The Barter Economy In Modern Times

Long before the days of coins, paper money, credit cards and cryptocurrency, there was another way that people exchanged goods, the barter system. Back to the earliest of people, humans would exchange their skills or goods for something else they could use for food, comfort or shelter. This has almost completely gone away in most of the civilized world with some minor exceptions here and there. However, I maintain that there is still a place for his trade option and have been doing it for quite some time including trading website design and promotion work for massage therapy, photography work for event invites and more. Apparently, there is one major website that a lot of people have not yet heard about that believes in the value of barter as much as I do - Simbi.com.

Simbi has been around for a while but is trying to grow and it deserves to do just that. What’s so great about this site you might ask. Well, let me explain.

Basically, you sign up for the site and build a profile both offering skills and or goods you have as well as “shopping” for those that other members are providing. You can also look through a list of requests made by members for specific services and post them for yourself. Honestly, it is a pretty basic idea but can have a big impact. You accumulate a digital currency called Simbi that is only applicable to the use within the website and cannot be exchanged for cash. The only cash that is ever exchanged on the website is through donation to the site if you choose or in the form of small payments to cover shipping cost of physical items. You get a generous amount of Simbi just for signing up and filling out a profile and can easily build more pretty much at any point. As far as I know, there is no limit to how much you can collect.

Basically, the options you have available are providing or receiving services or good for free, for a trade of services or for this currency you pay nothing to get. Sounds pretty cool huh?

Many of the services exchanged are quite useful and valuable. For example, I have gotten people to provide logo designs, personal assistant work, help with Wordpress websites, voice acting, physical therapy regimens designed just for me and more. As far as goods go, I have collected a beautiful cherry wood pen, several pieces of artwork and some handmade jewelry.

Another great thing about it is that about a year ago, they started allowing non-profit and community organizations to register accounts and use them to get services they need without eating into their precious operating funds. It is also another way for them to showcase what they do and the way they impact the world.

And as nice as this system can be, we all know we need real-world money to function in society for things like groceries, rent, utilities… Well, Simbi can be a great testing ground for freelancers and those getting into freelancing to try out new services and see the demand for your work. For example, if you have an account on something like Fiverr.com, you can try out an idea you plan to offer as a gig to see if it might be lucrative.

You also get ratings from the people you exchange with on a 1-5 star scale along with comments. If you want, you can use those as testimonials on other websites to promote your business or freelance gig.

I encourage you to stop by the website and check it out for yourself. And of course, I suggest you use my referral link, lol. That would be https://simbi.com/jason-greiner/welcome. What do you have to lose, other than a depletion in your bank account that is?