Bartering website thriving in economy

LINCOLN, R.I. (WPRI) - How would like to have anything you want without spending a dime. It sounds almost too good to be true, but it isn't. It's called bartering.

You have something I want, and I have something you want so let's trade. It's as simple as that. A Lincoln company contacted us about their bartering website that has doubled in barter membership in 6 months. The idea is catching on.

From boats, to vacation hot spots, to car parts someone has something they don't want and are willing to trade for something you do.

Bob Johnson, from Lincoln, Co-Founder of Barterthing.com came up with the idea of creating a website that brings people together to trade.

"We've had members that bartered for jewelry, we have timeshares listed, we have a very large database of auto parts and cars," said Johnson.

It works like this, first you create a profile. It's free to sign up. Then you simply describe what you want to barter. For example one person from Rhode Island has a stacked washer and dryer and he wants to trade it for a surround sound system or contracting services.

"I'm a subcontractor in the state of Rhode Island," said Mike Lambert.

Lambert recently bartered with his hair dresser.

"She needed her bathroom re-plastered so I said no problem I'll do it for you and she said I'll give you free haircuts for the next year," said Lambert.

There are hundreds of categories to barter. But, there are some things you simply cannot barter, like body parts, livestock and yourself.

"It's a very family oriented website, we monitor it very closely. If somebody does post something, pornography, we eliminate that right away and if they violate it again, we eliminate their profile," said Johnston.

After you barter you are rated and so is the person you bartered with. You can trade with anyone anywhere. And if you have a specialized service or product, Bob says, don't be afraid to give it a shot.

"We get emails quite often from members that have strange services. They may have a product we don't have listed. We'll review it and if it meets our guidelines we'll add that to the site," said Johnston.

There is no money exchanged with bartering. This may be why barterthing.com’s traffic has skyrocketed. Bob says since the recession hit, he's noticed the traffic on the site has gone up 500 percent in 6 months.