March
25, 2003
Written
by Bob Meyer, Editor of BarterNews
Australia's
BBX Continues Impressive Expansion, Client Base Exceeds 11,000
Fifth
Acquisition Is Rorke's Tradebanc
It
was but a decade ago that Michael Touma and his lovely wife Mireille
(after becoming members of Contrabank, the first trade exchange startup
in Australia) ventured into the barter business by opening the doors
to their new inspiration--Business Barter Exchange--BBX.
With a sluggish
economy in the early 90's, Touma seized upon the opportunity at hand,
"Business people were suffering and cash was their biggest limitation.
We started marketing and grew extremely fast."
Touma's expansionary
thinking and ambitions to become the best, saw him thinking beyond the
current marketing efforts. "I don't believe in just organic growth.
To make an impact and to see worthwhile results requires aggressive
growth and development."
BBX's latest acquisition
is a plum--Bill Rorke's Tradebanc, known as "Australia's Premier
Exchange." Rorke, a highly respected operator has been in the barter
business for a decade as well, and serves on the IRTA Global Board of
Directors.
In a letter to his
members Rorke explained why he sold his exchange to BBX. "In the
best interests of our members, management feels the exchange will move
forward by being sold to an international operator. This move will enhance
trading opportunities directly with over 11,000 BBX members in Australia
and New Zealand."
BBX has 12 offices
and is South Asia's second largest exchange with operations in New Zealand,
and Australia's South Australia, Victoria, Tasmania, Australian Capital
Territory, Queensland and New South Wales. Trade volume approximates
$10 million a month. For more information: www.ebbx.com.
IRTA
Barter Congress Scheduled For September 4-6
The International
Reciprocal Trade Association has announced that rooms at this year's
convention, to be held at the Mission Inn Golf & Tennis Resort in
Orlando, Florida, will be available on a 100% trade.
The convention theme
is, "Keys To The Future: Unlocking Doors To Success." For
more information and registration: www.irta.com.
SPECIAL
Announcement: Be a part of the biggest, most all-inclusive
special real estate report ever published...to appear in the coming
issue of BarterNews. If your company offers any type of real estate
service (assisting sellers and buyers, offering notary, property management,
or counseling services) you should be in this special issue. Plus, of
course, all types of properties available on trade-- anywhere in the
world! To get your company's ad in this unique issue contact: bmeyer@barternews.com...
Do it now, so you don't miss this great issue!
More
Wine Available On Trade As Grape Glut & Imports Place Wineries Under
Financial Pressure
Wine
consumption is growing in the U.S. but California vineyards yield more
grapes than wine drinkers consume. An influx of inexpensive, quality
imports also has hammered U.S. producers. As a result, in California
we see wine increasingly available on barter, and in the near future
we expect more wineries will join the ones already trading.
Running
a trade exchange is a 24/7 effort. At every national convention
trade exchange owners always talk and nod in agreement about the importance
of educating their clients--making them aware of the many benefits of
barter so they will be better traders.
Then they return
home, and once again are inundated with simply not enough time in the
day to get everything done...let along time to research and then write
and layout an eye-appealing, interesting, educational and powerful marketing
newsletter. One which points out and reinforces the benefits of your
valuable services--each and every month...on a consistent and on-going
basis.
As a trade exchange
owner, you realize that having such a unique marketing tool to use for
your existing members--as well as the hundreds of prospects in your
marketplace--is really necessary in these competitive times. Yet who
has the available time and ability to generate such a newsletter?
What's the answer...?
The highly effective Competitive Edge newsletter. For almost
two decades now, unfailingly, each and every month C.E. has been published
for your use only. It's the professionally written and designed, yet
inexpensive answer for a busy, growing exchange like yours.
Check it out...click
here to see a sample copy.
As a newsletter
subscriber, your exchange will also be
listed here.
If you move forward
this week, as a bonus you will receive 15 copies of the highly acclaimed
16-page special report, "Why and How Savvy Restaurateurs Trade."
This incredibly effective hand-out shows a restaurant owner the value
of joining your exchange.
Every
barter company in the world is listed here click
through to our global list of barter companies.
PLEASE NOTE: The
Global List of Barter Companies has been updated. Check out the new
companies added, as well as changes made to the existing listings. (Corrections
and additions to the USA companies will be announced when completed.)
If
you haven't read the current issue of BarterNews, get yourself
a copy now! Orders are shipped the same day we receive them. (Click
on Order Form.)
Get
New Money-Making Ideas, and Valuable Contacts!
You
can obtain these ideas and contacts in every every available back-issue
of BarterNews.
Coming
next week... Learn how a young, 3-1/2 year-old exchange has signed
on major corporate clients--Yamaha, Suzuki, Skoda, Generalli, and HB
Fuller. What's their game plan? What are they doing that brings them
so much success?
Here
And There. . .
- China has installed
a new governing cabinet heavy on technocratic expertise, which promises
continuity in the policies that have created the world's most dynamic
(fastest growing) economy. The new cabinet is expected to continue
to wean government agencies off central planning.
-
Mediabase 24/7
is an airplay monitoring firm and a component of Premiere Radio
Networks. They monitor music on over 1,100 radio stations in 140
markets, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. In addition to providing
vital airplay information to the music industry, the company provides
its research to over 1,000 affiliate radio stations on a barter
subscription basis.
-
Another sign
of the downturn in the commercial real estate market is the inclusion
of upscale carpeting, marble floors, wood paneling, etc. In good
times landlords rent space raw, and tenants are responsible for
installing everything from the walls and ceilings to the window
blinds and office furniture. When the leasing market is sluggish,
building owners are using so-called prebuilt suites as a lure for
tenants.
-
The $104 billion
hotel industry is observing a cultural change in business that will
affect their sales...as companies increase pressure to cut costs.
More employees are treating business travel as if it's on their
own dime. That's a big change from the lush times of a few years
ago, when many employees booked trips without thinking twice about
costs.
-
ITEX's International
Convention will be held May 18-23 in Florida. Over 150 attendees
are expected to attend, see www.itex.com.
-
Last year Americans
paid $265 billion in interest on their houses. The bill for property
taxes was $205 billion, according to a study of IRS records by Economy.com.
So, for every dollar homeowners pay in mortgage interest, they send
77 cents to the town tax office. (In 1988 the tax was 61 cents.)
-
BXI has entered
into an outsourcing agreement with the "TradeIt" platform.
Transaction processing, accounting and collections will begin March
31, 2003, announced BXI President John Cooper. More information
at: www.bxinsider.com.
-
Two homes in
the Dallas area were recently moved with the 30% down payment made
in barter. Both were located in exclusive neighborhoods on a gated
lake subdivision.
-
Have you
signed up to receive a summary via e-mail of the Tuesday
Report every week? If not, go to the top of this issue (right
hand corner) to sign up!
-
Behind the new
pessimism in Silicon Valley is a sobering set of statistics: According
to San Francisco research outfit VentureOne, of the 10,340 venture-capital-backed
companies founded from 1992 to 2002, only 872 have gone public,
1,939 have been acquired, and 1,811 have gone under...which leaves
a staggering 5,718 firms out there in limbo. In the start-up world
they're known as "the overhang."
According to
author John Heilemann, writing in April's Business 2.0, "the
Valley can't move forward until this mass of companies has been
fully digested." The consensus view of how long that will take
is a minimum of two years, four max.
-
Demand for Iraqi
debt is high...speculators have been buying up an estimated $80
billion in business/trade loans that Iraqi companies defaulted on
after the 1991 Gulf War. (Iraq defaulted on its debts immediately
after its 1990 invasion of Kuwait.)
Those loans,
denominated mostly in dollars, fetched between 10% and 20% of face
value in recent weeks. The bet now is that the oil-rich nation will
be in a position to resume debt payments once Hussein has been ousted.
-
Our March 18th
issue reported the Financial Accounting Standards Board's decision
to develop new options-accounting rules within a year. But more
than a dozen U.S. lawmakers are contesting proposals that
would require companies to list stock options as an expense deducted
from earnings.
They contend
that listing options as expenses could be harmful to many high-tech
and small companies that use options to attract workers. A bill
has been introduced that will require the SEC not to recognize
as standard accounting practice any listing of stock options as
an expense...until this particular issue is examined as to its
impact on our national economy.
- The U.S. and
the European countries (EU) share $800 billion in annual trade. And
their respective companies have a total of more than $14 trillion
of investments in each other's economies. Hopefully, a postwar partnership
will continue.
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