Barter - What is it? history, examples, and more information

Barter

The action of exchanging goods or services for other convenience products or services.

What is barter?

Barter is the action of exchanging goods or services for other convenience products or services, without the intervention of money in said operation and resulting in a satisfactory exchange for both parties.

The contract from barter is called a swap. Although it has always been a weakness of the barter system to reach agreements to satisfy the needs of the parties involved, these exchange operations have been very frequent since the first civilizations.

history of barter

Barter shows its first appearances in the Neolithic. By not dedicating themselves exclusively to hunting, the appearance of agriculture and livestock were essential for the human being to begin exchanging products in exchange for different raw materials, such as corn for fish.

These customs were expanding through the Mesopotamian tribes and were later welcomed by the Phoenicians, who exchanged various products with merchants through maritime navigation.

The Babylonians improved the exchanges since they negotiated more refined products, such as processed foods or even tea. Throughout Europe, merchants undertook long journeys in order to exchange their products.

Barter operations have evolved over time, with increasingly diverse exchanges such as jewelry, handicrafts, fur, or even services, making bartering a popular practice in all civilizations throughout history.

However, various difficulties occurred since it was not determined exactly how much the stipulated value of a product was. At first, certain civilizations decided to use sacks of salt due to its great value in ancient times, with which they determined how much the stipulated value of a product was.

This practice was evolving towards bars of iron, gold, or bronze to carry out barter operations. These new valuation methods were most preferred because such products did not deteriorate over time and could be easily stored.

examples of barter

Some examples of barter are as follows:

• Pedro tells Pablo that he is interested in acquiring his guitar, Pablo on the other hand wants the laptop that Pedro has, therefore they reach an agreement to exchange both goods.
• Belén has an apple tree and her cousin Martín arrives hungry after a soccer game. Martin tells Belén that if he gives her an apple he can teach her how to play soccer, Belén accepts and gives him the apple.
• Mauricio has a corn crop, Daniel, seeing that the harvest is approaching, proposes to Mauricio to help him harvest the crop in exchange for a part of it. Mauricio accepts and Daniel receives his fiance.
• Miguel has a butcher shop and on a certain day he did not have good sales, so he has 2 kilos of leftover meat that could deteriorate soon. Marta, her neighbor, proposes to Miguel that they exchange the meat for some new personal hygiene products that she is offering, Miguel accepts.

 

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