SARASOTA – The economy has been tough for many Suncoast businesses. But some have found a way to keep cash in their company by bartering with other businesses.
There is no cash being exchanged. Instead, business owners are trading goods and services through a bartering company.
The way it works is an owner may have a product he or she wants to sell that another owner wants. A value is placed on the item, known as “barter dollars.” And with those dollars, an owner can then buy another good or service.
And it seems bartering is catching on.
Keith Harrison is the owner of Cartridge World on Clark Road in Sarasota. He opened his business about three-and-a-half years ago. “We started right when everything started to go down. We lost some good clients, but everyone now is looking for ways to save money.” And that includes Keith himself.
So as a way to save, he started to barter. “I have saved money…I’ve saved my cash because I don’t have to pay someone cash to do that.”
From air conditioning repairs to business cards and a website design, Keith has been trading his ink cartridges for things his business needs…instead of forking over cash.
“We look at businesses and see what their monthly expenses are and say ‘alright, here are all the services we can provide at 100% barter’, which will free up your cash flow,” says Kevin Daly, co-owner of the Nubarter Suncoast Territory.
Nubarter has more than 25,000 members in the southeast, and every year the company says business has doubled, since businesses are looking for an edge.
“Especially now in this economy. Everyone is looking to save a dollar, but also everyone is looking to grow their business…but everyone is afraid to spend the money,” says Daly.
And the money can stay where you need it to — in your company. “In these economic times when at the end of the month every penny you have in your checkbook, your business account is needed, it’s just a great way,” says Harrison.
There is a fee to join Nubarter. Bartering is open to anyone that sells a good or service. Nubarter says they only deal with reputable businesses with excellent customer service.
An excellent expo: Business event brings companies to the community
By Savannah Morning News
Created 2010-07-20 00:18
Linda Sickler
Business was booming at the Pooler Business and Consumer Expo. A large crowd turned out July 15 to see what companies in the area have to offer.
The expo was held at the Mighty Eighth Air Force Museum. Many vendors offered special deals during the expo, and some sponsored giveaways.
“We’ve had a nice, steady stream coming in,” said Karen Robertson of the Pooler Chamber of Commerce. “We even had some early arrivals who were here at 5:15 p.m.”
Robertson said the variety of vendors who participated was particularly thrilling. “It’s fabulous,” she said. “We’re sold out with vendors.
“This is only our second time to do this,” Robertson said. “The chamber did one last year, and there was one five or six years ago.
“As people heard about this one, interest has grown,” she said. “The comment we’re hearing most from vendors is that the numbers are up over last year.”
In all, 23 vendors turned out. “It’s everything from banking, healthcare to spas, real estate, travel, entertainment – a very good variety,” Robertson said.
The expo gave vendors a chance to advertise, and customers an opportunity to find products and services. “We’re talking to everyone about our services,” said Patty Anderson of the GeoVista Credit Union.
“We’re here to educate the public about Hospice Savannah,” said Sarah Copeland, community outreach coordinator for Hospice Savannah. “We cover five counties – Chatham, Effingham, Bryan, Liberty and Long.”
While most people are familiar with Hospice Savannah, they’re not aware of all the services it provides, Copeland said. “People are unfamiliar with Full Circle, which provides bereavement services,” she said. “It is open to anyone who has had a loss.”
Heather Parks of Holiday Inn was surprised at the number of people who came for the expo. “The hotel business is vital to our economy,” she said.
Jacquie Stein is a territory licensee/manager with NuBarter, a Savannah-based online bartering company, whose members trade goods and services for other businesses’ goods and services. NuBarter members barter their goods and services to increase sales, reduce cash expenditures and increase profits.
“We’re the largest trade exchange in the Southeast,” Stein said. “We bring added visibility and revenue to our members.”
Events such as the expo are important for businesspeople and community members to network, Stein said. “Every new contact in worthwhile,” she said. “We are trying to educate businesspeople on the benefits of bartering.”
Sarah Sherman of Savannah Commons Retirement Community said this was her company’s first event in Pooler and an opportunity to show the community what it has to offer. “We’re encouraging everyone to come over and take a look at us,” she said.
Sandy Downs of Beazer Homes is a member of the Pooler chamber. “This is the first time we’ve done this,” she said. “I’m really happy with the way everything is set up here.”
Beazer Homes builds houses that range in price from $130,000 to $180,000 and, despite the tough economy, the company is thriving. “All our homes are built with energy efficiency in mind,” Downs said.
Plans already are under way for another expo next year. “We want it to be bigger and better each year,” Robertson said. “We want our vendors to know they have the perfect opportunity to show people what they have.”
Want to learn more about bartering? Start at these websites.
IRTA.com — The International Reciprocal Trade Association is a nonprofit group that oversees standards for bartering associations.
IRS.gov — Bartered services are not exempt from taxes. Get details on how to report bartering proceeds and stay in compliance. Go to IRS.gov and type “Bartering Tax Center” in the search bar.
James Taylor doesn’t need to pay full price for marketing materials.
When his basketball training service needs event T-shirts, he’ll get them half price by making the printer a sponsor.
When he needs fliers, he’ll get a discount by throwing in free advertising space on his website.
Taylor, the chief of Taylored Athletes in Boynton Beach, finds that bartering is widespread in South Florida — and small business owners like himself find it a useful tool in a rocky economy.
“It played such a major role,” Taylor said of bartering, which he began when he started his company in 2007. “Capital was hard to come by and it was how I had to start. . . . It gave you a sense of network and security. You never felt alone with bartering because you know other entrepreneurs are in the same place and want to work.”
As small businesses see their lines of credit shrink and struggle to get loans, exchanging goods ends up being a way to afford extra services and make sure time and products don’t go to waste.
There are two types of bartering — the kind Taylor does by making business deals on a case-by-case basis — and “modern” bartering through organized networks, which is what the International Reciprocal Trade Association measures to be a $10 billion to $12 billion industry globally.
In a slow economy, bartering typically isn’t always the best business option, according to Peter Thompson, chairman of the Economics Department at Florida International University.
“It tells me what they’re having is cash flow problems,” Thompson said. “Some companies have their lines of credit drastically reduced.”
The nonprofit IRTA sets standards for modern bartering, which is conducted through trade associations. About 175,000 businesses in the U.S. belong to such groups — usually by paying a membership fee. They can barter with anyone in the group by earning and spending credits.
IRTA president David Wallach has seen membership jump 15 to 20 percent in the past year, whereas normally it increases 5 to 8 percent annually.
“Businesses are looking for ways to survive,” Wallach said. “If you have excess capacity to do it, why wouldn’t you do it on barter?”
ITEX Payment Systems is one such network with 24,000 businesses. Local brokers bring in members and find good matches.
There are also free websites to post trades such as PayMeWithAChicken.com.
But not every business is always in the mood to make a deal.
“You get turned down all the time,” Taylor said. “Some people, they don’t see the win-win-win. They just see the dollar signs. You can’t fault them because everyone needs to protect their own bottom line.”
For every two companies that tell him no, he finds one that will negotiate a trade.
“If it doesn’t work out, I’m on the phone again with someone else who can give me the same thing,” Taylor said.
There are plenty of firms that find barter deals advantageous.
Davie-based florist Field of Flowers, for example, made a deal with its Plantation-based public relations firm, Boardroom Communications, to lower its bill by paying 20 percent with flower credits. Field of Flowers also exchanges a billing as the official florist of the Florida Panthers for flower credits it extends to Bank Atlantic Center, where the team plays.
Field of Flowers Chief Executive Donn Flipse is open to these types of trades on a case-by-case basis, but keeps it to about three percent of his total business.
“I would look at it much more carefully if it were getting up to more than five percent of our total business,” Flipse said. “I can’t pay my employees with public relations services or visits from Stanley Panther.”
CREATIVE SOLUTIONS
Boardroom uses barter as a creative way to provide employee perks or give gifts to clients. Aside from Field of Flowers, it trades gift certificates with Bolufe, an independent boutique clothing store in Boca Raton and in West Palm Beach. The firm also got bottles of wine from The Grape Merchant for helping with the Weston Wine and Food Festival.
“It really has been a case-by-case basis over the years. We’ve still got to pay the bills,” said Todd Templin, Boardroom’s executive vice president.
But when the service is something the firm can use — and probably didn’t have money in the budget for — it can make sense, he said, especially if the client is having a hard time.
“If it’s a long-term customer, you certainly want to work with them,” Templin added.
Home design television personality and author Kathy Peterson first bartered as a way to solve a payment problem with a client.
When a struggling production company kept avoiding payment for a show she produced, she asked if she could use the company’s studio and equipment to shoot 13 episodes of a show idea she prepared.
“I just said, `I gotta think like a business person that I had to get paid,’ ” Peterson said. “And without hesitation, the guy said, `Sure, no problem.’ ”
GoodLife TV ended up picking up her series in 1999. She’s authored several books and currently appears on the Lifetime television morning show, The Balancing Act, which is produced in Pompano Beach.
Now she has been bartering with her massage therapist who recently moved into a new home. In exchange for offering her help with home design, she gets massages.
SCOOPING UP OFFERS
Felecia Hatcher, the “Chief Popsicle” of the hipster gourmet ice cream truck catering company Feverish Mobile Ice Cream, said she’s had more requests to make deals now than at this time last year. About once a month she is asked for barter discounts for things such as birthday parties and corporate events. The company did Bank Atlantic Center’s company party for half price, with Jamie Foxx concert tickets thrown in as payment. But she wasn’t even in town to use the tickets.
“It’s not fair trade all the time,” Hatcher said.
But as the temperature rises outside, so does her business. In the end, she’s glad to get the exposure.
“I guess there’s always that thing in the back of your mind if it’s going to devalue your business,” Hatcher said. “But overall the experience has been great.”
