Part Cash/Trade Transactions
Receivables
Posting of Transactions
Limited Trading Policy 
Fees
Inclusions & Exclusions
Termination
Customer Satisfaction and Control
Purchasing
Limited Supply Goods and Services
Reversal of Transactions
Pricing Policy
Standby
Auto Pay
Vendor Co-Op Program
Authorization Procedure
Directory Listings
Liability for Trade Dollars (TradeBUX™)
Account Suspension
Travel Bookings
Privacy Policy
Cookie Policy

A trade exchange is very different than the normal cash economy.   Many of the rules of normal market economics just do not apply in the barter business.  For this reason, it is necessary to have standard policies in order to make the organization run as smoothly as possible.  What is equally important to having policies is that we are consistent in the use of them and that our clients know and understand them.  To help  you in your understanding of our policies and therefore  your ability to explain them to your clients, we have provided explanations of most BarterWorld  policies below.  It is also a good idea to read over the client agreement a few times to become familiar with the basic policies and their location in the agreement.  If for any reason you do not fully understand them, please ask someone who does.  You can't expect to be able to explain a policy to a client, let alone expect them to adhere to it, if you don't understand it yourself.

Part Cash/Trade Transactions 
Any individual transactions of $5,000 or more are allowed to be part cash/trade but only with our approval.  A single transaction would include an agreement over a period of time to buy a certain amount i.e..  Vendor Co-ops. The reason for part cash is to help ease the cash flow burden of the seller.  If an average client has a profit margin of 50%, a sale of this size would mean the seller has a cash cost of a minimum of $5,000 plus our transaction fees within 30 days of the transaction.  This is a relatively high cash drain on a small business and might normally prevent this type of transaction from taking place.  Since the buyer is still spending a large amount of trade, a % of cash is usually agreeable.  The seller's Account Manager must approve the % cash and get it OK'd by the buyer.  The AM might negotiate on behalf of the client or simply approve what's already been agreed upon by the clients.  Try to negotiate what's fair for both parties.  The seller should still have some cash cost involved.

There are certain low profit margin categories where cash/trade blends are allowed.  The categories and the percentages must be approved by corporate office and will often only involve products or services where the cost-of-goods is higher than 60%.  There is a regularly published list of these categories with the approved minimum percentage in trade.

Cash/Trade Blend Categories

Receivables 
Our agreement says any account will have purchasing privileges suspended if cash fees are unpaid at the end of the billing month i.e.. 30 days  We allow our clients the privilege to go 60 days before the computer automatically suspends spending.  At 30 days they get a note on their statement vie email reminding them of the bill and it mentions that if it goes to 60, they will not be able to spend on their account.  They will start emails every week of the same.

At 60 days they get a stronger note on his statement that advises them that their spending privileges have been suspended.

At 90 days they get a  phone call and a email stating that they have 10 days to pay or make arrangements.

At 120 days, the account goes to collection which is 4 times what are payment terms are.  If clients are upset that they have gone to collection, you can be rest assured that they have had ample opportunity and consideration with their debt.

Posting of Transactions 
When an authorization is given at the time a client purchases from another client, BarterWorld places the funds of the buyer in the amount of the authorization in the seller's account immediately.  This is called a posted transaction.   If the buyer attempts to reverse the transaction by contacting BarterWorld, we will request the transaction slip from the seller:

1. if there's no signature of an authorized cardholder and it is within six months of the date of authorization it will be reversed.
2. if it has a proper signature/computer generated signature then it can't be reversed for any reason.  Although we sometimes would love to reverse them because we know the buyer has been wronged, if we did, the seller could sue us and win. This policy may sound harsh but we don't want to get into a situation where we play judge and jury all the time.  This is why we try to take every opportunity to tell our clients not to sign a transaction slip unless they're sure they want to pay for the purchase.  It's the same as if they were paying for the item with a cheque.  If the cheque was cashed, I doubt if the client would call the bank up to ask for their money back.

Limited Trading Policy 
We place somebody on limited trading policy if:

• a client can't walk in and make a purchase the exact same as for cash i.e., all products or services are for sale for 100% trade at regular prices and in relatively large amounts (at least $5,000). There are many examples of limited trading.  Some of the more common ones are:
  • only certain items tradable
  • only small amounts tradable
  • only does barter work at certain times
  • does specialized work and client want’s us to screen clients first

Limited trading clients must always have a detailed description in "inside broker's description" field in Barterworld which describes the criteria for their limited trading status.  When a call comes in, the account manager/trade manager must check this field to see if the caller's request fits the criteria and/or they must inform the caller of any limitations before the client attempts to make the purchase.

Fees 
We have many different fees at BarterWorld our fee structure has been developed from what has been proven to work in the industry.  We could structure our fees many different ways.  At the end of the day, the market will bear paying a certain amount in total fees for quality barter services.  Although it's not really necessary to have a direct reason for each of the fees, some clients find it easier to accept if they feel that each fees is for a separate function in our service.  That being the case, the following explanations can be given if necessary.

Set-up fee

This is to get a client processed and set-up into the system.  There is nothing wrong with the client knowing that the majority of this goes to the Trade Consultant.  Every company has to charge and pay for sales and it's in their best interests for us to continue bringing new clients in.

Transaction fee

This is a charge for people when they use the system.  Some may think of it as a fee for doing our two jobs:  bringing new business to them and helping them spend.  Again, there is nothing wrong with the client knowing that account/trade managers  and in fact the whole company gets bonused when they trade.  The client knows we have a strong incentive to work for them.

Overdraft fee

This is a charge in trade on negative balances.  It is charged as the client is "borrowing" funds from the bank so to speak, which is BarterWorld.  Naturally, if we are loaning money out, we are going to experience losses.  This fee helps cover these losses.  Without this source of replacing funds, the system could develop a dangerously high deficit and could cease to exist over a long period of time.  We do not pay on positive balances.  Business accounts at banks do not pay on positive balances and frankly, it is not in our best interests to encourage saving.  We want people to have an incentive to sell and then spend.

Past due interest

This is charge on unpaid cash balances.  It's a penalty for not paying our bill like the client agreed they would and for "borrowing" our money.

Monthly maintenance fees

This fee helps cover the cost of accounting and statement processing on the client's account.  It also helps pay for the newsletters, mailings and directories.

Credit lines

We control credit at BarterWorld  to:

• ensure the long term integrity and stability of the company (see explanation of overdraft charges).

This controls the money supply as well as ensures that our total loans portfolio is within a manageable amount of risk.  At any given point, we have over million’s worth of loans out.  At the same time, we have the same in positive balances.  We have a responsibility to these "depositors" to protect their money.  In legal terms, this is called a "fiduciary duty" and we take it seriously.

Inclusions & Exclusions 
Like many policies, this one is certainly painted in shades of gray rather than black & white.  The guidelines we use to determine whether a client can exclude a certain product or service from barter are:

• if there are items that are a disproportionately high percentage of the total cost of the sale, then we may allow that item to be paid in cash.  i.e..  Home Electronics.  Most often, items like these are considerably more than the labour.  We do not allow a cash profit if there normally is one, to be made on these items, however.
• if the item is not in what could be categorized as being that client's "core business".  A plumber plumbing a bathroom is not in the business of selling toilets and sinks.  He would be expected though to include pipe and fittings that are normally part of the job and do not constitute a large percentage of the job.
• Do they normally include this item when they sell for cash.  There are some furniture upholsterers that always have the customer supply the fabric even though most of the industry includes fabric.  It is unreasonable for us to now insist that they include fabric on trade.

As you can see, making and enforcing a good decision in this area requires a little research, logic and understanding.  We want to do what's reasonable and fair and then be firm in our enforcement.  This will help ensure smooth trades and higher trade volume.

Termination 
We can terminate a client for any reason although we usually don't.  It is usually for one of two reasons.

• They won't pay our cash fees or
• They are using unfair trading practices

We try to keep track of complaints through our Smart Simple management program and also monitor quality through Smart Simple.  If we feel that a client has had a number of legitimate complaints and has done nothing to resolve them and/or seems to continue this behavior, we will terminate them.

Customer Satisfaction and Control 
We are more ruthless in terminating than any other trade exchange in our market and should be proud of this.  We should be more proud however of our efforts in attempting to control quality without termination.  Terminating is the easy method but naturally hurts our trade volume and reduces the range of goods and services to our clients.   We have two systems in place to give us information on our client's behavior so that we can then attempt to control it.

Purchasing 
All purchases where a transaction slip is signed must be made by an authorized cardholder (person listed on app. or in supplementary letter).  For example, an employee cannot go out to a restaurant with the bosses' card.  If the purchase is a telephone or mail order, then anyone can make the purchase since it can be reversed if disputed anyway.  This is the same policy as with credit cards.  You can order Ginsu knives all week long from the TV on your wife's Visa without being a cardholder but you can't go to Swiss Chalet.

Limited Supply Goods and Services 
Some products or categories are very high in demand but very low  in supply. Electronics, business machines, appliances and sporting goods are some examples.  In these specific cases vendors could easily earn several hundreds of thousands of trade dollars in a very short period of time if the sale of these items was not controlled.  These vendors would normally go on standby very quickly because of their inability to spend trade dollars as quickly as they earn them.  We run into a problem when there is a serious shotage of supply in some areas and lots of demand.  The question naturally arises:  "Who gets the product?" BarterWorld  adheres to the "high demand policy "common in the barter industry which states:  when limited supply products become available, it is to be offered to the member with the highest trade sales in the last 12 month period.  This gives the most active members  access to the limited products within the trade exchange. These members must have the available credit to make the purchase. Available credit is defined as a trade balance and or line of credit which enables them to make such a purchase. Members who provide limited supply products or services will not be published in our directory.  For more information about who will not be published in the directory , see "Directory listings" policy. We have been using this policy for years and have had extremely few members that don't find it very reasonable.

We often sign up members that we have to control the sales of very carefully.  In this case, the listing will often go out to our Platinum and/or Gold members only.  An example would be a member who has a popular product and only wants initial sales of say, $5,000.  This is obviously going to be easy to do and if the listing went out to everyone, it would create far too much demand and would disappoint a lot of people.  Sometimes another challenge evolves.  What prevents one client going in and buying $5,000 all at once just for himself?  The answer is "nothing".  In instances such as this, we may get a limited amount of gift certificates printed and limit the number each client can purchase.

Reversal of Transactions 
See Posting of Transactions

Pricing Policy 
All BarterWorld  clients must sell their products and services at their regular everyday selling price on trade. Sale prices are optional.  If list price is what they normally sell at than they may sell at that price but if they normally sell at 20% off MSLP, then that is what they should sell at on barter.  A manufacturer should sell at their usual discounted price if he is selling in large quantities as he normally would for cash.  If a manufacturer is selling individual items or small amounts of product directly to our clients as the end user, we will normally allow them to charge prevailing retail prices since they are acting as normal retailers in this situation. Transactions over $5,000.00 may be part cash / trade provided that BarterWorld  approves the transaction (see Part Cash / Trade Transactions policy)

Standby 
Clients who are earning trade dollars at a pace faster than they can spend them may suspend their sales temporarily by placing their account on standby (not selling) status. All clients who go on standby must notify their Trade Broker or Account Manager of this status change. 30 days notice is required before your account is placed on standby so that we may notify our clients of your change in selling status. All clients who's accounts are on standby may continue to purchase provided that their account is in good standing. Members whose accounts are in deficit may not go on standby for any reason.

Auto Pay 
BarterWorld  issues statements within the first few days of each month for all transaction confirmed since the last issued statement. Payments by cheque or credit card must reach the BarterWorld  office by the last day of the month or the client's credit card or bank account will be billed automatically. A declined credit card or a requested reversal of an auto-pay transaction to the cllent's financial institution is treated the same as an NSF cheque.

Vendor Co-Op Program 
This program is designed to present a solution to a long term trade arrangement for a direct cost of goods item. Any item which a client purchases over $10,000 worth of annually and multiple sources of supply are available and acceptable would apply to this program. The printer who buys paper, and the restaurant who buys food would be perfect candidates. These clients spend large amounts on these suppliers everyday and would benefit if they could match their existing price and quality on a part cash / trade basis.

Authorization Procedure 
A transaction slip must be filled out to facilitate a transaction. Both the buyer's number, seller's number, authorization number (over $50.00 at restaurants) and buyer's signature must appear on the transaction slip. Authorization numbers may be obtained only by going to www.barterworld.com or calling us at 905. 947.1824

Directory Listings 
A client may not be listed for one or more of these reasons.

1. Only members that sell at everyday selling prices and are unrestricted for listed products and services are listed in the directory.  If circumstances cause a member not to be able to trade their product under these guidelines (see limited trading section), then clients are required to contact their AM/TA  first.  They  will explain any restrictions or conditions or do any screening prior to giving the names out.
2. Members in categories who often go on standby (not currently selling) status are not listed in the directory.  Many times we have more than one member in these categories.  Clients are required to contact their account/trade manager who will refer them to the member(s) currently trading.
3. We may have to make arrangements for you i.e. travel.  We have several different  sources for travel and our sources change often.  Some of this is through our affiliate trade exchanges in different cities.  We have to know what the client is looking for before we can suggest anything and make the necessary phone calls.  We also buy inventory sometimes that we warehouse.  The clients naturally have to call us in order to buy these items.

Liability for Trade Dollars (TradeBUX™) 
Client acknowledges that TardeBux in the trade exchange (positive balances) are the liabilities of persons who have spent more than their earnings (negative balances); that there is a creditor/debtor relationship between such persons, and that trade transactions incur the normal business risks associated with any credit transactions. BarterWorld is responsible for negative balances of clients and for losses, but shall have full responsibility for all trade dollars that it uses like any other client on the trade exchange.

Trade dollars shall not be considered as legal tender, securities or commodities, by either BarterWorld or its clients, and may not be redeemed for cash.

Memberships may not be transferred or sold without BarterWorld approval.

A $25 cash credit, applied toward current or future transaction fees, will be given to Clients who sponsor a NEW Client that joins BarterWorld.

Trade transactions are entered into on a voluntary basis between Clients. Although BarterWorld may give referrals as a service to its Clients, BarterWorld assumes no responsibility for the quality, timely delivery, warranty or dispute of any nature between Clients with regard to any product or service being traded. BarterWorld will make every effort to resolve disputes to the satisfaction of all parties. BarterWorld is functioning in a brokerage capacity and Client does hereby indemnify and hold BarterWorld harmless with respect to any claim, debt or liability whatsoever, arising out of trade transactions wherein Client is a buyer or seller. This shall include but be limited to, professional malpractice claims, contractor/client disputes or claims of product liability. It is understood that the Client may not be considered a creditor of BarterWorld or Clients of the exchange in relation to Client's ability to spend TradeBUX™ from his or her account.

The collection, declaration and reporting of all applicable local, provincial and federal taxes resulting from trade transactions rests solely with the Client. Barter sales are taxable events.

Cash transaction fees resulting from client purchases are due and payable upon receipt of the monthly statement. Any transaction fees that remain unpaid beyond the end of the month that they are due, will be assessed a cash penalty equal to 1% per month on the fee amount that is outstanding. Cash transaction fees on trades of $5,000.00 TradeBUX™ or more are due and payable in advance. BarterWorld reserves the right without notice to Client, to suspend client's trading privilege until the account is current.

Client or BarterWorld may cancel this Agreement after 30 days written notice. Upon cancellation, all trade dollars due Client must be spent within 90 days on products and services available through BarterWorld. Any trade remaining in Client account after the 90 days will revert back to BarterWorld. Any outstanding balance due BarterWorld must be paid in full within 30 days, in cash. In the event this obligation is referred to an attorney with or without suit, Client agrees to pay, in cash, attorney fees and costs.

BarterWorld may, at its option, request advance payment of Client Transaction fees. Outstanding fees and fees on the trade balance are due in advance of any spendout. Client agrees that in any dispute where BarterWorld is suing Client collect fees or negative trade balance credits (TradeBUX™) , the exchange rate for each BarterWorld trade dollar owed is equal to one Canadian dollar.

If, after one year, an account has not had any activity (buy or sell), and the account remains with a zero balance, BarterWorld shall have the right to close that account. Client acknowledges that, from time to time, Client firms will cease doing business, abandon or otherwise exit the BarterWorld network leaving a debit or credit balance in their trade account. Further, BarterWorld maintains an account termed "Debt Reserve," wherein the debit or credit balances are charged or credited. If BarterWorld loses contact with an account due to a disconnected telephone and/or continued returned mail, and the Client has not attempted to notify BarterWorld of this change of status, BarterWorld will close the account after 60 days and credit any trade dollars to BarterWorld Debt Reserve account.

Retention and/or use of the BarterWorld Barter Card constitutes acceptance of the Agreement with all terms and conditions as a Client of BarterWorld. BarterWorld shall give 30 days notice of such change, deletions or additions.

Major construction and other long term trade projects should have all estimates written form. The seller can request an initial deposit, with a phased payment schedule thereafter based upon the satisfactory completion of each part of the project.

Client's monthly statement will be considered accurate as printed unless the BarterWorld accounting department is notified of any discrepancy within 14 days of receipt.

Direct trades between clients to avoid transaction fees are prohibited, and if consummated, are subject to our normal transaction fee on both sides, payable on demand. Such trades may also result in suspension or termination of this Agreement.

Additional Reasons for Account Suspension 
BarterWorld may place a Client's account on hold and/or cancel this agreement if one or more of the following situations exist:

1. BarterWorld has received 2 written complaints on a given Client for either proof of poor performance or attempting to charge in excess of Client's retail prices.
2. Client has committed fraud, either on other Clients or against BarterWorld.
3. Client is not following his/her contractual agreement with BarterWorld.
4. Client has exhibited unprofessional behavior in dealing with BarterWorld staff or in the conduct of trades with other BarterWorld Clients.

Travel Booking Fees from Other Exchanges 
A $20 cash booking fee will be included on all transactions involving local Clients purchasing travel, restaurants or other forms of entertainment from exchanges other than BarterWorld. A $25 cash cancellation charge will be assessed to Clients for reservations which are confirmed and then canceled. In addition, a minimum trade charge of one night's room rate may be added by the exchange through which the booking took place.

Privacy Policy 

This document describes the details of the Online Privacy Policy (the "Privacy Policy") for this Web site, www.barterworld.com and/or its affiliate sites (the "Site"). If you have objections to the Privacy Policy, you should not access or use this Site.

If you reside in the European Union, please be aware that your consent that the personal information you have provided may be transferred and stored in countries outside of the EU, including the United States and Canada.

Collecting your Personal Information- Why?
BarterWorld collects and uses your personal information to provide you with convenient access to our products and services, and give you superior customer service, and to keep you informed on the latest updates, special offers, and other similar information.

How?
We collect information about you in several ways. We require your information when you join BarterWorld; when you register a new product or service, or order one product or service from one of our other members, or ask to be included in an email mailing list, store this information you have provided us within a secure Data Base. 

Protecting the Information
We protect the security of the data you have sent us with physical, electronic, and managerial procedures.

We use industry-standard Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) encryption on the web pages where personal information is required.

Protecting the Information
We protect the security of the data you have sent us with physical, electronic, and managerial procedures.

We use industry-standard Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) encryption on the web pages where personal information is required.

Collecting Other Personal Information
When you browse our site, we don't collect your personal information however, we are informed by your browser about the type of computer and operating system used by you. We do uses "cookie" technology.  See Cookie Policy. They do not reveal any personal information about you. We use cookies to study traffic patterns on our site so we can make the site even better.

Commitment to Privacy
1. We communicate these privacy guidelines to our employee
2. We do not knowingly solicit personal information from children
3. Our website could contain links to other sites. We do not share your information with such sites nor are we responsible for their privacy practices
4. Our Company's Privacy Policy is subject to changes at any time. So we advice you review the privacy policy regularly for any changes

Refund Policy.

BarterWorld is a third party record-keeper and administrator of the clearinghouse function of the BarterWorld marketplace, and not involved in any actual transaction between Members, or between a Member and a Third Party through the marketplace. In the event that you have a dispute with one or more Members or with one or more Third Parties, you release BarterWorld (and subsidiaries, directors, officers, employees, independent contractors, and other agents) from any and all claims, demands and damages (actual and consequential) of every kind and nature, known and unknown, suspected and unsuspected, disclosed and undisclosed, arising out of or in any way connected with such dispute. You agree that if a Seller fails to deliver products or services pursuant to agreed-upon terms, Buyer’s only recourse shall be against the Seller, and not against BarterWorld or against BarterWorld subsidiaries, directors, officers, employees, or Brokers. BarterWorld will make every effort to assist it’s member disputes to the satisfaction of all parties.

Prohibited Products and Services.

No Member shall offer for sale or purchase any product or service through the BarterWorld in a manner that violates federal, provincial or local law. No offer to sell or purchase any such prohibited product or service shall be deemed to be authorized by BarterWorld. Only Members holding the appropriate license may sell products and services that are permitted to be sold only by licensed sellers under federal, provincial, and local law, including but not limited to travel services, alcohol, real estate, insurance, professional services and securities. Member shall indemnify and hold harmless BarterWorld and the marketplace from any claim, demand, judgment, or fine made by any third party, including government agencies, due to or arising from Member’s offer to sell, sale, or purchase of a prohibited product or service through the BarterWorld marketplace.

Cookie Policy 

BarterWorld fees are an inexpensive way to do business.

To enhance your experience on our sites, many of our web pages use "cookies". Cookies are small text files that we place in your computer's browser to store your preferences. Cookies, by themselves, do not tell us your email address or other personal information unless you choose to provide this information to us by, for example, registering at one of our sites. Once you choose to provide a web page with personal information, this information may be linked to the data stored in the cookie. A cookie is like an identification card. It is unique to your computer and can only be read by the server that gave it to you.

We use cookies to understand site usage and to improve the content and offerings on our sites. For example, we may use cookies to personalize your experience on our web pages (e.g. to recognize you by name when you return to our site). We also may use cookies to offer you products and services.

Cookies save you time as they help us to remember who you are. Cookies help us to be more efficient. We can learn about what content is important to you and what is not. We can revise or remove web pages that are not of interest and focus our energies on content you want.

If you want to control which cookies you accept. You can configure your browser to accept all cookies or to alert you every time a cookie is offered by a website's server. Most browsers automatically accept cookies. You can set your browser option so that you will not receive cookies and you can also delete existing cookies from your browser. You may find that some parts of the site will not function properly if you have refused cookies.

Please be aware that if you do not configure your browser you will accept cookies provided by this website.

How to see cookies that you have accepted. You can configure your browser to accept all cookies or to alert you every time a cookie is offered by a website's server.

We may also use small pieces of software code called "web beacons" or "clear gifs" to collect anonymous and aggregate advertising matrix, such as counting page views, promotion views, or advertising responses. A web beacon is an electronic image, called a single-pixel or clear GIF. Web beacons can recognize certain types of information on user's computer, such as a user's Cookie number, time and date of a page view and description of the page where the web beacon is placed. You may render some web beacons unusable if you choose to reject their associated cookies. These web beacons may be use to deliver cookies that conform with our Cookie Policy.

BarterWorld policies can change without notification.