I remember my first ever barter was with a older kid, you can guess that… it wasn’t fair.
I bartered a brand new toy motorbike bought from my father for a pack of condoms, so i can fill the condoms with water and throw them off the roof to land on someone’s head. In my defence i was 8 years old, and no that wasn’t worth it. Why? Maybe i just explained why. Lol
Hopefully you did not give away a 1st edition Charizard 
A small group of friends and I started off trading cards, and video games. as the wealth of items we possessed grew, so did the nature of the transactions. It moved to video game consoles and other electronics and, eventually, I traded a junky car for junky, lifted 4x4! Much was learned, but I haven’t actually bartered in over 20 years.
We switched one toy for another. According to our childish economics it was fair. Each color had it’s value, rarity etc.
I exchanged my kettle for some knives with a friend
Kettle for knives looking back I’m happy with it because I had 2 kettles and needed knives.
As a young child and early teenager my friends and I would trade baseball cards. As I recall, everyone would come away happy with the exchanges since everyone would get what they wanted one way or another.
item a: chocolate
item b: ham&cheese sandwich
I really wanted the sandwich and I remember it was great taste. After I ate it, I also got a bite of the chocolate from my classmate. it was during a class-departure ~30 years ago.
In secondary school we were trading and collecting pens. Sometimes we would trade one pen for another one and sometimes when one pen was really cool we would trade it in exchange of multiple other pens. I think the exchanges were fair as long as both sides were satisfied. Both parties would agree on what could be exchanged for what. In a way it was like negotiating the value of the pens but no money was involved.
I started bartering for ball cards as a kid, I liked it because it required negotiating to a mutual consensus as to the perceived value of each card. In the end some trades turned out well, others not so much. I like to think I did okay.
The only thing I remember when I was young was to exchanged my monopoly properties for cash because I was broke jaja and no it was not a fair exchange because I change my properties for the same price I bought. I couldn’t make a profit.
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?
A. I remember trading pokemon cards at school and believing that the transactions at the time were well bartered and fair but only within the small school community. It was only found to be unfair when we were exposed to the larger community and the real rarity of some cards were discovered.
In the military I would use the barter system when I would get an MRE (meal ready- to-eat) with items that I did not like. It was a win for both parties involved.
The only barter that I remember was trading my egg salad sandwich for a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. I hated egg salad, and tolerated peanut butter and jelly, so it was a fair trade.
A realtor told me that, because of her divorce, she no longer needed the large house in which she lived. One of her friends complained that, because of their growing family, they no longer fit into their small house. After they told one another this, they decided to trade houses, and everyone was satisfied.
A barter transaction I was involved in was when I was 14 years old I had attended Sneaker Con and bought my first pair of collectable sneakers for $250.00, after purchasing these I had received an offer for them from someone else willing to pay $300.00. My friends were also trading their sneakers for others of what seems to be an “agreed upon value”. While making $50.00 was cool in the moment I had thought to myself, the real money makers are the one’s covering the costs for me to have a place to trade these sneakers. I ended up creating Sneaker Showcase Long Island as a convention for retail traders of collectable shoes to buy sell and trade which essentially was a platform for barter transactions.
I remember trading snacks at lunch, for example sunflower seeds for oreos. I would say the perceived value depended on the day but generally these trades felt fair.
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 young I only had boys including my older brother in my neighborhood so we would play boyish game which I did not mind. One of the game we participated in was tossing a small plastic human shape hero which came in various colors. The goal was to get closest to the line and because we were young we had a silly idea that it was the special doll that we needed to have more than our ability so we would attempt to barter the dolls we had for the winning ones. At the time it was definitely fair if I could trade two new ones for the beaten one but kept on winning. The winning one is not very nice any more because the owner would actually scratch one side to be flat with rough edges to increase the stickiness when it lands on the floor.
But now looking back, it was pretty silly to trade perfect new plastic dolls for the ugly one. But the point of the story is not the condition of the doll but the sense of improving winning chances. In short, the value perception trumps certain facts.
I remember as a kid used to play the hell out of POGs. Also cassettes, CDs and collectable cards of course. I don’t remember early exchanges until I get sucked in the world of online games… it felt good man
Trading pokemon cards. Looking back, it fellt fair. However, the cards I traded away are now worth a fortune.
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?
I very recently traded one playstation game for another with a friend, something I hadn’t done since I was a child, lockdown has made us revert to our old gaming habits when bars are closed. I actually think, while it was a fair exchange, I got the better end of the deal, since the game I traded for had a multiplayer option that allowed me to continue playing ad infinitum even after the game ended. That being said, Jack has no interest in multiplayer games, so it didn’t hold the same value for him.
All barter transactions I can think of are me “selling a service” for a friend and getting something in return either immediately or at later time. For example, I have a habit of helping my friends to move, because in my experience finding a helping hand for carrying those heavy loads isn’t always easy. Of course, I do that partly because I want to help my friends. However, while I might get a couple of drinks and a pizza in exchange for my time and effort at the time, most importantly I receive an “option” to use my friends help next time I need it. I trade a service for a later service and some refreshments, and I think it’s a good deal.
Looking back, most of such exchanges have been fair. If I find a “service-based” barter exchange not returning any value, I just stop doing them. After all, I wouldn’t spend my money in a commodity that comes with little or no value at all for me either.