The Ten Minute Activist
Easy Ways to Take Back the Planet
Will Trade Puppies for Pearls
A carefully detailed painting measuring 2.5 x 3.5 inches just sold for... another carefully detailed painting measuring 2.5 x 3.5 inches. Welcome to the world of artist trading cards, a bartering system where artists create miniature art to trade with other artists. Commonly traded through online services like eBay, trading small artwork actually goes back centuries, just like bartering. Bartering is a means of exchange in which no cash is used. Instead, the participants exchange goods and services for other goods and services. In Los Altos, California, it's plants. Every year, plant lovers gather at the town's Garden Club to barter seedlings and plants. On Craigslist, an online community board for various cities, people exchange boats for bikes, laptops for lumber, or maid services for music lessons.
Unlike when we pass money across a cash register, bartering almost always generates conversation. This is especially true when the items being exchanged are things we made or things we used. There's always a good story to be traded with each item. So, while the dollar may still be king, bartering is the joker in his court, always good for livening up humdrum commerce.
Buzzflash
del.icio.us
Digg
Facebook
Newsvine
Reddit