Card trader

Bartering may be as old as time itself, but the introduction of Bartercard has definitely shifted this historical form of trading into the 21st Century business reality.

Bartercard Australia managing director and co-founder Brian Hall said the idea for the company was based on an American system which was adapted for the Australian market.

“The premise of Bartercard is on three different levels - our goal is increase businesses’ sales and to offset cash expenditure and therefore increase cash profit,” he explained.

“The thing that is unique about Bartercard is that it is a bartering system. Businesses will exchange their goods and services rather than cash.

“As an example, if you had to get $1000 worth of repairs for your car, you have choices. You can either pay cash for the repairs or you can pay $1000 trade dollars or you could trade $1000 of your own goods and services – what would you prefer? Let’s say you are a restaurant owner, you could trade for $1000 worth of meals. We know it doesn’t cost you $1000, it only costs your marginal costs. It is only the cost of the food, or on industry standards it is only 30 cents in the dollar because the fixed costs of running the business are going to be there anyway.

“If it is 30 cents in the dollar, then the restaurant owner is deciding between paying $1000 cash or effectively $300.

“That is the premise of what Bartercard does - we have taken the old age bartering system and modernised it to make it flexible and secure.”

With the system approved by the Australian tax office and run through electronic EFTPOS systems, Hall said the Bartercard system integrated into most business models.

“We have now created a community of businesses which are able to trade with each other without resorting to cash,” he said.

But the big challenge has been educating the business community about the system’s benefits and use.

“One of the things I still love after being in this business for 19 years is finding out innovative ways that our members have used the Bartercard system in developing their own business,” he added.

“To explain it in 20 seconds is always a difficult thing and people’s perceptions have been difficult to overcome because perhaps people think it is something to avoid tax. “But we have taken away the traditional problems of direct barter – that where you might want my product but I don’t want yours, or you want a lot more of my product compared to what I want of yours, or there is nobody keeping a proper valuation.

“The biggest thing we do is offer a huge competitive edge for businesses over their cash competitors because we are offering a unique way to attract new business.”

And with the system adaptable to nearly every industry, Hall says the company expects to maintain its healthy growth rate.

“When we started out the one thing I loved about this concept was that there is no real endpoint, it can keep expanding and growing,” he continued.

“Bartercard works for every business – perhaps not every business owner because of their mindset – but it will work in every industry. We are not limited to one particular sector.”

And the company is no longer limited by geography either, with expansion to the UK, Middle East and Southeast Asia already delivered and future expansion in the pipeline.

“Our goal is to continue to expand world wide,” Hall said.

“Therefore when you travel you will be able to go over and use your Bartercard and swipe it through a terminal like a credit card and it will be debited or credited to your account back in Australia.”

Back home, the company is looking to target different business sectors, Hall said.

“We have a platform of small to medium size businesses, but mostly small businesses, and our goal is to develop into the corporate arena,” he added.

“The same strategy is to expand our businesses into the various sectors, particularly hospitality, building and manufacturing. We can offer manufacturers to sell at retail prices, which allows them to sell directly to consumers at a better margin.”

And while Bartercard continues to expand internationally and in the online domain through elements like member trading portals, Hall said the best aspect of his involvement was the learning environment.

“I have learned masses about all the different types of businesses available,” he concluded.

“Because we need an in-depth knowledge of all businesses, you learn so much.”