The history of Barter dates back to prehistoric times and has been and continues to be employed by countries, companies and individuals throughout the world since time began.  In its traditional and simplest form, barter is a method of trade which encourages the exchange of commodities or services between reciprocal traders without the use of cash.  Traditionally this takes the form of an exchange for value on a direct party to party basis where the needs and wants of the parties are satisfied by the barter transaction, (diagram A) of ”CASH IS KING”. 

However, this form of barter, although very attractive, does not provide complete satisfaction where the parties are unable to match their needs and wants on a direct reciprocal basis.  In certain cases a barter transaction may require that a portion of the value of the exchange be supplemented by cash in order to balance the requirements of the transaction.  Reciprocal direct barter transactions between two parties are not always capable of producing a perfect match as one party may not want or have a need for the product or service which is offered by the other party.  A solution to balancing the needs and wants of traders and the ability to spread ones  expenditure is to attain the unique property of liquidity and divisibility of money which is attainable only through an effective barter trade exchange, which promotes a myriad of opportunities and methods for multiple trading options (diagram B) of ”CASH IS KING”.

As a barter trader your positive attitude towards barter trade automatically attracts business owners similarly inclined to trade profitably with you because of your willingness to accept payment in a method other than cash.

This in turn gives you the opportunity likewise to avail yourself of goods or services by not incurring cash outlays and therefore being able to effectively create profitable business opportunities.

In effect, each time you make a purchase through barter, you will achieve a financial benefit being an offset buy-back discount which results in an effective cash saving equivalent to your full gross profit.

Barter should never be viewed as a substitute for normal cash transactions, but is an effective and profitable method of supplementing your turnover, by providing you with access to a large base of barter traders, who just as you, are anxious to acquire goods and services at effective cash savings.  No exchange business or person will ever have 100 % of everything you need.  However, your interaction in the Oregon Trade Expansion Network will give you access to a variety of items and services which should be able to fulfill between 10 to 25 % of your needs.  In general terms, Barter trade should only be regarded as 5 % of your turnover and not as the only method of providing for all of your expenditure needs.

The Oregon Trade Expansion Network and its professional highly trained personnel have the experience and contacts to assist you in satisfying your needs and wants through reciprocal barter trade and in some cases, may even buy the item for you depending on the volume of trade which you actively achieve within the Barter system.