I bartered hockey and baseball cards as a kid. I could name a lot of great exchanges and a lot of not so great exchanges. One very fair exchange was when I sold a baseball card for 100 dollars at the time…it is now worth 3. 
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At school I collected Premier Football cards and I hard a few rare ones, I managed to get a hold of 2 rare cards. So I decided to trade one of them for some other cards. I found a friend who had some cards I didn’t have and needed to complete my collection, then I traded my rare card for a few cards I needed.
The exchange was fair I believe, so I got multiple cards I needed to complete my collection by only selling one rare card I already had. Getting what I needed 
Win Win
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My very first barter transaction as a child (family excluded) was exchanging GameBoy cartridge games with another 4 year old kid around the block. We met a few days later again and we’ve been best friends ever since!
As children, without our own source of income, we did not possess the leisure of purchasing any new video games at will. As a bypass, we were allowed to (temporarily) exchange to then both be fulfilled in new experiences. This was indeed very fair for both parties involved.
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Several years ago, I entered an agreement with my hairdresser: I would host her website and she would cut my hair. We both felt it was a fair trade, as we did it for several years until I got out of the web hosting business.
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I used to sell home made sweets, at school, I remembered that sometimes the only way to sell everything was exchanging from something else, i.e: like stickers from football players.
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At primary school, me and my school mates used to exchange collectibles, e.g. cards of different football players. Each card had a different number on it, the higher the number was, the more it was worth.
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As a child I was barter trading ballpoint pens for those that were better for drawing. Original owner did not care what he uses to write but for me it was like upgraded tool for my skill. Also glass marbles for more unique ones, stamps, computer parts.
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As a kid, I traded Pokemon cards. I traded a popular Charizard for a number of other, less valuable cards. I did think it was fair.
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I freeze dry over 50 fruits and vegetables, make powder from them and use the mixture to make a smoothie drink each morning. I give the powder to one of my neighbors whose wife likes it. He plows my driveway during the winter.
It is a fair exchange, depending on the amount of snow each winter.
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Swapping baseball cards with a friend, it was pretty fair as we both liked the cards we swapped for.
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As a kid I bartered a bag of Doritos chips for someone’s bag of Lays chips. Looking back, it was a fair exchange. Both bags of chips could be purchased at the store for the same price.
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When I was 13 years old, hungry as hell in math class I traded my finger skateboard (I think the brand was tech deck, they were really popular back then) for a small bag of salted pretzels. In retrospect this was a horrible impulsive deal. The finger skateboard was probably worth 10 bags of pretzels.
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I used to trade toys at my school. One particular barter exchange saw me trading my flashing bouncy ball for a bag of hot wheels cars he had. (he wanted it bad) Looking back it was a great deal not only because I’m a huge car fan but also because those hot wheels altogether are worth over $5000 compared to that crummy ball.
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As kids in the 90’s we made a lot of barter transactions, but most of it were with football cards, turbo gum cars photos and kinder surprise toys. Sometimes, when I needed an rare card, I had to give the other kid more than 10 cards for it. Yes, I think it was worth it. 
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Describe a barter transaction that you’ve been a part of 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?
One of the most prominent barter transactions that I remember from my childhood and which I still do sometimes is the exchange of books. I think the trade for me is pretty fair as I’m a huge fan of books, moreover it’s simple, easy, and cheap. 
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I remember trading beyblades and gameboy games, sometimes they seemed fair, sometimes not.
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The only kind if a barter transaction i can remember right now, uhmm it is when i used to be young in school and mom was usually packing sandwiches for me. Sometimes other class mates who have different stuffed sandwiches so i used to exchange it with them depending how much i value their stuffed sandwiches compared to mine. it was totally worth it as you have mentioned before it is about the wants and the needs as i at that time i found what they had desirable and what i had was desirable for them. uhmm to say it is fair is mostly depending on the two exchanging party to approve on the trade, as long as both parties agreed on it so it is considered fair.
After reading some comments, i remembered trading marbles with others depending on the rarity or the looks of the marbles 
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Well, I remember trading a bicycle for a radio that would record tapes back in the early 80’s.
I had so much fun with my friends recording jokes and even emulating morning radio programs playing music and recording my favorite songs.
At the time I had two bikes so I could spare one.
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I am a registered massage therapist and I often trade services with other professionals. My trades have been with a carpenter, digital marketer, chef, auto mechanic, babysitter and other massage therapists.
In these transactions, ‘time plus X’ is our medium of exchange. There is an exchange of time, usually 1 hour:1 hour, or maybe 2 or 3 for 1 depending on the ‘X’ factor which is the mutual understanding of the level of skill, knowledge or materials involved.
To be honest, these kinds of transactions are rarely satisfying. It often feels like “more work” to give up an hour of earning cash to just exchange services, especially when the services are similar and worth the same ie. exchanging a massage for a massage, or for a chiro appointment, etc. Such a bartering arrangement also demands more attention to the value of services/goods being received. One has to also weigh what they are getting against what they gave, always asking himself, “Is what I gave worth THIS?” Managing this can add work to the work already being done. Cash / currency takes out the guess work and quantifies the X factors in mathematical terms.
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Recently actually. A colleague was leaving KSA the other day and he had a good quality ceramic heater and some other things that he had given to me. In exchange he wanted me to hold on to some things that he is leaving behind, and forward them on to him when he is settled.
I think it was a fair trade as my colleague was leaving so was in no position to take his stuff. I obviously knew this and therefore wouldn’t have given him much money, so instead we agreed on a trade where by he will give me the things for free, as long as I take care of the things that he is unable to do for himself when he leaves.
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