The barter system is a simple way of exchanging services and goods without the use of money. Traditional bartering can be done between two or more people. In the ancient societies, bartering was done between enemies and people who even did not knew each other. In modern societies, people often resort to barter when there is a form of crisis where money loses its value or is difficult to come by. Continue reading…
Swapping is a process which includes exchange of goods or services for goods or services without the medium of money exchange. It is very much similar to the ancient barter system; in most of the countries it is usually bilateral or multilateral. But there is no evidence that a society existed completely on barter system. Barter system usually existed between total strangers or enemies. There was rarely barter system between family members or friends as there lied a gift concept between them. One to one swapping system occurs between individuals in businesses on an informal manner. Online swapping is a very useful concept as you can sell out the unwanted things that you never needed for something useful, that you wanted to have for a quite long time. It could be books, bags, gadgets, movies, shoes, etc. This is one of the best solutions for all the useless things dumped at our homes.
The development of Internet and software programs has favored swapping industry’s growth. The latest technology Web 2.0 has made it possible to include concept of barter in business. The industries that consider exchanging goods and services as a mutual benefit and not money have gained more through the barter system. Online swapping is a barter system that is performed via Internet communities. In online swapping business, trust is the ultimate basis because there can be pranks or people who bluff you. Hence, this is the biggest disadvantage of online swapping industry, as there is no guarantee that they will receive the goods after bargaining or after making payments. In spite of all this, the existence and growth of Internet based consumer swapping has made it very clear that it actually works. But the survey states that online swapping system is going through a transformation and trying to making it more secure. Some online swapping sites charge fee for registration and advertising their products. There are some sites that provide free access for barter process. Each of these host sites have set a certain percent of transaction which belongs to them. Each person who has the swapping account will contain all the list of things that they have bought and sold. Following are some common features of an online swapping software:
Registration to this site should be open to all and it can be paid or free, as per the requirement of the host.
Virtual swapmeet – Here transaction is virtually seen i.e., you are unable to see the actual object.
Support buying and selling – A member of this site should be able to sell a product, at the same time purchase.
Members should be able to negotiate or bargain.
It should also support unlimited category or multiple category options.
Barter software should have shipment services for the products to reach their source destination.
It should be better to have a Swap software that supports escrow services and also with an editable user guide and help