Working for barter instead of cash

I put an ad in the Craigslist "Barter" section this weekend. Would like to trade my handyman skills for trades and barters... and of course cash works too.

A couple of things happened... First I received 4 inquiries about bartering on small to medium sized jobs, in my area. Just what I was looking for!

Second.. this morning I found out my ad was flagged. Haha. Good ole Craigslist flagging nazis.

Have you ever thought about taking something other than cash for your services? Quite often you can get much more for your efforts than simply cash. There are no taxes on "trades", except when you trade your efforts for cash. Also there is a depreciation factor of items to trade, yet I value my work at the going rate. Say I value my efforts on your behalf at 500 dollars and we begin to barter the compensation. Well, just because you have something that you paid 500 dollars for as a consumer, meaning you bought from a retail provider at a retail price, does not mean that it is worth 500 dollars now. In fact in my experience I get almost double the value when I barter than when I take cash. Let's face it, if you're willing to trade me for my efforts you have already determined that you don't need your barter as much as you need my services. On the other hand, if I need your barter then it is quite possibly worth much more to me in as much as I do not have to visit the same retailer and pay top dollar for your item. And if I don't need it specifically then of course I can sell it myself for cash or trade and the depreciation factor is not as much of a factor because I will be suffering it myself.

So if you've never thought of trading and bartering I think you're missing out on a beneficial and sometimes very fun and entertaining activity.


On the second note... Flagging on Craigslist. I do not condone misposting or spamming of any kind, and yes my ad is very solidly a service ad and I suspect the reason I was flagged.. BUT, I am willing to trade my services for non-cash items in a barter situation so I think I'm solidly blurring the line on this deal.
What NOT to do when re-posting on craigslist is to make comments about being flagged. It is blood in the water for flagging nazis. Take advantage of the situation and TOP POST! That's right, your ad is no longer on craiglist and therefore eligible for re-posting, right at the top of a brand new day. Thank you very much!

So now to call these leads and see what might be available for trade. Seriously, to me this is VERY fun. Like a treasure hunt. This kind of takes the JOB out of a job.

Looks like Monday is going to be Funday! woohoo.