I remember a barter exchange that I had as a kid. My neighbour had some rare Pokemon cards that I would have loved to add to my collection. I offered to trade her some old toys that I had, something like a plastic toy car.
In my opinion I do not think it was a fair trade, but I think that I got the better end of the trade. I am not a “car person” and the toy cars I exchanged were pretty simple toys unlikely to have any collector’s value. So when we made the trade I was very excited to have acquired some new, rare pokemon cards in good condition. However, she was also excited about the toy cars.
The whole point of a barter system is that you trade for something that you have a higher preference for, so we each likely got the “better trade” respectively in our own opinions.
i remember as a child trading a bicycle for a nintendo (the first nintendo came out) it was not fair for the other person i feel bad about it now because it had way more value the nintendo at the time
Baseball card trading as a kid. Seems fair now, both cards are worth $0
I can still remember when I was a kid I and my classmates traded cards of football players among each other. This was a real big hit when big football events happened, such as World Cup. Some real fancy precious cards were traded by something extra, like stationery such as pens and pencils.
At first everyone was happy until this exchange activity eventually got attention of teacher, and he gave us a warning not to use money for trading of these cards, because, according to what he said trading of these cards using money is corruption. Maybe at that time we were afraid of being punished and alerted our parents, even trading of cards alone was abruptly stopped, at least inside the school.
Fair trade? I guess so at least for both parties as they were both happy and we got what we want.
Just a few days ago i traded a service for a meal. I installed my friends cup holders in his BMW which took me aprox. 2 minutes but saved him around $10 in tool expenses so in exchange he paid for my meal later that day which was roughly $12. Was a winning trade for me really because i already owned the tools and i have done the job before so i knew it would not be labor intensive.
I needed some quick cash a couple years back so I decided to trade in my 1st gen apple watch that I hadn’t been using. The store I brought it to was able to give me $100 for it and I thought it was a pretty fair deal considering it was a gift and wasn’t useful to me.
Hmmm… Honestly, it’s damn weird but I don’t remember initiating a barter as a child or adult. I probably got involved by someone else at some point, maybe during early childhood. Yet I don’t really remember! I can say though that I’ve been giving away a lot of stuff as a kid without asking anything but the honesty of giving the thing back. If that can be considered a barter, then yeah lol. Was it a fair exchange? I don’t think so, more like an accommodation on my part and I did get swindled on some occasions xD
In school we would barter football cards between each other.
I think this was considered a fair exchange due to the perception of value each individual had for the specific football player they were trading for what they would be receiving - both were happy with the outcome,
The earliest memory I’ve had for barter transactions would either be for pogs or pokemon cards in grade school. At the time I thought they were excellent trades based solely on aesthetics. I thought “hey I want this gold colored X because I don’t have very many of them”. This sated my need for that specific color and helped balance out a burgeoning OCD mind lol.
That being said it was all based on what I valued at the time. I didn’t care about the actual monetary value I do now as an adult but how it made me feel. Given my differing priorities now I would still go through with the trades I can remember (albeit barely) because of the happiness they provided. I honestly can’t remember a barter trade I made as a kid I regret.
The first barter system I was involved as a kid in the 80’s was the exchange of GI Joes figures.
The items would be figures for the toy vehicles that went with them. I remember trading a Mail In figure of Zoltan for a few vehicles. Looking back, it was a bad trade for me. Zoltan was a rare action figure and was brand new. The vehicles were used and well warn and available every where.
These were 2 service for service swaps both involving chiropractors. I painted my chiropractors office in exchange for office visits. Some years later I designed the office for another chiropractor in exchange for office visits and chiropractic care. Yes I truly value chiropractic. 
Both were worth it, but I didn’t value my design services high enough and was taken advantage of a bit on that one.
in childhood marbles were used to trade between kids. Then we use to trade lunch at scool
Describe a barter transaction that you’ve been a part either as a child or adult.
List the two items in the barter transaction and, looking back, did you think it was a fair exchange and why?
when i was a kid we would always trade snack at lunchtime where my most common trade would be a chocolate bar for around 4 biscuits
The best and also a great example would be that :
As a kid i used to collect Yu-Gi-Oh cards together with all the other kids in school. We traded cards and even as children of not older then 9, an economy emerged some cards where more rare then others so you would have to pay like 3 less valuable ones. A perfect example of barter trade as a kid, every card had a price more or less. Another example would be trading games with other kids.
Can’t really remember so long ago haha…
Maybe I share a recent incident while we were completing a masters project, my team mate is quite skilled in certain technical skills and I seek his help in completing a certain problem in the project, in return , I got him a free dinner.
I cannot say in value, it was comparable, as one item was intangible while the other item was tangible. However, it meets the needs of both parties, my group mate may not mind doing that part of the project as he is good in it and he can do it, but he needs the time an will appreciate the free meal delivered to him.
I can avoid the technical work to a certain extent, and I am gald to buy him dinner as it helps to complete the project.
One day you had to bring your own fork to the cafeteria and I didn’t bring any so I asked someone near me if I could borrow theirs since they we’re finished eating. The other person answered sure but if you do the dishes afterward. Since I needed the fork I agreed to do it although it might have been a better solution to pay the person in the first place.
After the animal market, it is common for traders to make their last trade of the day in the local bar next to the market square. After buying four good looking chickens I decided to join them for a drink or two. At closing time at midnight, the bartender called a cab to take me home. When I got home I didn’t have enough cash for the ride. After a deal that cost me two chickens, I finally went to sleep.
Given the short term, purchase chickens v.s. cab fare it was a good deal. The profit margin on chicken breeding was a lot less in the long run.
4 to 8 Y.o. 1 carambar (= caramel bar) for 2 sweet 10cents balls
I was - well I am yet - caramel lover
1 bar was 10cents
1 ball was 10 cents
I was such a lover of the bars, and most of the other kids from the balls. It was such easy, and amazing, because they disliked the hard bars and gave me 2 of them for 1 ball.
I learnt things have a price that can evolve!! … for my best.
35 years ago my mom was working in a silk factory in China. The side product silkworm pupae were dispensed to workers as bonus. The local farmer would bring 10kg rice to exchange 5kg pupae, which were considered high-protein food material back then.
I think it was a fair exchange because back then there were no free market in China. The pupae were not traded on market with any price. The rice was priced but not reflected the real value and provided with limited amount for individual. The exchange benefited both sides because each got what he/she wanted.
I would trade snacks at lunch. Once I traded cheez-its for potato chips. I thought it was a good deal because I always had cheez-its and I wanted to have a different snack.