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Surviving In Today's
Economy Using Trade And Barter. (Part I)
By Trader Al
Traderal@icre.cc
I guess we should start off explaining the difference between
trade and barter.Barter can be trade or trading; however the
word trade can mean barter, cash, checks, credit cards or other
forms of currency. Lets look up the word barter; "To exchange
goods or services against something else without the use of
money"
I'm sure you knew that. So how is money defined? "Anything
that serves as a medium of exchange for goods or services".
So anytime you use a medium of exchange you are not bartering;
got it?
Bartering can be a great way of doing business; however it
does have it's limitations. In the true sense, bartering is
better than cash, this is only when each party has what each
other wants; which is rarely the case. That is why we will introduce
to you how to properly use a Trade Exchange. Proper use of a
Trade Exchange will help you use bartering to its fullest.
A Trade Exchange is an organization that can consist of several
hundred local business, such as I.C.R.E. (The International
Credit Reserve Exchange, Ltd.). I.C.R.E. is also referred to
as "Referral Service or a Business Cooperative". Trade
Exchanges are often called Barter Exchanges. This is where the
confusion comes in; most exchanges do not barter. The way an
exchange works is more similar to the way a credit card company
works. The members of a Trade Exchange are all given a trade
account, like a bank account. When a member wishes to do business
with another member it is not necessary for them to need what
each other has; as in the case with barter.
I.C.R.E. allows the selling member to collect any variable cash,
such as cost of goods sold, sales tax, or incremental labor
in cash. The difference in the "fair market selling price"
is taken in Credit Dollars (a currency or medium of exchange).
The seller can use the Credit Dollars like cash, dollar for
dollar, with any of the members of the Trade Exchange. In many
cases these Credit Dollars can also be spent with nonmember
businesses.
The benefit to the buyers is they are able to conserve cash
needed to make purchases and pay back the borrowed Credit Dollars
with the markup of their surplus time or products, usually at
a later time and usually with business profit they wouldn't
have received, had they not been a member of the exchange. The
benefit to the seller is they receive business they would not
normally get, they collect any variable cash cost (so trading
doesn't hurt their cash flow), they expand their customer base
(at no extra cost), and any of the Credit Dollars they spend
free up cash that would have been used to make the purchase.
A Trade Exchange improves your barter ability, any time you
need to barter to help close a sale and you don't need the barter,
you can sell your surplus barter to a Trade Exchange Member
for some cash and Credit Dollars rather than lose a sale or
be forced to discount you profits! There are many other benefits
to being a member of a quality Trade Exchange; stay tuned.
For more informatin
call Trader Al at 314-962-9222
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