There are some 800 barter companies worldwide serving their local clients. (Some of the larger exchanges have multiple offices in various locations.) And over the years, as the commercial barter industry has evolved the trade exchange owners began trading more with one another.

A decade ago, the International Reciprocal Trade Association (IRTA) put together a system whereby exchange owners could use a trade currency (a trade credit) to trade with one another. This “Universal Currency” (UC) would act as a central clearinghouse for trade credit transactions among trade exchanges located throughout the world.

A recent example of the possibilities is clearly evident…Therecia Venema of TradeXchange Nederland, located in the Netherlands, traded for a $13,000 African Safari, acquired from a South African trade exchange, also a member of the International Reciprocal Trade Association (IRTA).

If your company is a member of a trade exchange, and if that trade exchange is a member of IRTA, it would be possible for you to take such exciting trips on barter…arranged by your exchange through (using) the UC clearinghouse system.

For more information on the International Reciprocal Trade Association see IRTA

For more information on IRTA’s “Universal Currency” clearinghouse, see: UC

For a list of the 800 barter companies worldwide, see right-hand column, scroll down to “Top Resources.”

This entry was posted on Tuesday, January 29th, 2008 at 10:59 am and is filed under Entrepreneurs & Small Business, Big Ticket Barter. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.