forum, P.O. Box 693, Huntley, IL 60142 or by email to: thefrugalforum@gmail.com.
