Barter

[cjsmith]

With no cash income, I am musing more strongly lately on the idea of trading goods and services for other goods and services directly, with no actual dollars involved.

If I have A and want B, while you want A and have C, we need to find a third party. Is that really sufficiently daunting that few trades are done? Or do people have enough varied wants that a bargain can usually be struck?

When does the government get a cut? If I trade my red pencil for your blue one, the IRS probably doesn't give a hoot, even if we're both happier that the deal was made. But if I'm trading a month's labor for, oh, I don't know, a motorcycle, they might care. Where's the line?

What do I have that I'm willing to trade AND that is in demand? I am great at plunging into big hairy organization-and-cleanup tasks, like sorting old photos, and breaking the problem down into manageable chunks. It takes time, but it gets done and done well. What else? I will catch a spelling error in just about anything, but computers can do that too. What else? Must ponder.

Comments

[mactavish.livejournal.com]

http://home3.americanexpress.com/smallbusiness/resources/articles/barter_seller_watch.shtml -- I think by "barter service," they mean the local exchanges that allow folks to exchange services for credit for other services within the network. It's barter, in a way, but the IRS sees the credits as currency. I'm not sure how I'd declare it if you, say, washed my car in exchange for my baking you some bread. I know that if I exchange my professional services, including copyediting, for something like car work or clothing, I'm supposed to declare the value of what I receive as income.