If you are starting a new business, stop looking for cash or seed money and start bartering. Not like, trading your piano for a computer, as in one-to-one trading. Start trading with a barter currency. By joining a third-party bartering organization, such as International Barter Exchange (IBE) in Sarasota, FL, you barter dollars can get you an office, a paint job, and, yes, that computer. The “Third-Party Barter Companies” also serve as a Business Networking Group when the get you connected with other Sarasota Businesses to “pay” for their services with the “Trade Dollars” that you accumulate within the network. That can turn out to be a great way to get new customers that would otherwise never find you. The Barter System also helps to improve efficiency and cash flow. It has been said that “barter is smart business and that is why smart businesses barter.”
When putting together a business plan, include bartering as a marketing tool, where members of your bartering exchange get exposure to your business. Not only do members see your business, but the bartering exchange trade coordinators search for connections where your product/service benefits another member. That introduction leads to trades that can open doors to your new customers. Many barter network members appreciates the role of the barter exchange trade coordinators because they continue to bring new members into their barter network, which gives their businesses a constant flow of new opportunities for trading.
IBE Barter is locally owned and proudly Serving local businesses throughout the entire Suncoast Region including the following communities:
Sarasota FL | Siesta Key FL | Vamo FL | Osprey FL | Nokomis FL | Venice FL | North Port FL | Lakewood Ranch FL | Bradenton FL | St. Petersburg FL | Clearwater FL | Tampa FL |
Sarasota Business Networking Groups help startup company’s
At the onset of business planning, your business may need a brick and mortar facility; window coverings; tile floors; new plumbing and an office. If you use trade dollars for these items, you may save cash for personal items, or, put cash into a kitchen remodel, dinners or travel. But, wait. In a barter exchange with 600 members, chances are, you will find a member who can offer these services, too. You’re not waiting for a bank to approve a loan. You’re not waiting for hand-outs and internet funds. With a barter exchange, you can arrive in town, ready to open shop.
For Example, take IBE Barter Exchange Member, Traci Carroll, Licensed Massage Therapist and owner of Healing Arts & Wellness in Sarasota, FL. “I’m relatively new here, and it’s been very useful and instrumental to me in growing my business. It basically connected me with a whole clientele who wouldn’t find me otherwise. It’s generating new business for me through the barter system. When (members) experience what I do and how I can help them, they refer people to me, who aren’t in the barter system. So, it provides opportunities for cash business. Barter has increased my business, both in barter and cash.”
When the small business grows, the barter exchange grows, by accepting multiple businesses in the same field. You may need carpeting for your new business. A barter exchange may include multiple carpeting reps. In the real marketplace, people like choice. Shoppers look, compare, and then buy. In Sarasota, a barter exchange serves as a mini-marketplace as well as a Business Networking Group. You can pick and choose from a number of carpeting companies. Additionally, if your business aligns with the same industry as the carpeting rep members, you may enjoy a stream of constant referrals. Equally, your customers may become the carpeting rep customers.
Sarasota Business Networking Groups can help generate great referrals
Small business owners in Sarasota Florida have alternatives in managing their business in today’s pandemic economic climate. Bartering offers start-ups and small business owner’s opportunity to keep the cash flowing. New business can thrive using the benefits of barter: a sales team, a network of professionals, a referral network and an opportunity to expand markets.
With hundreds of cardholders locally and over 500,000 businesses through our network, IBE Barter Exchange in Sarasota is helping local businesses increase sales, build customer loyalty and tap into new markets while conserving cash — All by bartering goods and services within the IBE membership network.
To learn more, give us a call today: Phone: (941) 955-6100
With over 670 active members we can help you grow your business. We bring new customers to you through our Sarasota Business Bartering System.
Now that a business owner joins a barter exchange in Sarasota Florida, reciprocates referrals, and grows the business, how does Uncle Sam get his share of all that trading? It doesn’t matter how. It just matters that he gets it.
Barter exchanges in Florida know the inside outs of taxes. They are required to. In 1982, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) recognized the revenue passing between businesses through bartering, which prompted the creation of Tax Equity and Fiscal Responsibility Act (TEFRA). Barter exchanges have complied. As third-party record keepers, they track sales, broker commission fees, and purchases, and provide monthly statements, similar to a bank. As such, they are required to report to the IRS the actual dollars earned for the year, per member, on a 1099B form. The IRS requires that all Barter Companies report and send all of their members’ 1099B sales electronically.
When joining a Barter Network in Sarasota, members receive a Form W -9 that requires a taxpayer identification number, such as social security. Members also receive Form 1099-B to report their barter income, which matches figures of the exchange’s 1099B. The form shows the value of cash, property, services, credits, or scrip.
Just about any income, including barter, is taxable. “Whether you are required to report it or not, doesn’t change the taxability of it,” says accountant, George Famiglio of Famiglio & Associates, and member of the International Barter Exchange (IBE) in Sarasota, FL. “Whether you do an independent contracting for a company and they pay you, and they forget to send you a 1099, that doesn’t change anything. It’s taxable no matter what.”
Sarasota Business Bartering System
As members receive monthly statements from their Barter Exchange in Sarasota, they keep on top of their deductible expenses. “The goal is to have your expenses off-set your tax liability,” says Ron Unger, Director with IBE. “If you deducted all your proper business expenses, you may come up with a zero balance to the IRS.”
According to the IRS, like other income, barter income, from a Barter Network or individual barter partners, can affect total income tax liability, self-employment tax, excise taxes, state taxes, and employment taxes. If members have completed transactions where the fair market value of the property is more than their cost, the transaction may be reported as business income or capital gains.
At tax filing time, Famiglio suggests the bartering business owner gather invoices, the 1099 B form, and all of their accounting work. Those barter exchange statements make it easy. At least, for Famiglio. “Smart clients are always on fiscal years,” he says.
Business expenses related to barter transactions may be deductible as legitimate business expenses. Deductions can include the initial fee of joining a barter exchange, and, the monthly administration fee, as well as office, vehicle and other operating costs.
Sarasota Business Bartering Network
Bartering also could result in non-deductible personal loss, capital losses, or ordinary business income. For example, a business owner trades five trucks for five new trucks. “There’s no gain because he’s not selling them out to a third party,” Famiglio says. “He’s giving them to a dealer for five new trucks. The tax advantage is, he doesn’t have to report any gain on the trucks.”
Complicated? Not so. “There’s nothing magical about it,” says Famiglio. “Whatever is going to be deducted anyway, it is going to be deductible by barter. So, if somebody pays me in barter credits and I get $500, that person can deduct $500 because they paid their CPA $500.” Or a florist barters $1000 for flooring, he deducts $1000. Bartering in Sarasota can also apply to charity.
Paying tax on the value of goods or services wasn’t always tracked for societal benefit. Since the first Mesopotamia tribes traded their goods and services around 6000 BC, bartering expanded. A bartering system was adopted by Phoenicians, improved by Babylonians and used to pay Roman soldiers’ salaries with salt. In the middle Ages, Europeans traveled to barter furs and crafts. Colonial Americans traded ammunition, deer skins and crops. Though bartering maintained an alternative method of payment in rural areas, it gained popularity throughout the United States during the 1930s Great Depression.
Sarasota Business Bartering System
Individuals continue trading, taking chances, trusting strangers. Business owners, who trade one-to-one, do so at great risk. The risk involves two parties who may not have a “coincidence of wants,” in which they both want what the other has. The items may not be of the same value, or, simply, one trader feels he didn’t get the quality that he traded away. Barter exchanges remove that risk, making the activity of doing trade, business.
Where there is business income, there are taxes. As a business owner adds bartering to his marketing plan, Famiglio suggests the owner include a certified public accountant that is tuned into barter. Bartering is “such a great way to expand your business,” he says. “When you can trade advertising, professional services, janitorial, office services– whatever. That’s smart to do.” It’s a smart way to expand, but it’s also smart to implement bartering within the operating costs of a business, especially, if that business has employees. For example, businesses that once provided a health care insurance plan for employees, and, no longer can afford it, find another way. Companies offer bartering to employees as compensation and bonuses, as long as those goods and services are reported on Form W-2, as they are subject to FICA, FUTA and federal income tax withholding.
“Once you join a barter system in Sarasota Florida, you get a degree in economics automatically, because you understand what the economy is actually about,” says Famiglio. He encourages business owners to grasp a little knowledge of bartering and the tax industry, and find professionals who are unafraid. Simply, barter dollars work as actual dollars. “The uninformed accountant may say, ‘Oh, that’s barter. That’s weird stuff. I don’t want to learn about it’,” says Famigliio. Yet, bartering is not a tax tool; it’s a method of expanding one’s business. And, if that business owner understands the tax benefits, he may enjoy using a superior marketing tool and adding cash to his wallet.
IBE Barter is locally owned and proudly Serving local businesses throughout the entire Suncoast Region including the following communities:
Sarasota FL | Siesta Key FL | Vamo FL | Osprey FL | Nokomis FL | Venice FL | North Port FL | Lakewood Ranch FL | Bradenton FL | St. Petersburg FL | Clearwater FL | Tampa FL |
IBE Trade Dollars = A Valuable Relationship Currency.
The Internal Revenue Service views IBE Currency or bartering ‘trade dollars’ same as cash. At least when it comes time to pay taxes. Future growth in this ‘private currency’ universe is huge. Currently the barter business is a 900 Billion dollar industry. In the near future you will see ‘IBE Currency Accepted Here’, as a natural and organic payment option. Until you can ‘pay’ taxes with this valuable currency, the question remains.. what is the true value of IBE Trade Dollars. One of the most important things to establish with a barter exchange is wholesale cost, while earning or spending this new found currency. Bringing in new plus business and saving cash is a valuable tool. Belonging to a well managed barter exchange should be in your 2019 growth playbook. Realizing new business establishes a valuable relationship currency.
Using alternative currency when traveling abroad is familiar to us. We can use our converted currency in some countries where it is accepted, and not in others, limiting its value. The larger market there is to spend IBE currency in, the more valuable it becomes. IBE Barter has a large local market of card holders made up of top professional business people that accept IBE Currency for payment. IBE is also a member of the National Association of Trade Exchanges. This valuable reciprocal relationship expands our reach to help you spend IBE dollars. Accepting IBE trade dollars as a form of payment for the products/services offered, provides the opportunity to spend them worldwide. IBE Trade Dollars are a valuable alternative modern currency accepted worldwide in over 500,000 locations.
Business owners that choose to accept this alternative currency are smart forward thinking business builders. By providing their services/products, earning IBE dollars and spending them in place of cash, is truly smart business. When banking trade dollars with IBE you treat it like a traditional bank account. Technology drives the barter industry. IBE is a Licensed Owner of Trade Studio, a software that delivers a full arsenal of tools for the IBE management team, brokers, salespeople and clients. The IRS views a ‘barter exchange’ as a third party record keeping company. IBE Trade Studio software delivers 1099B reporting documents like clock work for end of year reporting. IBE provides timely monthly statements. 24/7 online account access, authorization processing, mobile app, quick response codes for restaurant redemption’s. All this is possible with responsive software.
IBE Barter brings new and additional plus business. Empty seats in the restaurant, empty hotel rooms, vacant venue seats, downtime in your business, excess inventory to move? Start putting these challenges to work for you. IBE introduces you to a new way of thinking about building and growing your business. IBE is a valuable relationship currency, an intrinsic value with purpose.
1. Increase Marketshare: When accepting barter business, not only do you increase sales, but you take the sale away from your competitors.
2. Reduce Overhead Costs: Using incremental barter sales to offset daily operating expenses can reduce overhead costs, i.e. janitorial service, water or coffee service, vehicle maintenance, signage, etc.
3. Collect Slow Receivables: Offer barter as a method of payment for buyers who are collection problems. Barter can also be a great alternative for buyers whose purchasing power is limited because of their credit standing.
4. Penetrate Lost Accounts: By accepting other goods as payment and filtering them through the network, you can penetrate elusive accounts.
5. Generate Referrals: More barter business typically means more people talk about your business and refer new potential cash customers, whom you otherwise would not find.
6. Reduce the Cost of Borrowing: Rather than paying cash interest on working capital or capital expenditure loans, establish a credit line from IBE Barter against future products sales – the interest is all on trade.
7. Enhance Employee Benefits: Secure employee loyalty and productivity by bartering for medical services, vehicle repair, uniforms, travel and other employee incentives.
8. Utilize Excess Capacity: As fixed costs remain the same during good times and slow times, utilize excess capacity to pay for operating expenses that are normally paid for in cash.
9. Convert Excess Inventory: List slow moving goods with IBE Barter and earn trade dollars that can be used for today’s operating expenses
10. Expand Your Advertising: Bartering your advertising will bring in new cash customers and you’ll be more visible as your competitors conserve their cash budgets.
11. Revamp your Printed Materials: Start off the New Year by revamping your company’s printed materials. Offset cash costs of printing, graphic design and commercial photography with barter.
12. Budget and Implementation: Lay out a barter budget and implement the plan throughout the year. If you budget for it, you can make it all happen!
IBE Barter stimulates and brings you New and Additional Plus Business and provides you Cash Savings when making purchases.
Building NEW Business Relationships is one of the most valuable assets within the IBE Barter Community. Always treat your IBE trading partners with respect and REMEMBER, they are a VALUABLE Resource and will recommend you cash customers when they are satisfied with your services and you have earned their trust and respect.
The IBE Dollar is stronger than ever and backed by the IBE Members Products and Services.
IBE Markets your company, brings you new and additional plus business and reduces your costs when making purchases with your IBE Dollars.
Every business has a cost to generate a sale. The average cost of generating a sale is 28 to 36 percent according to the US Conference Board. This cost accounts for a companies sales force, advertising and marketing services, public relations services, online exposure, accounting and administration services and all merchandising costs.
The IBE Broker fee is considerably less at 15% to generate that same sale. IBE stimulates new and additional plus sales of your products and services. This is new business you would not have realized without being a member of the IBE Community.
**Wholesale buying power is your actual wholesale cost when using your IBE Dollars to generate new sales and utilizing these wholesale dollars when making retail purchases. If your wholesale cost is 28 cents on the dollar, then when you make a purchase using your IBE Dollars, your cost becomes 28% of the Retail cost.
Example; If you make a retail purchase of $1000.00 using your IBE Dollars, your cost is $280.00 or 28%. When you include the IBE Broker fee of 15%, your cost of that retail purchase becomes 43%. However, the IBE Broker fee also generates that new and additional plus business for you and offsets all of your existing expenses to generate that new sale.
You are actually saving 21% of the cost of a sale or purchase using your wholesale buying power through IBE.
IBE Stimulates and Generates this new business and you enjoy the savings by utilizing IBE as a sales and marketing tool to help build and grow your company.
To learn more about how your business can profit through the power of exchange
call IBE @ 941-955-6100
IBE is Gathering Smart Business Owners With a Common Purpose – to Upgrade Their Business!
Receive a complimentary membership and become a premier founding trading partner of the IBE Barter Exchange of Southwest Florida. Businesses in Cape Coral, Fort Myers, Naples, welcome to the IBE Barter Business Community.
Call now to redeem your Complimentary IBE Barter Membership. 941-955-6100 ext. 202
Ask for Mary Unger, Owner/Partner, Since 1991.
IBE Barter has the largest regional barter exchange on Florida’s gulf coast. We are inviting your business to join the IBE Barter Business Community as we expand our reach into your community.
IBE Brings over 26 years of experience working with thousands of Regional, National and International Trading Business Partners.
Feel The Results with IBE Barter, Since 1991
✓ New Customers ✓ Cash Savings ✓ No more chasing accounts receivables
✓ No more unbillable hours ✓ No more unsold goods ✓ No more unexpected expenses
Your competitors will wonder what your secret sauce is!
If you are new to the IBE Barter News site thank you for visiting. If you are a returning regular, welcome back. There is always something new and exciting going on in the IBE Barter Community so please bookmark this site as a favorite and return often to keep updated.
Growth strategies for keeping your business moving in a forward motion can be challenging. One important goal for all business owners is to recognize the importance of keeping an open mind to new ideas on how to attract new clients and save cash.
The equation to filling the gap is easy; take your downtime, whether you have 30 minutes a day that you are not billing out your services or several hours a day. This is considered wasted and non-revenue generating time, a vanishing asset you can’t recover the next day. Fill the gap with new exchange member clients; No more empty seats in your restaurant, entertainment venues, empty hotel rooms, excess inventory or non billable hours.
By joining an organized trade exchange you are opening your business to a whole new community of professional business people with like-minded goals, looking to fill the gap of their downtime while looking to build new client/customer relationships.
Fill your downtime with business people looking to use your specific services. At IBE we keep a controlled zero-based economy which means we help you establish a monthly exposure level of how much new and additional ‘plus’ business you are looking to generate to fill that downtime. You earn IBE trade dollars when you provide your services, bank the trade dollars with IBE and then we help to match your cash expenses with other liked minded businesses offering those services on trade.
Use what you have and get what you need. It’s that easy and a smart growth strategy to fill the gap with new business.
The IBE Barter Sign at 1161 North Tamiami Trail has been an iconic landmark sign for over 20 years on US 41 in downtown Sarasota. So where did it go? Two words, Eminent Domain. 11/20/2017 starts the US 41 roundabout construction from 10th street to 14th street.
The IBE Barter sign is gone, but we are here. Road construction is going to be challenging for quite sometime. Sidewalks will be widened to 10 feet, there will be a bike lane, the medians are being raised with rest areas for crossing 41 and the speed limit will eventually be reduced permanently to 35 mph. There will be two roundabouts to start the project, one at 10th street and another at 14th as the first phase of this project.
This project will have you going in circles, literally. More roundabouts are planned from US 41 and Gulfstream to University Parkway. Pay attention to the yield signs and pack your patience through the construction phase. As a building owner we are excited about all the changes coming to the entrance of Downtown Sarasota as well as the revitalization of the North Trail.
IBE is Gathering Smart Business Owners With a Common Purpose – to Upgrade Their Business!
