Bartercard Seeing Many More Big Ticket Items

Planes, castles, boats and Rolls-Royces � are starting to turn up for sale in trade exchanges such as Bartercard. It is a sign of the times.

�When we started in 1991, we described barter as a recession buster,� recalled Wayne Sharpe, founder of Bartercard, the largest barter exchange in the world. In this 21st century recession, barter has come into its own. Sharpe, chairman and chief executive of Bartercard International, jokes that he now has enough aircraft to start an airline on barter.

More seriously, he says it is time to set up a specialist division to deal with aircraft sales and leasing. The man behind the implementation of these aircraft deals is none other than Laurie Muir who heads up the Bartercard Pattaya office, but whose experience with Bartercard started some 12 years ago as their Global Marketing Manager.

�We are acting as broker for 15 aircraft on our books on behalf of an international aircraft leasing company, financiers and airlines,� Muir noted. Among the planes is a fleet of five Boeing 737-800s, until recently leased to an Asian regional airline. The airline returned the fleet to the leasing company as financial problems started to bite.

�These planes are available on seven-year leases,� Muir affirmed.

The upper asking price is $520,000 in cash and $82,000 a month in trade dollars. (Large airlines will be able to negotiate the price down.)

Sharpe and his team are talking to three British airlines that have shown interest in taking over the leases for these planes. �This is work in progress. But I hope that we could close the deal by the end of February. It will require a lot of innovative thinking at board level to close the transaction.

�Some well-capitalized airlines are still expanding. They are taking the opportunity in the downturn to take over routes abandoned by their competitors. And in Europe, irrespective of the economic climate, there are still a lot of people who travel for business or leisure.�

Muir revealed that they also have two brand-new Airbus A320 planes, right from the factory. These are soon to be mortgage-in-possession sales as the airlines canceled the orders. The asking price for the A320-232 is US$55-$60 million depending on cabin configuration and engine type.

Normally, it takes two years to take delivery of a new Airbus plane, but these planes are ready now, so this also makes it very attractive to airlines. The price for these aircraft is negotiable, according to Muir, and most of the planes listed with Bartercard will be sold or leased with a 20% barter component.

Wayne Sharpe explained that companies, including airlines, use their trade dollars as credit to offset operating expenses. For instance, airlines use barter and cash to provide uniforms or accommodation for crew or obtain wines for in-flight catering and so on. Airline tickets are a keenly sought-after commodity among barter traders. �I can say that the biggest demand is for travel, because a lot of businesses are not prepared to pay cash for travel,� he declared. Packaged holidays are also popular.

�We are being offered a lot of opportunities as more companies start to look at barter as an alternative way of doing business. We are seeing varied and unique transactions.�

Attention Trade Exchange Owners. . .It�s GROW OR GO!

The magic bullet for growth is sales, always has been and always will be...yet the industry�s overall growth is anemic. Why? Maybe it�s because we�re not providing on-going education about our unique way of doing business. Knowledge is always a pre-requisite to taking sustained action.

And for those newcomers, the lifeblood of an exchange, awareness of and understanding about the value of trading is even more important.

If you expect prospects to come aboard and your members to be more active traders, but you are perplexed when the results are less than you desire...there�s a good reason. You must continually educate and motivate every month--month after month after month!

Such action is necessary because, let�s face it, more cash business, not trade, is of paramount importance to your members. You must break through this �cash only� focus and redirect their thinking toward barter. Although most exchanges don�t see the importance of doing so, many industry leaders are taking action and so can you.

As the owner of your own operation, there is an easy and inexpensive solution for moving forward...look into using The Competitive Edge newsletter. It�s a camera-ready, 4-page, professionally written, informational marketing tool...available in PDF format as well as print. So regardless of how you reach your prospects and clients, you will have the necessary vehicle.

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From BarterNews Archives:

Creative Barter Arrangement Was Beginning To Paxson�s Home Shopping Network

At age sixty-two year, Lowell Paxson of Home Shopping Network fame (now Florida-based Paxson Communications) had assembled a group of 55 TV stations...with a value of $400 million.

His enormous success, like many, began with a barter assist.

Paxson grew up in Rochester (NY) and spent 30 years in radio�as a disk jockey, salesman, general manager and owner of small-town stations. Paxson was still struggling to make ends meet when he stumbled onto a creative barter breakthrough.

An appliance-store owner who owed the station $1,000 couldn�t pay his bill, so Paxson took 112 electric can openers in lieu of payment. The next morning Paxson went on the air and sold them all for $9.95 each. Thus was born the Suncoast International Bargainers Club, a radio shopping show that migrated after Paxson leased a channel from a local cable operator. That did it!

Home Shopping Network (HSN) at its peak sold $1 billion a year of downscale goods, like imitation diamonds and porcelain plates. In 1991 Paxson sold HSN, and ever since has been buying TV stations.

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