The only barter transactions I’ve done were when I was a child. Usually we were changing stickers with footballers or cars. In every collections there were some ‘hard to get’ stickers, so it was ok to transact a lot of your copies just to get the wanted sticker. I think it was a fair trade for me because I’ve got the missing sticker and I have given away a lot of copies that I didn’t really need. In order to get the wanted sticker probably I would have spent a lot more money and time and not be sure that I will have it or not. Also I think it was a fair trade for the person who have got the copies because he could have use them for his collection or trade them for another rare sticker.
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- I think the first transaction I’ve made when I’m a child was when I was on high school and one day I don’t like my food and then I ask my classmates if anyone of them wants to buy my food and then somebody took the offer and we agreed and with that money I bought a food that I want to eat.
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When I was kid, my brother and would trade Halloween candy every October. There was some candy that we both valued highly and some that would honestly never get eaten. Then there was the middle ground candy. This was candy that we both enjoyed but were still willing to part with to get something taster. In our young mind, all trades would reach an agreement and therefore were fair from our perspective. Now older, I realize there is much subjectivity on the most valuable, tastiest candy. Also my tastes have changed. I have found new candy to favor and dislike others that I once loved. With just a limited number of participants the barter system would suffice in the moment. However, as the participant number grows the perceived value of goods like candy becomes utterly complex especially as time progresses and values change.
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We traded pokemon cards. Luckily I still have mine as the are appreciating in Value atm hahaha
Btw I just had an Exam on this whole topic as I am studying Banking and Finance LOL
Im wondering how useful this course is going to be haha
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I scanned the replies and it seems a lot of people are like me. I only remember trading like for like as a kid - cards, marbles, little race cars and lunches! It was always fair because why else would we trade? Things haven’t changed much as an adult. I regularly seem to be trading this for that, almost like an ongoing underground economy. Never really thought about it before. Barter feels more obviously fair than a lot of other transactions.
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Can’t remember anything specific, but maybe exchanging favours/help. Hard to say if it was fair but for sure both parts got benefited.
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The first thing that comes to my mind is when I was in middle school, I would collect various computer hardware and trade them with my friends for other hardware that found more useful for my benefit.
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I once traded a laptop for a set of golf clubs. I had bought on sale, well below normal value and I knew the cost of the golf clubs if I wanted to buy them new. They were in like new condition and I think it was a fair exchange because I felt like the clubs were more valuable than the laptop and the other person felt like there was more value in the laptop. We both got what we wanted.
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When i was a kid, i would sometimes trade one video game for another with a friend when we were both done playing each of our games. To us, this barter was of equal value as we both were done with our current game and wanted the other’s game.
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I got my first PowerBook by trading an old RC car and a subwoofer, looking back I think that was a great trade because I continued to trade up to newer generation models from there.
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My friend and I used to open a “trading route” during lunch time in grade school. If I let him eat some of my “milanesa” (breaded veal; its’ Argentinean food lol) he would let me have some of his oreos for dessert. I’d say it was a pretty good deal on both ends, but then again, we both happened to like what the other was offering.
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As kids football stickers were our currency of choice. A Tottenham Hotspur foil crest was worth the whole Coventry City midfield:rofl: As everything it all comes down to scarcity.
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When I was a child I use to barter Playstation games with my friends. It was fair enough because the new game for my had more value than the old one just because i was able to have fun with the new games.
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I exchanged magic cards with a friend, only to realise later that my card was very rare and his normal so that was a bad barter on my end.
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I believe we still have a barter system. For example, when I go to work, I spend my time, knowledge and my physical energy in order get the job done and as result of this I will get paid with Fiat Money. If I am voluntarily except the job it is a fair, but it depends in which country you live. For example, for the same job you get paid more in some country and way far less in other country. If you are looking at it from this perspective, it is not a fair.
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As kids we traded video game cartridges–these trades were positive-sum since the value of a game you hadn’t gotten bored of yet is greater.
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As a teenager, I recall doing a classmate’s homework for candy or chocolates. It was an exchange of knowledge for sweets. Was it a fair trade? Probably not; but we both got what we needed/wanted at the time.
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I’ve read some great examples in here!
I remember as a young lad, when video games were becoming popular, I had a Sega Master System while most of my friends had Nintendo Entertainment Systems. Generally, NES was considered superior. That said, the fact that I had Sega, and Sega systems were more RARE, meant I could trade my system w/ games for far more in exchange. We wouldn’t trade for keeps, just for a week or two, to try the other system/games.
I used to be able to trade for systems with more (or better) games, because I had something unique to offer in exchange.
In hindsight, it taught me a lot about trade, and the relative value of things through scarcity.
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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?
The two items that formed part of my barter transaction as a child was football player stickers for my album. The exchange was fair because it was a swap based upon what player(s) each individual needed to complete the team of players in their own album. There were some player cards that were seen to be more valuable so it was a case of either trading a player card for a player of equal value or two stickers against the more valuable one.
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As kids we were collecting celebrity images which we would get from the magazines / newsletters. We would be exchanging it between ourself. I believe it was fair trade.
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