Showing posts with label barter. Show all posts
Showing posts with label barter. Show all posts

Friday, October 12, 2012

Get things FREE with Listia!




Assurance
Listia is a barter service where you earn points for each item you give away. Members bid on the items and the highest bidder gets the prize. You can then use the points you earn to "purchase" items from other "sellers." Little to no money changes hands, depending solely on the shipping arrangements (and then of course if the item is a gift card that might count as cash tender). What is great about this is that it really encourages sustainability and works outside of the economic system ( avoiding the concerns of money changing hands over the internet), yet still provides incentive for participation by earning points which can be used to receive other items and each trade is backed by Listia assurance.



Here are  the rules:


"Buyers get a FULL REFUND of credits:

  1. If an item won on Listia is not received or significantly not as described in the listing.
  2. If a seller changes the listing terms (as outlined in the description) after it ends, and the buyer disagrees.
Sellers can KEEP ALL credits:

  1. If a winner does not pay shipping, is non-responsive, or otherwise experiences buyer's remorse.
  2. If a winner claims they did not receive an item, but the seller has provided a valid tracking number."

A few weeks back I wrote about bartering. This service is the modern day version of that. I am looking for seeds... perhaps the old man I met at the store with a strange idea was not so strange after all.

Receive 100 BONUS points by following this link to sign up:

https://www.listia.com/signup/2180486


Would you participate in something like this? What items would you give away? What items would you look for?

Sunday, September 23, 2012

How to Get MORE Coupons: Part 2

The way to save the most money with coupons is to stock up and buy things when you can stack a sale with a coupon to get the lowest possible price. Having multiple coupons helps in building your stockpile.

When I started couponing a year and a half ago, I found all sorts of ways to gather extra coupons. In fact, my friend Christine and I gathered hundreds of discarded coupon booklets and shared our coupon booty.

Kitty knows if she sits on my work, she gets attention.
Christine and I had so much fun clipping and discussing our savings, sharing our sources,  and comparing our stockpiles. Sharing really enhanced our experience and encouraged us to keep working at saving money with coupons to reduce our cost of living and get more bang for our buck.

In Part 1 I showed you a way to get more coupons with a coupon swap. Here is another option. In another post, I mentioned the idea of starting a seed train for your garden. For Part 2 of my series, I will talk about how to start a coupon train.

How To Start A Coupon Train:

To Coupon Swap you will need to access couponing websites or find some couponing friends. To Start a Coupon Train, you need a list of people who want to swap coupons, but don't want to worry about bartering for the coupons

Facebook fan pages like the ones for The Krazy Coupon Lady will allow you to "meet" people with whom you can trade coupons online.

1.  Post a comment on your Facebook page and let your friends know you want to start a coupon train.
2. Compile a list of everyone involved with their names and addresses (or phone numbers for local people, or desk location for an in-office coupon train).
3.Decide if you will pre-clip them for each other or hand off the scrap pages. If you are mailing the coupon train, it is probably best to pre-clip them as tight as possible, so the postage is the cheapest.
4. Simply clip ALL your coupons. Choose which ones you know you will not use and then pass the list and the extra coupons on to the next person on your list.
5. They will follow the same steps and continue on to the next person. When the Coupon Train reaches it's last stop the last person should start again with you at the top of the list.
6. If you are doing a mailed train, don't forget to include the Train address list! This will only cost you ONE stamp, which will be returned when your name comes around again.
7. Throw out any old or expired coupons before passing on the pile to the next person.
8. Be cautious. Don't give too much personal information to strangers. If you coupon swap extensively and have access to a secondary address, be sure to use it. I prefer to coupon swap only with people within my real-life network. If you choose to do a coupon train with strangers, just be aware. If they are local to you, you may consider meeting at the grocery store to pass on the list, so you don't have to waste money on stamps or give out your address.You could do this with a phone number list instead!

Want another way to get more coupons? Check out  How to Get MORE Coupons: Part 1. Part 3 will be coming soon.

What other things could you start a train for? How about a Quick Recipe Train? I might include my Lazy Pickles.  What about a Cheap Recipe Train? I might include my lentil soup in that one.

Do you ever trade coupons? Do you have any other ways you get MORE coupons?

Saturday, September 22, 2012

How to Get MORE Coupons: Part 1

 I once purchased 32 FREE bottles of baby formula over a month to give away just because I was able to gather a LOT of extra coupons that gave me overage.

 The way to save the most money with coupons is to stock up and buy things when you can stack a sale with a coupon to get the lowest possible price.

Kitty doesn't want to trade. ;)

When I started couponing a year and a half ago, I found all sorts of ways to gather extra coupons. In fact, my friend and I even went around to the apartment complexes in the area (where coupons arrived in the mail, not the newspaper) and gathered hundreds of discarded coupon booklets. I shared my secrets and favorite coupon blogs and she shared some delicious meals. We had so much fun clipping and discussing our savings and comparing our stockpiles.

 One simple way to get more coupons is to start a coupon swap.

How To Coupon Swap:

To Coupon Swap you will need to access couponing websites or find some couponing friends.
Facebook fan pages like the ones for The Krazy Coupon Lady will allow you to "meet" people with whom you can trade coupons online.

1.  Post a comment on your Facebook page and let your friends know what coupons you have and what coupons you are looking for. It works a little like bartering.
2. Remember, coupons are similar to cash tender in the store. Offering a fair trade, dollar for dollar, not coupon for coupon will get you the best results and build your network of coupon swappers.
3. When you decide a fair trade, you can pass them off to each other or mail them to one another.
4. Decide if you will pre-clip them for each other or hand off the scrap pages.
5. Once you decide on a trade, make sure to send the coupons right away so that they have the chance to use them with any current sales that may be going on. Trust that they will send yours ASAP too.
6. Be cautious. Don't give too much personal information to strangers. If you coupon swap extensively and have access to a secondary address, be sure to use it. I prefer to coupon swap only with people within my real-life network. If you choose to coupon swap with strangers, just be aware. If they are local to you, you may consider meeting to swap coupons at the grocery store, so you don't have to waste money on stamps or give out your address.

Want another way to get more coupons? Check out tomorrow's post, How to Get MORE Coupons: Part 2.

Like the "Train" idea? Try it out with other things like children's clothes and toys, garden supplies, etc. A few weeks ago I mentioned starting a seed trade or seed train to save free seeds for your garden for next year.
Do you ever trade coupons? Do you have any other ways you get MORE coupons?

Wednesday, August 29, 2012

How To Get What You Need Without Spending Anything!


No, it's not the "5 finger discount."...

It's bartering!

Back in the days before we had dollars and cents, let alone a rapper named 50 cent,  before we had Ben Franklin’s portrait on paper, bartering was the most common way of getting what you needed.

Think back to your elementary school days- what did we do when we had a snack in our lunch box that we didn’t really want?  We bartered. Nowadays this concept seems pretty foreign, but I promise you, it is innate and it works for almost anything… except perhaps utility bills. There are plenty of places you can find to barter. Try farmers markets, craft shows, local bulletin boards, and websites like Craigslist.org.

1. The key to successful bartering is that both parties must walk away feeling like they won.

2. Offer a reasonable barter…

Keep in mind that they may counter you. So don’t start with your absolute best offer. Aim a little better and wiggle back and forth until you both come to an agreement.

3. Don’t be too eager.

If you really need something, that puts the ball in their corner, meaning you could end up with the bad end of the deal. Don’t show all your cards right away. Be aloof but firm and leave your emotions at home.

4. Remember the value of your bartering relationship.

Whether the deal is better on their end or yours, or one of you concedes slightly for the sake of the bartering relationship, at the end of the deal you should both walk away satisfied with what you are receiving.

5. Finish the paperwork…

Have fun, be honest, be aware, be kind, and of course, if these items are large ticket items, make sure all the proper receipts are accounted for and the paperwork is squared away. You don’t want to take your items home and find out they were stolen goods, or worse- be scammed out of your item by someone who was playing you all along.

6. Safety First!

If you don’t know the person with which you are trading very well, make sure to take a buddy!