Why barter?

Barter can facilitate trade even when cash flow is tight. People are interested in trading products (goods and services) for other products even when they can not afford to buy the products with money.

Why circular?

Conventional two-way barter can only happen when there is a coincidence of wants: "A" wants what "B" has while at the same time B wants what A has. Circular barter allows for a lot more flexibility: A wants what B has; B probably wants what someone else has, and that person in turn probably wants what a fourth person has. Eventually it's likely that the chain will loop back on itself, so that a circular trade can be arranged:

In a circular trade, you know exactly what you're going to receive and exactly what you're going to give. The products are not actually delivered at the same moment, but the deal is made in one instant: the agreement to deliver one product, and the agreement to receive another product. Where, when, and how the actual delivery of goods will happen depends on the concrete arrangements you make with each one of your partners. Remember, you should choose people you trust as your partners!

How does it work in practice?

Although, in theory, with CMB the lack of money shouldn't be a problem at all, in reality, you often need certain products right away, so you can't wait for a circular deal to happen. In order to avoid needlessly spending your money, you should, in advance, collect delivery promises for sufficient amounts of these products that you are likely to need in the near future. That is: you buy a bulk of products which you, later on, receive in portions. If you do so, your partners will be committed to provide you with the goods and services you need, at the moment you need them.

But there is more!

• You can make payments to other users, transferring to them products that you own.
• You can sell back products that you have bought if you do not need them anymore.
• You can send messages to your customers, as well as receive messages from your partners.
• You can use CMB from any Internet-connected cell phone.
• You can start a local exchange trading system.

Advertising your trader ID

A unique trader ID is automatically generated for every user.

My business card

To find out what your trader ID is, click the "My business card" link in the main menu:

Your ID will show up at the top of the page.

Make sure your customers will be able to find your trader ID too: put it on your real business card, put it on your website, put it in your ads [1]. Knowing your trader ID is the easiest way for your potential customers to find you in the system!

If you are the sole proprietor of your business, make sure you have uploaded your photograph to your business card, so that your trading partners can confirm that they are delivering goods to the right person.

Putting your products on the market

First, you have to create a list with all the products that you offer together with their respective prices. When this is done, you should register your spare items for sale.

Important notice: In your pricelist, you should list only products that are suitable for use as currency. That is: people have to be willing to buy your product, or be paid with it, over and over. "My old laptop", for example, isn't a good product, because it represents a single indivisible item. "Music lessons", on the other hand, can be an excellent product, as long as there is at least one person willing to buy it, or be paid with it. If you do not offer products suitable for use as currency — leave your pricelist empty (In this case, you will still be able to make and receive payments in other people's products, as well as to exchange one product for another via circular deals).

Create a product

To define a new product, click the "My pricelist" link in the main menu, then click "ADD PRODUCT":

On this page you can describe your new product, so that your customers know what they are going to receive. Click "Submit" to add the product to your pricelist.

My pricelist

To see your current offers, click the "My pricelist" link in the main menu: (The examples shown here are for someone who has already participated in a trade.)

Here you can update the prices of your products. Although the prices given here are in U.S. dollars, you should put your prices in the currency that is used in your country.

Take a look at the "Available amount" column — it tells you the total amount of product that you need to keep in stock, or otherwise be able to deliver. Click on the product's name to see all the customers to whom you agreed to deliver this product together with the agreed (deposited) amounts:

On this page you can see that you owe 20 pieces of your "Product A" to a customer with trader ID "958770802". You can also see that there are 80 spare pieces of this product that you currently offer for sale. Look at the "Roundoff amount" number in product's description — for your convenience, product amounts are rounded off according to this number.

If there are no deposited items for a product, a check-box will show up here instead, allowing you to delete the product. The next section, "My items for sale", will explain how to increase the "deposited amount".

My items for sale

After you have at least one product in your pricelist, click the "My items for sale" link in the main menu to register your spare items for sale:

This page tells you one more time that you have 80 pieces of your "Product A" for sale. To increase this amount click on "MAKE A DEPOSIT"; to decrease this amount click on "withdraw". When you list items on "My items for sale", you should set aside that amount of stock of actual goods, or otherwise ensure that you will be able to deliver that amount of a product if required.

Deciding which products you want to buy

In order to buy from people, first you have to list them as your partners to indicate that you trust them. Then you will be able to view your partners' offers, and from there, to add products to your shopping list. Finally, you have to define in your shopping list the exact amounts which you want to buy.

Shopping list

To define the exact amounts which you want to buy, click the "Shopping list" link in the main menu:

1. You have bought 2.5 kilograms of "Product X1" from your partner "Trader X". You need 10 kilograms in total, so you specify that you want to buy additional 7.5 kilograms. The maximum price you are willing to pay is $5.50 per kilogram (this also happens to be the current price).
2. You want to buy 5 kilograms of "Product X2" at a maximum price of $14 per kilogram. Since the current price is $15, your bid is currently void (this is indicated by the red asterisk).
3. You have bought 20 pieces of "Product Y1". You do not need them, so you specify that you want to sell them all back at a minimum price of $3 per piece (the current price is $3.30).

Here you can specify your bids for the amounts and the prices that satisfy you. You can also add new products to your shopping list by clicking on "ADD NEW ITEM".

Waiting for deals

Once you've made all your offers, and all your bids, you should wait for the desired deals to take place. Trading turns will be launched automatically at regular intervals. The time of the next trading turn is shown at the bottom of every page.

During a trading turn the system analyzes all users' offers and bids. When a chain which loops back on itself is found, a deal gets executed. A list of deals you're engaged in this trading turn is then presented to you.

The system is designed to arrange trades such that the values of exchanged goods are in perfect balance according to the prices selected by the users. As deals are executed, the relevant customer account balances are updated accordingly.

On this page you can see that you have sold 20 pieces of your "Product A" in exchange for 9 kilograms of "Product X1" from "Trader X". Notice that the displayed amounts are rounded off: you really get 9.09090909 instead of 9 kilograms. The exact numbers will show up in a tooltip when you rest your mouse over the amounts.

Delivering goods to your customers

When a customer wants you to deliver some goods which he/she has bought, click the "Find customer" link in the top menu:

Here you enter the trader ID that your customer tells you. When you click the "Submit" button, all the items which your customer has bought will show up:

Before you click the "withdraw" link, you should make sure that the person who wants to obtain the goods is the person in the trader's photograph.

Important notice: You need to have a way to reimburse your customers for any fractional amounts that they may have bought, which are impossible to be delivered directly (0.25 bicycles for example). In such cases, you can deliver some amount of other goods or services; or you can give or receive some amount of money, so as to get rid of the fractional part.

If you want to increase the amount that you owe to your customer, follow the "MAKE A DEPOSIT TO THIS TRADER'S ACCOUNT" link.

Making and receiving payments

CMB allows every user to make and receive electronic payments. That is: you can transfer goods from your "shopping list" to other users' shopping lists. It is very similar to a bank transfer — you instruct your partner (the bank) to transfers the ownership of some of your goods to someone else.

Although, in many ways, CMB's payments are similar to bank transfers, there are notable differences making our approach unique:

• Every trader who offers products that are widely trusted and appreciated, with no efforts on his/her part [3], can act as a bank — facilitating customer-to-customer payments.
• The type of goods that are transferred (the medium of exchange) should not necessarily be money. Payments can be made in every convenient product that the payer owns, which the payee happens to appreciate.
• All payments should be explicitly confirmed by the payee before being carried out. This allows for simple, reliable, and indisputable point-of-sale payments.

To make, or to receive a payment, click the "Shopping list" link in the main menu, then click on the name of the product with which you want to pay or be paid:

If you follow the "MAKE A PAYMENT ORDER" link, you will be able to specify the exact amount which you want to pay, along with the payee's trader ID.

If you follow the "view incoming payments" link, you will see all the payments that you are entitled to receive, waiting for your confirmation in order to be carried out.

My payment orders

To review the payment orders that you have made, click the "My payment orders" link in the main menu:

Here you can see that you have authorized trader "258668749" to receive 7.5 kilograms of "Product X1" from your partner "Trader X". In order for this payment order to be carried out, the payee should visit his/her shopping list and confirm that he/she is willing to accepts the payment.

Do a campaign

Usually when money is scarce and trade is stagnating, traders are open to new ways of selling their products. Believe it or not, people are quite receptive to good ideas.

Create a local business directory

Set up a local website where businesses in your community can advertise their products, search for products they need, and find new trading partners [4]. Have criteria determining which traders are allowed to advertise on the website, so that people have a level of trust that the businesses listed are reputable local businesses.

Introduce a community currency "product"

Create a special product in the system, defined in such a way that makes it appropriate for use as a local medium of exchange. Grant appropriate amount of this "product" to credit-worthy businesses in your community. Send regular reports to your members about the credit lines that you approve.