A couple of years ago my cousin and I reached consensus on a barter exchange. Although at the time I had no idea that was consider a “barter” it was pretty fair. He was building an in house studio and needed good quality speakers. At the same time I needed a computer, particular a desktop and he happened to have an extra desktop he was planning to sell.
One afternoon, after a long day of work him and I got together to have a good time and talk about life… you know! He was telling me about his projects and i was telling him about mine. We were both just missing one more thing and we each happened to have those so we made an agreement and completed the barter! It was the prefect time.
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?
As a child, I used to collect Yugioh cards back in the day when it was popular. It was necessary to buy a hard cover binder and plastic card holders to display the cards one wishes to trade. We called it “tradeables” at the time. I cannot believe how much hustling I was doing back then to get a foiled or holographic card by negotiating the value of the card. It was done by seeing how many other players were using it, which increased the value of the card.
We had to barter cards that either had equal value or give more common cards to equal similar value to the other person.
There were fair trades and trades that were not fair due to counterfeit cards, which were hard to spot in the beginning.
As a kid we would trade BMX bike parts. Yes it was fair because I would get rid of something I did not use and I would trade for something I wanted. It also inspired creativity and production. We would repair and clean up old items as well as customize parts which would allow you to trade for something more valuable.
The only barter transaction I can remember engaging in as a child was in Comics. As this was a time when kids would voraciously read up everything in sight, new material was very welcome and precious. Giving away duplicate comics was easy but I have always been a hoarder and so it was very difficult to give away my single comics, even though I would have read them countless times. So no, I did not feel it was fair !
However, Libraries were far and few in that era and this was one way of getting new things to read.
my mom got me a toy for getting good grades, it wasnt really fair because i should have already been doing that
Searching my memory hard, I believe I exchanged a sticker of high value Premier League footballer at school (Alan Shearer) for 6 of my friend’s doubles. I think it was a fair trade because I had a “double” of Alan Shearer and also I was no way near completing my Premier League football album at the time, whereas that was one of the last he needed!
I swapped a Bike that i had acquired from one that was stolen from me, any way cut a long story short. i swapped it plus added two bike helmets to receive a different bike back but it was much better than that old one. i feel like i had the better deal in the end for sure. I suppose the gentlemen swapping me the bike didn’t actually know how good of spec was on his bike, but i certainly did.
Doing chores for being driven to school.
If you don’t do the chores you have to walk.
I think, sometimes you want to walk, but when you wanted to get somewhere fast its better to be driven for sure.
I grew food in my garden in exchange for work done in my garden by my nephew. He was allowed access to the harvest. I feel it was fair on my end. You would need to ask him how he felt about his side of the deal.
I traded 6 playmates Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles w/Weapons for a Playmates Star Trek The Next Generation Shuttle craft. Both parties were very happy with the transaction and no arbitration was needed in the future. My buddy really wanted 4 of the 6 turtles and I wanted that sweet space ship capable warp drive maxing out at warp 4. It was pretty fair considering my figures were used and so was the shuttle and we reasoned that the condition for both lots were pretty equal and used the primary retail market value to make the deal monetarily equal. Barter was a huge part of my childhood as I used it to get the things I couldn’t afford with money, even if I got a little less for what I acquired through bartering.
In the past I used to barter with my highschool friends. My mom used to make the best sweet tea. All of my friends wanted some so I would take empty water bottles and fill them up with her sweet tea and take them in my backpack to sell or barter with my friends. I remember exchanging them for deserts at lunch. At the time, it was a fair exchange because I had an abundance of sweet tea and was never allowed to take a desert to school for lunch. We both wanted what the other person had.
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As kids we bartered/ traded baseball cards idk if it was fair seems mundane now.
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As a teenager I exchanged English teaching lessons for a small scholarship to get support physics lessons to pass my exams at high scools as it was the hardest subject for me to understand and pass. I consider it a quite fair exchange
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I have exchanged some of my duplicate dragon balls collecting cards with other students in school for other ones that I did not have or for some money. It was a fair exchange because I could complete certain sets and/or get back some money for other use. The counterparty was also happy because there was no need to spend money and obtain a random card from the store or from the machines.
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I am a musician and I’ve traded an old amp for a used guitar. Although the amp was “worth” more money than the guitar it was a fair trade because I saw more real value in the guitar.
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I used to collect Baseball Cards and Garbage Pail Kids Cards in Elementary School.
I was living in New York and I was a New York Yankees fan.
I had the entire first series of Garbage Pail Kids. A baseball card store had this Don Mattingly Donruss Rookie Mint Condition. At the time, that card was very hot and worth a cool One Hundred Dollars. The first series Garbage pail kids were also said to be worth about $100 also.
I went to the store to trade my first series garbage pail kids for the Don Mattingly rookie. My mom drove me. It was my first ever big trade. I was about ten years old. The store owner commented that he is probably getting ripped off because maybe these garbage pail kids will never be worth anything. My mom was surprised that I traded a whole set for one card. I explained to her that it was a rare card and valuable. In retrospect, I think now the Garbage pail kids first series are worth a lot more.
Who would have known that Garbage pail kids cards would one day be worth more than a Hall of Fame baseball player? LOL
I remember trading my packed lunch in school. I used to offer tangerine segments in exchange for my friend’s individual crisps (which I wasn’t allowed) - sometimes FRAGMENTS of crisp. My memories are fond though I never felt the exchange was fair. Especially comparing the relative mass of food that was exchanged. Yet I agreed to it as I had to get that precious salt. It would seem my young self was re-living the plight of the French peasantry that were oppressed by the harsh salt taxes of Louis XVI.
The first memory that comes to my mind is the exchange of stickers from the Soccer World Cup 1998 in France. Nearly everyone at school had his or her own “book” with all the teams in it and the goal was obviously to complete the book and have every sticker. So when time went on and you already bought a couple (too many) stickers, you got the feeling which players / stickers are less common than others and thats where some sickers gained a higher “price” than others. So instead of giving a sticker and receiving a different one, less common stickers would get you 3-4 stickers.
I recently had a barter transaction with a photographer friend of mine. He had done a photoshoot for dog food and had a few big bags left after the shoot. He offered me the dog food if I would do some work testing his website.
So the two things in exchange were the dog food and my testing skills.
Practically the exchange worked as my friend does not have dogs and had no use for the food anyway. I have 2 dogs so the food was super for me. But it worked because of a very certain set of circumstances. For everyday stuff, this is not workable and would be awkward.
I bartered tutoring for useful ‘items’, like books or homemade meals. Couldn’t charge my fellow students and besides, money is usually short during our student life. I think it was a fair deal. Both got what we needed without depending on having cash at hand.