One of the world’s oldest forms of commerce has finally gotten a foothold in the newest commercial medium.
Online bartering, an idea with many proponents but few successes, is emerging as an e-commerce model, bolstered by a spate of new Web sites run by veterans of the e-commerce industry. And although these sites won’t soon challenge Amazon.com or eBay, they are carving out a significant niche in what could be a highly profitable business.
It sounds unlikely, but it’s true, according to Billy McNair, chief executive of Peerflix, a DVD trading service based in Palo Alto, Calif. The company’s 250,000 members post titles of DVDs they are willing to trade on the Web site (peerflix.com), which then facilitates the swaps by giving members printable forms that include postage and the recipient’s address.
Trades are not directly between two people. For every DVD shipped from one’s library, the sender receives credit toward the acquisition of other titles available in the network. Peerflix also determines the relative value of a DVD, to prevent people from trading, say, “Halloween 5″ for a restored version of “Citizen Kane.”
