I grew up collecting and trading baseball cards. Since my allowance limited how many packs of cards I could buy, learning how to swap became an essential skill. Bartering was a great way of exchanging excess cards for a prized player, of negotiating trades of equal value, of obtaining objects of desire without paying money.
Our culture of buying new and cheap has made bartering less visible, but time is ripe for a comeback. People are sick of having too many things. People hate losing value on perfectly good items. Everyone likes to save when possible.
Bandy is a new bartering app that makes trading easy and awesome again. It works for both individuals and businesses. People can work out swaps for what they can’t afford, businesses can trade for things that they would otherwise need to buy (while simultaneously continuing to sell inventory, so they really can’t go wrong).
After registering, members link their selling accounts such as Amazon, eBay, Etsy. They can then easily share inventory that they’re game for bartering with on Bandy. You select three categories to help your items turn up in the feeds of interested parties. Bandy then helps find matches for you, while allowing you to browse inventories for items you want.
There’s lots of potential for how the app (which is slated for release first on the iPhone) might be used. You can go fishing for just the right items and propose deals or counter proposals put forward to you by other users. You might not believe that there’s someone who’d love to trade a bicycle for a set of professional chef’s knives, but if that perfect trading partner exists and is online, Bandy can bring you together.
Building fruitful relationships is one of the key aims of this new bartering app. Find people that have similar interests. Meet people you enjoy trading with and help each other save money through mutually beneficial trades.
With Bandy, everything is on the table, so to speak. One-time partnerships, routine inventory swaps – getting rid of unwanted items, hashing out bizarre exchanges that make sense only to trading partners. Barter as you please.
Ask for the beta version or to be told when the app launches at Bandy.co. It’s free to use, which means there’s no harm in trying to barter goods. Only accept swaps that work for you. And if you’re into baseball cards, it’s high time I refresh my bartering skills.
Photo Credits
Bandy | Alex Brylov/Shutterstock
