Bay Area BusinessWoman
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February, 2006

Women Say Barter's a Boon for Business

—By Mara J. Math


Two years ago, when Shari Woolridge was inspired to open her stylish East Bay shoe shop Stepping Out, she found funding tight, but the former senior buyer for women's fashion shoes was not to be daunted. "I had the experience, so I promoted myself to 'Owner,'" Woolridge says, "and now I can define my own success."

Woolridge managed to outfit her store with attractive purchase bags, elegant signage inside the store, and custom-designed graphics on her door and windows, as well as letterhead and business cards — all without spending literally more than a few dollars of cash.

Is Woolridge the single savviest, or luckiest, CraigsList-er ever? Not at all. The dollars that paid for her shop's new riggings were barter dollars, courtesy of barter broker BizXchange, where she became a member just after opening the store.

"It was a way to get started without spending a lot of cash," Woolridge says, "so when the sales rep came in as I was setting up the space, I was interested." A large ad in the new glossy Oakland Magazine, also brokered by BizXchange, paid off immediately: "Customers began dropping in, saying, "Oooo, we saw your store in the magazine...."

Businesswomen and men are taking up barter in unprecedented numbers, according to the North American Barter Association, and companies facilitating and administering business-to-business barter are growing as well. BizXchange, just a couple of years old, came in at No. 16 on the Puget Sound Business Journal's list of Washington State's 100 Fastest- Growing Private Companies.

BizXchange Account Manager De De Wentz, of BizX's Bay Area office, loves her job. "I get to help great members, and I also get exposed to a vast array of businesses I never would in any other job. For instance, she explains how she recently helped broker a trade involving $32,000 in diamonds. The BizXchange's 1,000+ clients range from the aforementioned shoe shop owner to direct mail specialists to big tech experts.

BizXchange members pay a one-time membership fee, at one of two levels. With a $395 membership, clients pay a 7.5 percent fee on transactions; with the higher-level, $595 membership the transaction fee is 6 percent. BizXchange also collects a monthly maintenance fee of $15 cash and $15 trade.

"One way that we're different," Wentz insists with real passion, "is that we have a real commitment to our members and to helping them." At the moment, she offers by way of example, she will not accept any more massage therapist clients, "or we won't have enough [bartered] work for the ones we already have. Sure, we could just keep signing people up, but then our clients wouldn't be happy."

Her clients enthusiastically back up a sentiment that otherwise might seem self-serving. "It's a wonderful opportunity," says Terri Olsen, co-owner of Reliable Auto Glass, "with lots of people willing to trade goods and services. We're not a new business, we've been around for 15 years, but we joined about two years ago and found it good value."

"The greatest advantage of barter," says Marlene McCall, owner of Creative Office Services, which offers everything from data entry to database design, "is that it brings people to you as clients that you would never otherwise be exposed to. She has traded for office machinery, advertising, copying, auto repair, and organic groceries. Of the last, she says, "Of course you have to keep your bookkeeping straight, and separate the business expenses from the personal, but for a lot of sole proprietors like myself, if you can barter for something worth $500 that you would otherwise have to buy in cash, then that's $500 you don't have to draw down from the business."

RSVP Postcards owner Melinda Manley is downright rapturous in her praise. "I've belonged to three or four other barter exchanges," says Manley, "and BizXchange really is superior — I mean, they respond. I'll send them a list of about a dozen items or services I'm looking for, and within 24 hours, I'll have an answer, sometimes online, saying, 'I can set up numbers 3-7, I can't do number 10, and I'm working on the others.' I always know where I stand with these guys!" she finishes jubilantly.

"The downside of barter is, you can get a little caught up, you can spend time hunting out that one perfect deal when you could have been making a cash sale. With BizXchange, I don't have to worry about that any more."

A savvy San Carlos businesswoman who has been running her specialty direct mail service, targeting high-end homeowners with attractive glossy postcard groups, for 15 years, Manley has some other words of caution for other businesswomen just entering the world of barter. "Be a smart shopper! Some people treat barter as 'Funny Money', and price things ridiculously high, or pay outrageous prices because 'it's not real money'," she notes. "Barter is already a 'deal,' "she points out, "so don't expect a deal on top of a deal. When I barter, I expect to basically pay retail — not full retail," she adds quickly, "but retail." Manley urges prospective barter "buyers" to get and compare price quotes just as they would for any other transaction. And of course, get all arrangements, whether as "buyer" or "seller," in writing.

What businesses need or expect from a barter network will depend in part on what they deal in, points out Irene Ralston, owner of Select FreshCuisine.com, who has been offering healthy, natural frozen meals tailored to a variety of dietary and medical needs for nearly 20 years. If you deal in goods, you will want to look for a network that promotes you nationally to its members, since unlike those who deal in services, you can sell outside your local region. "That plastic surgeon sitting at his desk didn't wake up saying, 'I must get a healthy corn-free meal tonight,' but looking over the catalogue, he decides to take a chance on ordering my meals." Echoing Manley's conclusion, Ralston says, "People spend barter differently, they're more willing to take chances. I've taken so many myself."
Mara Math is a San Francisco writer/editor and activist whose work has appeared in numerous publications. .
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