What is barter?

Barter, also referred to as trade, allows businesses to make the most out of their excess inventory and available services. When organizations accept trade dollars as payment in lieu of cash, they are able to gain a range of business-wide benefits, including reduced advertising and capital improvement costs. MBE facilitates this process by acting as an intermediary, overseeing trades, and connecting members to one another.

In the United States, nearly half a million companies participate in barter programs, comprising over $10 million in annual sales. A growing segment of the economy, bartered transactions represent nearly one-quarter of all global trade. Locally, transactions bartered through MBE allow business owners to leverage their existing assets and turn them into useful, profitable, or necessary goods and services.

Businesses participating in MBE’s barter program can utilize their current inventory to minimize the financial impact of common business expenses. As trade dollars are directly tied to your business’ operating costs, the value of one trade dollar is often substantially less than the value of one cash dollar. Using trade dollars instead of cash, business can solicit repairs, supplement workplace programs, offer employee incentives, and more, all for a substantially reduced final cost.