Written by Bob Meyer, Editor of BarterNews

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Commercial Barter Industry News. . .

IMS Acquires Lombardi’s Barter Business Unlimited

International Monetary Systems (OTCBB:INLM) has acquired Barter Business Unlimited (BBU) of Connecticut, adding to its growing Continental Trade Exchange network. The Hartford-area operation, founded by Debbie Lombardi, is one of America’s leading trade exchanges.

Lombardi, BBU’s founder and president, is the current president of the National Association of Trade Exchanges and the first woman ever elected to that position.

Don Mardak, CEO of IMS, asserted, “This merger is a quantum leap forward for our company, as BBU is a highly recognized barter company and Ms. Lombardi is respected throughout the barter industry. We look forward to her participation in IMS’ future planning and marketing efforts.”

Continental Trade Exchange, a subsidiary of International Monetary Systems, now serves more than 8,500 businesses representing over 14,000 cardholders.

International Monetary Systems Reports Two More Successes

The best month in the company’s history as well as the securing of additional funding was announced by the New Berlin (WI) headquarters of IMS last week.

For the recent month of April reported revenue was $411,000, an increase of more than 15% over the same month in 2004, and the highest total recorded this year by the company.

CEO Don Mardak also disclosed that additional open-ended funding has been secured from private investors, increasing the total from a private placement to $810,000. “These additional funds will allow us to complete other trade exchange acquisitions that are currently in discussion and will provide us with additional working capital,” he noted. For more information go to: www.internationalmonetary.com.

“What we have here is a failure to communicate!”

Years ago, one of the most visible people in the barter industry said the #1 reason why the industry wasn’t farther along in its development was due to a “failure to communicate” by those in the business.

This realization was the genesis of The Competitive Edge newsletter, now into its 18th year of publication. Trade exchange owners who use this powerful marketing and promotional tool are never guilty of “failing to communicate.”

As the owner of a trade exchange you must stay in front of your clients. Informing, educating, and inspiring them, because your clients’ bartering is a relatively small percentage of their overall business. So if you don’t keep their interest and enthusiasm for trade at a high level, you lose.

Your primary aim, like all other businesses, is to get your clients coming back for more. Every extraordinary business (and every trade exchange owner who wants to be extraordinary) knows that the customer you have, is a lot less expensive to sell than the customer you don’t yet have!

Want to take your exchange to a higher level? Use The Competitive Edge newsletter in your operation—it “sells” the many benefits of working through your trade exchange like nothing else!

To learn more about The Competitive Edge newsletter and how it can help build your trade exchange, click here.

BizXchange Earns Certified Trade Exchange Designation By IRTA

Seattle-based BizXchange announced that it has been named a Certified Trade Exchange by the International Reciprocal Trade Association. The certification is only given to companies that have met strict guidelines set forth by the Association.

(To become a Certified Trade Exchange, a company must provide information regarding their compliant operations and how they operate their exchange—providing supporting evidence from a qualified CPA that 1099-B’s were filed on time for the prior tax year. The exchange must also provide a copy of its membership agreement and an explanation of how the agreement handles deficits, i.e., what assurances/protections have been met for ensuring the value of the trade dollar issued.)

“It is a great honor to be named a Certified Trade Exchange by IRTA,” exclaimed BizXchange president Bob Bagga. “BizXchange has been diligently working to help our members efficiently maximize their business by acquiring products and services without the use of cash. This designation validates our business model and our company’s sound business practices.”

BizXchange has more than 1,000 members throughout San Francisco and Seattle. For more information go to: www.bizx.bz.

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ITEX Annual Convention Held

This year’s ITEX Annual Broker Network Convention was held in Seattle, May 22 - 26. Independent licensed brokers and franchisees from more than 60 ITEX offices in the U.S. and Canada gathered to discuss initiatives for expanding the cashless marketplace in an online and off-line world.

The convention’s theme was Teamwork for Success. Keynote speaker was Jim Whittaker, the first American to summit Mt. Everest and former CEO of retailing giant REI. Whittaker shared his insights on reaching for the next “summit” in business and in life, stating, “If you aren’t living on the edge, you’re taking up too much space.”

The ITEX brokers came away with exciting ideas about how to stretch boundaries and how to step out of the comfort zones of life.

CEO Steven White said the convention’s focus was on sharing with and inspiring their team. “We were excited to have everyone together in Seattle, with many visiting for the first time. Working on ways to provide superior customer service as well as on our team building skills was truly exhilarating!”

For more information go to: www.itex.com.

Now available ...BarterNews issue #64, get your copy now! Orders will be shipped within two business days of publication. Click on Order Form.

(If you are not sure if your subscription has lapsed, e-mail your name, address, and zip code to bmeyer@barternews.com.

Active International Launches New National Real Estate Index

Active International, the world’s largest corporate trading company, has announced the results of its first “Active Real Estate Index,” a quarterly study assessing current and future market conditions and the factors impacting commercial real estate values on a national level.

A key finding emerging from this inaugural study is the confirmation by industry insiders that “Cap Rates” will rise in the next six to twelve months.

“Collectively, these new statistics illustrate a macro-view of the commercial real estate landscape,” said Mark Ordover, senior vice president and director of worldwide real estate at Active International.

Active’s full service, in-house real estate department handles all steps of the acquisition, asset management, and disposition process. Thus allowing corporations to focus on future growth opportunities rather than dealing with past problems.

For more information go to: www.activeinternational.com.

Every barter company in the world is listed on our web site, click through to our Global List of Barter Companies

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Here & There...

• Real estate agents in the USA collected $61.1 billion in commissions last year, up 43% from $42.6 billion in 2000, according to editor Steve Murray of Real Trends, a real estate industry newsletter.

• Tony Sandlin of the Barter Indiana Group reports that the American Basketball Association is suggesting that ABA franchisees get involved in barter by trading tickets, sponsorships, and other items. For local ABA team information check out: www.abalive.com.

• Mark Burnett, creator and executive producer of the television reality series “Survivor” and “The Apprentice,” has purchased an estate at the end of a long private drive in Malibu in the high $20-million range.

  The London-born Burnett, 44, was on Time magazine’s 2004 list of the “100 Most Influential People.” And in previous issues of The Tuesday Report we acknowledged Burnett’s bartering efforts.

• 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) and sign up!

• Berkshire Hathaway’s 81-year-old vice chairman, Charlie Munger, has little love for hedge funds. At Berkshire’s annual meeting in Omaha he was recently quoted as saying, “We have a higher proportion of the intelligent sections of society involved in buying and selling bits of paper and trying to make money doing it...a lot of this reminds me of Sodom and Gomorrah.”

• How far is the barter industry behind the credit card industry? Visa International and MasterCard International have 1 billion and 680 million cardholders, respectively. (American Express has 65 million worldwide accounts and PayPal has 72 million.)

• Women are opening businesses at twice the rate of men, according to statistics from the National Center for Women’s Business Research. There are about 10.6 million women-owned businesses, which represent about 48% of all closely held companies.

• Cushman & Wakefield, a giant in the commercial real-estate industry, is moving into the luxury ranch and recreational properties sector. It’s the first time the company has ventured into the residential or recreational side of the market.

• Foreign-exchange trading (currencies of the world) now sees a daily volume of $1.9 trillion, the largest of any market by far. Financial consultants Greenwich Associates said foreign-exchange trading volume was up 25% last year, driven by a new class of professional investors, notably hedge funds.