• ◄ BNI Card
• ◄ How To Make a Purchase
• ◄ How To Make a Sale
• ◄ Barter Trade Calculator
• ◄ Tips of the Trade
• ◄ Record Keeping
• ◄ BNI Online Trade Authorizations

Top 5 Reasons to Use BNI

Businesses that are smarter use BNI to barter!

• Improve Cash Flow
• Generate New Sales
• Find Hidden Profits
• Conserve Cash
• Managed Relationship

While every Barter Network member is unique, your membership in BNI offers you great potential to grow your business, conserve your cash and enhance your personal life.

Some of our members use their trade accounts strictly for business purposes. Others use their barter dollars as part of their personal income for everyday use. Still others use barter dollars to reward themselves and their families with a few luxuries.

Remember, the IRS treats a trade dollar like a cash dollar. Therefore, trade dollars spent on business related purchases can be deducted on your taxes as a business expense. Of course, check with your tax advisor for more information.

Top 5 Reasons to Barter:
As a BNI member, you will enjoy these benefits and more:

Improve Cash Flow : Members can purchase needed goods and services with incremental sales of their own products and services. This is especially advantageous when your company can use leftover merchandise, excess inventory, unwanted assets, unsold time on your calendar, et cetera. BNI membership creates new revenue for your company, without displacing your existing customer base. Meanwhile, you can turn your excess inventory or capacity into everyday business needs -- in place of spending cash -- by using trade dollars to purchase from other exchange members. Converting barter dollars into cash is an especially attractive option for some BNI members. For example, a retailer may purchase goods on barter and then sell them to their regular customers for cash.

Generate New Sales : One way to see Barter Network  is as an independent, commission-only, sales rep. BNI actively markets your goods and services throughout our network. Fielding hundreds of calls per day, BNI brokers search out and fulfill your purchase requests with other exchange members. Plus there's a bonus boost to your company. Most every successful business depends upon word-of-mouth referrals from satisfied customers. Barter customers are an excellent source of new customers as they spread the word of a member business to their business acquaintances, friends and family. These new customers represent new cash business for you.

Find Hidden Profits : Fortunate indeed are the favored few businesses running at 100 % capacity: professionals with full appointment calendars, manufacturers with back orders, retailers with lines out their doors and restaurants with two-hour waits. Every business must invest in their required overhead, regardless of how much they sell. We spend on space, machinery, equipment, people, education, utilities and other resources to provide our chosen goods and services. Most of us find that at the end of each day, month, quarter or year, we have not sold 100 % of the goods or services we had the capacity to produce. Recapture that lost value! BNI offers its members an additional opportunity to sell that unsold capacity at full retail value. Other businesses have perishable products or slow-moving or unwanted inventory. BNI offers the opportunity to move these assets at full value.

Conserve Cash : You spend every day for goods and services you could have bought with barter instead. Spending barter instead of cash effectively increases your business budget by increasing your spending ability. Remember, those barter dollars you're spending -- instead of cash -- came from selling your excess inventory. Meanwhile, you conserve cash to save, invest and spend for the few things you can't buy through BNI. The key to success is to, "have barter on the brain," as one of our members says. Before she makes any purchase, her first thought is to see if she can purchase it through the exchange.

Managed Relationship : Trading member-to-member through Barter Network eliminates many of the negatives businesses typically encounter in the cash world. Trading through BNI, you enjoy the advantages of a managed business relationship. Unlike the "anything goes" and "buyer beware" cash marketplace, our trade exchange operates with a set of rules enforced by our exchange brokers. Any business not following BNI rules or meeting our standards are discharged from the exchange. Membership in BNI helps qualify the quality of goods and services provided through the network. Our brokers manage both sides of the trade, ensuring satisfaction for both buyer and seller. Our brokers serve as purchasing agents to locate vendors and sources for our members. Then each trade is pre-approved, so there are no receivables nor concerns about nonpayment. Barter purchases are easy to conduct by using a membership card. You get full accountability. Each month you receive a full and complete statement of your account activity as detailed as a typical credit card or bank statement.

Testimonials

Motor Vehicle Network

We use our barter wisely, and BNI has given my company the ability to trade for most of our business expenses. From marketing materials to office equipment to hotel rooms for travel, bartering has helped us to grow our business and reduce our expenses. Scott Savage
Vice President and G.M., Motor Vehicle Network

The Red Barn

In the restaurant business, empty tables are always a challenge. BNI helps us fill those tables which allows us to spend our trade dollars on our business. Their customer service and attitude to "get it done" has made me a believer. I have been a member of other barter exchanges and BNI's attention to detail has made me a loyal member. Frank "Cheech" Nistico
Owner, Red Barn Restaurant

New England Flooring

My company had some excess flooring inventory that wasn't producing any revenue for us. BNI helped us sell that excess inventory through their barter exchange at fair retail pricing. I was able to spend my trade dollars on the goods and services that my company uses, helping me to conserve cash, a true Win-Win! We continue to use BNI for our spending needs. Keith Hemstock
Owner, New England Flooring Supply Company

A-Z Landscaping

The staff at BNI is the most experience staff that I have worked with in barter. They continue to bring new members into their barter network, which gives my business new opportunities for trading. Helping my business grow while saving me cash is what BNI is all about. Craig Gannon
Owner, A-Z Landscaping

Kaiser Battistone

BNI has helped me fill in my down times with new customers. This allows us to maximize our time and generate trade dollars for our spending needs. I'm a believer! Bill Hall
Owner, Kaiser Battistone

Saybrook Inn

We are always looking for new ways to grow our business. Barter has given us the ability to fill our down time using our rooms and conference facilities to generate trade dollars. Spending those trade dollars on landscaping, advertising, staff uniforms, web design and other items has allowed us to conserve our cash. BNI has delivered on their promise to bring us new business and save us cash! Saybrook Point Inn & Spa
Andy Abels, General Manager

Maritime Aquarium at Norwalk

The Maritime Aquarium at Norwalk partnered with Barter Network to attract new Aquarium visitors and save on cash expenses. Barter Network delivered on both counts. We have seen new visitors come through our doors because of our relationship with Barter Network and their outreach to network members. We then use our trade dollars to expand our marketing outreach to find new cash customers. Barter Network offered an inexpensive opportunity to stretch our marketing budget and was superbly executed. Chris Loynd
Director of Marketing
The Maritime Aquarium at Norwalk

Compugeeks

Compugeeks has been a member of Barter Network (BNI) for 6 years. They are a dedicated firm that really focuses on making sure your business gets the services it needs, on barter. John Ferrara and his team are always and readily available whenever we need them. No matter what we have needed, BNI has been able to acquire the services/products we need so we can save cash. There is a lot of competition in the barter world, but very few rise to the occasion every time like Barter Network. John A. Scharfglass
President
Compugeeks, Inc.

Luxurious Transportation Services

Bartering helps drive business to our company, allowing us to spend our trade dollars on business related expenses. My broker is always there to help with all of my purchasing needs. Why spend cash when I can trade for what I need. Barter Network always performs for me. Joe Montanez
Owner
Luxurious Transporation Services

Maui Wowi Hawaiin Coffee

Sales and marketing is critical to our business. Barter Network promotes my business through their network of members and brings my business new clients that I never would have gotten. I can use my trade dollars for advertising services that will help me grow our cash business. Barter works! Mitchell York
Owner
Maui Wowi

Island Storage

Barter Network has helped convert some of our excess capacity into valuable trade dollars. We are able to offset some of our cash expenditures by utilizing those trade dollars, and our broker really works hard in finding us what we need, helping us save cash, a true Win-Win! Lauren Nichols
Owner
Island Storage