Trade Routes

Ladies and gentleman, barterin time is here, and its getting more specialized. Bellevue-based BizXchange has long been the big player in the business world, but some new, more specialized websites have popped up to make trading trendy in and around Seattle.

Backyard Barter is the brainchild of Ballardite Creagh Miller with the help of Ericka Sisolak and a steering committee. Its designed to unite overwhelmed backyard owners who may be suffering a little garden deprivation. Launched in May, Backyard Barter is a combination online/real-world community where neighbors swap excess produce, materials and gardening skillsfrom seedlings, eggs and extra tomatoes to the use of garden tools, expertise in canning and chicken coops as well as getting a helping hand to dig in the dirt.

Detouring slightly from the traditional barter format, Bellevue-based Dibspace is a services-based bartering site that uses a fictional currency called dibits. Users accrue dibitsone dibit equals $1by offering services (and some goods) to other users, then use their earned dibits to acquire other goods or services. Struck with the idea during a marketing seminar, Dibspace creator Dominic Canterbury realized that by using a barter service, businesses could trade at a level thats impossible with any other currency.

For an esoteric take on trade, consider bARTer Sauce. Its a hybrid of art proliferation, self-discovery and community outreach helmed by downtown Seattle resident Rosalie Gale, who trades unusual objects and pieces of art for other odd items, never holding on to one thing any longer than it takes to trade it for something else. Gale requires all traders to share a storytrue or fictionalfor publication on her website. She credits the project with introducing her to people she would never have met otherwise.