by Claudia Tietze

Created on: October 24, 2008

It might be bragging, but I am a Barter Goddess. Just the other day, I bought a laptop for a friend off of eBay for a stellar price by using the "Make an Offer" option. To make this piece of machinery the best that it could be, I needed to add more memory (both in RAM and hard drive) as well as replace the flawed keyboard. I could have easily purchased these things at a discount, but chose to barter instead.

I went onto my local favorite, CraigsList, and scoured the ads. I happen to stumble upon the exact same machine, with issues, for a cheap price. I talked to the seller, asked a lot of questions, and it ended up that he had an overflow of parts for this type of laptop, as well as one 'problem' working one. I then rattled off all the items I had that I felt he would find desirable. We met today and not only did I get two boxes of parts (that I can resell for a cool $1400 profit), but I also got the 'problem' laptop that I will have fixed today and working. In essence, I got paid to get what I needed by bartering for it.

You can still barter without a lot of items. You can barter your time, service or skill. I have bartered yard work for a truck and made a wonderful friend in the process! Some people do yard work, house cleaning, cooking, taking things to the dump, giving someone a ride to the store or an appointment and even tattoos!

Here are a few of my "secrets":

* Ask a lot of questions. Have a good understanding of what you have and what you want. Mention things you need even if you are talking about a different type of trade. You never know what might come up!

* Be fair. Don't expect a working car for a bag of recyclable cans. A good barter is one that serves both parties. You both walk away happy.

* Look in the barter section CraigsList or other online services. You might be surprised. Often people will list what they want, and it is exactly what you have and don't need. You can either use what you barter for, or "trade up". You may get something better or resell it to earn the money to put towards what you want. Some items are easier to barter than others, so if your item is fairly specialized, you might be willing to trade for something you don't want or need because you know more people will be looking for that item.

* Don't just check the barter sections, also check the "wanted" sections. Often people are looking for things you have, and are willing to trade you for what you need or want.

* Be sure if you place an ad that you don't just title it "lots to

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