Bartercard Australia

Luckily, the scheduled call I waited for never came, which gave me time to find the reviews here and on Trust pilot. It's disappointing. I was a member many years ago of a similar initiative and was looking forward to joining up - which I would have done instantly had I been able to find what listing I'd be placed under. The biggest irony is in… Read more

the email about my upcoming appointment: "Remember this: The way you do one thing is the way you do everything. Make sure you show up to this call on time, focused, and ready! (it's the only way we can help you)"

complete waste of money – So I was contacted by a representative in Perth. They went through the payment plan, of what you pay, how many referrals you receive. Put simple, it doesn’t happen. The only winner is the office staff who sell these monthly contracts. The genuine quality of the leads is very questionable. It has cost me a fair amount of money. When I addressed the… Read more

complaint with Bartercard I swear they completely forgot about me. You’re not a valued customer. They would deal with the complaint, and have now threatened legal action. They have just ripped me off, and made a huge profit.

Terrible Service, No Assistance, Bartercard Money I Can't Use – I joined bartercard a while ago because i was told i would have a dedicated account manager i could call when i wanted to purchase something and they would help me find it. I have found it quicker to use the app and beg those listed to take my bartercard play dollars. You see i'm not the only one finding it hard to spend barter dollars. Unless… Read more

you want to purchase second hand stuff in their marketplace or the occasional holiday (that was pre covid) now even local accommodation are knocking it back. Business wise if your a professional services industry like mine there is nothing to spend things on. There was a stationary place but their products are limited and not the best quality, occasionally you can get promotional products but typically in very small quantities, digital printing is the same thing.

Now that QOIN is tapping all the bartercard business everyone wants to take that and not bartercard but im still expected to pay bartercard cash fees each month for a currency i cant use. Also i haven't had a dedicated account manager for going on 2 years and those i have had it was quicker to search the app myself then await a response from them. Emails would typically go unanswered for weeks and phone calls promised were never returned.

They are quick to jump down your throat when you miss a payment or two for their useless service but not happy to move quickly when you need their help. The latest person who called me has the title customer service specialist... rudest debt collector i have ever heard from. Claims i haven't paid them their cash fees in months but this is the first time i have heard from them in probably 6-8 months.

Once the ball gets rolling – We joined in August 2017 and since then we have traded $75K through BC - just about equal sales and purchases. It took a while to get going because it does take a bit of time to look through the list of suppliers and find the potential suppliers who exist in the network. However in the past 6-8 months we have really hit our stride - we use the… Read more

following services through BC - storage, freight, mobile mechanic (which are all regular suppliers), and we occasionally use restaurants and dentists - altogether about $3k per month.

Now to the selling side - we have never yet been called out of the blue by another member looking to purchase our product - all sales have come as the result of us speaking with the BC rep and having our products listed in the weekly newsletter. Generally speaking if we want to drive our sales on BC we are fortunate in that our products can be shipped nationwide - so we have BC customers in QLD, VIC and NSW.

So this is how I look at it - lets my average RRP is about $1000 and the product costs $500. I can sell for $1000 cash in the cash market, I can accept amex and pay 4%, and for both of these methods I will probably pay about 8% of my turnover in advertising expenditures. if I put it on ebay I will probably pay about 10% including Paypal fee and I might only get $900 for it. So fundamentally every single method of sale that I have will cost me 10% to 20% of my gross price so what is all that different about BC?

But it is not real money - just trade dollars (I hear you say). Sure - but as I point out above I have found more suppliers through BC then I have found customers.

So who does BC work for - (in my opinion) - a business with a potential nationwide customer base, and a product that can be shipped. I'd say ideal for importers, wholesalers, and retailers of high margin goods. If you are in a regional area then you need to be able to supply the cities as that is where the majority of customer base is. I'd also suggest you would want to be selling items worth at least $100 per sale to make it worth your time. AND you need to be willing to phone the BC sales rep once every 8 weeks or so and discuss your requirements.

Finally, I cannot say that Bartercard has 'saved' my business or anything like that - but I can say that the sales I have made on Bartercard have been high margin and I have been able to use the trade dollars on real business expenses so it is contributing to my business in a meaningful way.

Bartercard is what you make of it – Bartercard has worked very well for our business - we have saved thousands of dollars over the years by bartering but we have worked out that Bartercard is what you make of it - You MUST put some effort in - if you think everything is just going to drop in your lap then you will be disappointed - it is called bartering for a reason. I look at it… Read more ·  1

like this - would you rather the cash economy where it is very hard to earn money but easy to spend it or would you rather the barter economy where it is easy to earn money but a little harder to spend it. I wanted a gate manufacturer to build me a set of $5000 gates for my semi-rural property and he put me off once (saying he was too busy at the time to do a Barter job) but with a little persistence from me he did build them and I saved thousands - that is the key to Bartercard - I put a bit of effort in and whilst I didn't get treated exactly the same as someone who walked in with a fist full of hundreds, the outcome was that I saved thousands compared to what it would have cost me in the cash economy. I have also bought a lot of top quality furniture on Bartercard that could have been right out of a magazine and I regularly get carpet cleaning, dry-cleaning and house cleaning done on barter. - Getting my house cleaned every week on 100% barter is fantastic - they are also excellent cleaners and very eager to please. A good thing to do is to get a line of credit from Bartercard (which I think they will generally provide) and then spend it first so that when you sell your goods, all you are doing is evening up the ledger.

Bartercard has been great for us – We've been members for around 8 years and it's been great for us. It's giving us a new market to tap into. Spending the dollars is not seamless but it can be done over time with certain services. ie. carpet cleaning, hairdressers, hotels and most importantly for us, restaurants. I would recommend it if you're open minded to something different… Read more

and additional income. If you're kind of set in your ways and would like to only get customers the conventional way, perhaps not for you.

Bartercard gives me my Lifestyle – I have been a Bartercard member now for over 15 years and traded over a million dollars. We all need our cash customers too but what Bartercard gives me is my current lifestyle .So whenever I need to buy something for my business or my family I will try and use my Bartercard dollars first .I had a large celebration party recently and organised… Read more ·  1

everything on barter .. house clean , garden tidy, new evening dress, hair and make-up, catering, celebration cake, entertainment , balloon decorations & cocktail bar for a wonderful evening that people are still raving about , whilst my cash stayed in the bank. Bartercard constantly brings a constant stream of new customers to me.

A unique way of expanding my business – Bartercard has helped me expand my business from Newcastle to Canberra in the space of a few weeks. I would recommend bartercard to any small business looking to increase their clientele or expand to new areas.  Show reply

Absolute waste of money – I was sucked into believing the sales pitch of Bartercard. Unfortunately, that is all it was. Their referrals were all not genuine. This has actually cost me a bit of money. As a struggling sole Trader seeking to grow, false promises are what will sink a business. I just want to clear my balance and cease the monthly membership, but when I do try… Read more

to contact them to do so, they keep yielding excuses. I think they are too big, and they actually forget about their members and just take the membership fee. I wouldn’t do it again if I could turn the clock back. Today I will try again to close the account and clear my balance.

Dishonest agent and the whole thing is a big SCAM – After signing up we had a meeting with the agent and he recommended taking 1/3 off our RRP prices but after research, I was looking at everyone selling their items with a huge premium on top of their RRP. It's hard to find businesses to spend your Bartercard dollars on as it seems everyone who has signed up wants to get out of that dishonest… Read more

business model. They also kept charging monthly fees 2 months after we ended the contract. Called them several times and eventually had to go to the business main office to speak directly to end this BS. Don't waste your time and money.

The BIGGEST scam – Did someone say “Class action law suit?” Bartercards “trade coordinators” pressure you into spend “trade dollars” and GRAVELY overpromise the sales you’ll get in return. When you spend enough, they make very little effort in helping you. I was flatly ignored for months. Your account will be in debit which is when they start credit… Read more

collections against you, which is mostly how they make their money, as when you’re forced to pay it back- it’s in cash.

I’m a single mother of 2 with no chance of ever obtaining finance to buy a home because they have falsely placed a default on my credit rating.

Read the negative reviews, and believe them. Stay as far away from this company as possible.

We have been members of Bartercard for over 18 years now and while I hear people saying they can't do this and can't do that, Bartercard is like everything in life, you have to work it. It won't happen if you sit back and do nothing, we are always actively seeking spending opportunities and collaborating with other Bartercard members. If you use it, it works and works well.

Just about useless – We were sold on bartercard being a useful addition to our business. Turns out you are encouraged to sell goods and services using trade$ which you then cannot use as other merchants have worked out how useless the stuff is and will rarely if ever sell anything to you for Trade$ or if they do, it's cash + trade with the cash component often being… Read more

far greater than you can buy the product for elsewhere anyway.

There was very little upside for our business using Bartercard and we still have Trade$ that we cannot use. Oh and then ask me about Qoin!!!! Bartercards latest way to rip people off ugh.....

You are going to be richer and better off without it – They claim they can bring lasting exposure to your business, but really all they do is bring on lasting expenses. They don't create any value in advertising and don't bring in clients you want to have. Instead, they leech off the success of your business and hard work and catch you out with legal nonsense to stick you with a big bill when you try to leave.

Avoid. Seriously, don't do it – If the idea of giving your time or stock away for a currency that isn’t real, and then paying real money on top for the privilege, then Bartercard is for you. Some people like being spanked while scrubbing a toilet with their toothbrush. I’m not here to judge. I am here to tell you that in the three years I’ve been with Bartercard, I’ve been… Read more

sold a car that wouldn’t start after two weeks, a house and land package with no house (seriously, you can google it), and when a $20,000 transaction didn’t go through the Batercard antiquated payments system, and the person paying me the Bartercard money refused to authorise the transaction again, I lost my money. I was told that if I wanted to get my Bartercard money, I’d need to go through a lawyer. AND, would I like the number for a lawyer that accepts Bartercard?

Do the research, let me start you off,

Last Bartercard owner - https://independentaustralia.net/life/life-display/mayor-tom-tate-four-named-frank-and-the-piggy-forestry-bonds,12000

Don’t wait around for the Bartercard salesman to tell you, "you just aren’t getting how the system works, that’s why you are not making money".

Be smart. There are plenty of people on the internet that will tell you the horror stories they have lived through since they joined Bartercard.

Would give less stars if I could – If I could I would give less stars. I was a member for nearly 10 years and paid thousands and thousands of dollars in fees and marketing. I was never promoted. When it was time to unfortunately close my business 3 months ago I was given the biggest up yours by them. They did not support my business in any way to promote or sell items to bring a… Read more

resolution. They said their policy is not to respond to any enquiries for 7 days! Imagine your business where you did not bother contacting your customers for 7 days when they need a speedy solution. I had 28 days to wind up my business and was charged, again, thousands of dollars to close this account. They are rude, non-communicative and have no sense of business. You cannot spend your Bartercard dollars on reasonable business expenses to offset the fees. It is useless and I would encourage no-one to apply. They are all over you to sign up and then nowhere when you need them. Would recommend every business to stay far far away.

Taken advantage of – In the beginning my husbands company thought it was a great initiative, being a refrigerated courier. We weren’t able to build our business from this and suppliers for restaurants etc were taking advantage of us. They were not prepared to pay our rates in dollars and decided that barter card was cheaper. Ultimately this sent the company broke. We… Read more

wound up operations over 3 years ago from using barter card and are still being chased for fees after writing to them and requesting to close our account. Worst idea ever using this platform.

Do your maths – Bartercard has become excessively expensive and service levels have dropped to a shockingly poor level. I encourage everyone considering joining to do so with extreme caution. There are no consequences for not delivering on their promises and the fees are very expensive, make sure you factor in that all GST charged in trade needs to be paid in… Read more

cash at a cost to the business. The declining membership means that it is much more difficult to spend on fairly priced goods and services. The brokers deliver no value and the monthly fees are excessive. The business model is based on trapping you into an account whilst paying monthly fees. Once you have joined, care factor drops to zero. They make closing your account very difficult.

Great for getting that extra business – I have been using Bartercard for the last two years. The secret to success here is to maintain contact with your trade coordinator. Trade coordinators will find business for you and also put you in contact with other members who can provide the services you require. I look on this as extra business I would not normally have.Bartercard takes fees for generating the extra business and it is the same as paying commission for a referral.  Show reply

The actual worst – The only thing I use bartercard for is my hairdresser and that only involves using my card details, not the actual Bartercard site. Don't even bother purchasing things on their site because their site is a mess, most of the sellers are either extremely incompetent at doing their job or are scammers and when you have to go to customer service about… Read more

an item or seller (which you will), the people at Bartercard seem to find it really difficult to do their job. I got scammed by a well known bartercard seller AND scammer that'd previously been in jail for fraud (a quick google search does wonders). It wasn't a lot of money but it was still MY money that he had stolen. I told the customer service help at Bartercard and all they said to me was "does it really matter if he takes that money? It isn't much", seemingly ignoring the fact that this is how most successful scammers operate, by stealing small amounts of money regularly.. I was appalled that this is the way they'd react to a scammer that's most likely doing this to every single person he sells to (he was/is a top seller). I checked a while after this happened and he's still on their site so Bartercard did nothing to get rid of this guy. I've never dealt with a business that's so incompetent and genuinely doesn't care about their customers. Bartercard has potential, such a shame it's a mess.

Bad Experience – Bartercard takes cash from fees and cash from trade deficit of businesses who go broke or break the contract. Their "Not enough trade fee" I feel is unfair. They will foreclose on your house to satisfy the debt incurred by not being able to pay them. I have proof. They will make you pay all court expenses plus interest.

Take your money no support unfair trading! – Their fees are ridiculous no support or advertising you can try and try to speak to someone and are completely ignored terrible service was charged no trade fees when changing businesses and if I added those together could have literally paid if my balance instead! Do not get sucked in!!!

Bartercard are my sales team – I have been a member of Bartercard for a few years now and over this time, I have worked regularly to build solid relationships with my Bartercard trade coordinators so they know my products and services and can sell me and my business effecitvely. Our relationships have developed over time and now every part of my business is tied to Bartercard -… Read more ·  1

Facebook Workshops, Computer Repairs, Business Networking Lunches, Small Business Expos.

Some of my highlights have been to secure Keynote Speakers for the Small Biz Expos that I run, getting a new accountant on Bartercard and also a new Bookkeeper that change alone, saved me $3000. I think one of the benefits of Bartercard is the culture of "thinking outside of the square" which is something small business owners need to foster. I am grateful for the relationship - it is a profitable one that I hope to grow further over time.

Bartercard DOES WORK – Bartercard IS A GREAT PRODUCT that has worked beautifully for our company for the last 10 years. We receive approximately 200k - 300k in Trade $$$ a year via members spending with our business. The business we receive have never been cash customers. The key to how we utilise Bartercard was to ensure we had areas of our business we could free… Read more ·  1

ourselves up of where we would normally spend cash. We spend this 200k - 300k with 80k Rent, 25k Phone Bills, 30k in promotional materials we use at Trade Events we attend. 20k for staff bonus awards. We have our yearly work conference using Trade $$$ and lots of other little areas for our business,....... ALL FULLY TAX DEDUCTIBLE.

Part of my wages i receive in Trade $$$$$$. With my staff card, i use it personally for dining out, my dry cleaning once a week, my car is serviced every 3 months, i pop away on weekends and have stayed in wonderful accommodation locally here in Australia and recently in New Zealand which my family and i hardly spent any cash apart from flights.

One small catch is one shouldn't rely 100% on their Trade Co-ordinator in finding them supplier's on Bartercard...... members must be a little creative and become efficient themselves in sourcing suppliers by using the online Bartercard directory or attending the occasional networking event & speaking with other members. There quite a few members that don't overly promote themselves so we became a little active in sourcing and finding our own suppliers and as a result we have built wonderful ongoing Bartercard Business Relationships with and in turn saved hundreds of thousands in cash these last 10 years.

Biggest Corporate Scam. Be careful everyone. Bartercard Should be banned by ASIC and Consumer Affair – Bartercard lure individuals and businesses into their books by offering a minimum of 5000 Barter Trade Currency. They will ask you to sell some products to other barter card members and barter card make cash dollars out of it by charging Monthly Publication & Services Fee of $99.00 dollars and a late payment fee of $25.00. Keep in mind that these… Read more

two charges are cash dollars not barter currency and then GST on top. These charges are never explained by their sales staff who come to visit you for sign up. As their responsibility, they should discuss all these charges in advance before you make a decision to get the Barter Card. Lastly if you wish to cancel the card, this fraudulent company will force you to pay all the barter currency used in cash. i.e if your balance is 4000 Barter Currency, they will make you pay $4000.00 on closure.

Absolute waste of time and money – When I signed up I was told stories that sounded almost too good to be true, I thought i give it a try. Most of them turned out to be lies. Once signed up I quickly realised that it's not bartercard that will promote my business it's me who will have to do lots of free work to make bartercard work for me, there is little to no support coming from… Read more

them. Once I questioned this with their staff I got no sense full answers. Using your credits is another challenge and I ended up wasting hours on phone to find someone to accept my credits and you find someone you get generally overcharged and end up paying more than entering them through the open market. All you find is left over trash people try to offload.

My experiences with bartercard was very very bad. Due to the nature of my business I spend one on one time with my clients and I heard of none of any barter card users hahkng anything possitieve to say about this sevice. The general feedback was that they are very delighted to use their credit for something decent as rejection for proper services of other users seems to be a huge thing and that the special offers mainly consist of left over products that other members try to offload at top end prices. I struggle to understand how such business model can survive in today's market. This device is a total waste of time and only focuses on their own business using your business like a leach that sucks into you and bleeds you

I believe bartercard is a scam! I might be wrong but my experience has been bad! – I joined Bartercard after being approached by a slick sales person. They called me on the phone requesting a meeting. I believed what the sales person told me. If you are in business you need to be aware the form you sign makes the signee personally responsible not the company. Although the company is the one selling the product. The sales… Read more

person sold me on the false assumption that I would be able to sell a lot of service and fill in my sales gaps because they had sales people promoting our products and services. They also promised me business with Bartercard that never eventuated. They told me a lot of stuff that never ever happened - very slick and very professional sales people using the hard sell.

The very small sales I made were sucked up in fees and charges which also incurred interest when you didn't pay. The whole service is based on charging the buyer and seller for the transaction but also charging the buyer and seller for using the service (there is a maintenance fee each month) but you also pay if you don't use the service and this is where it gets you. If you don't use the service you end up paying fees for NOT using it . I just didn't get any business and they kept charging me fees!!! I am not sure how but I have accrued over 6,500 in fees and charges for a service that provided me with very very little. I refused to pay and requested to speak personally with the manager - he has not called me and the lady who handles the account was rude and unrelenting. Also the business was sold after I joined and then I started receiving three or four emails a day advertising crap that people were trying to offload. Oh and I paid for two staff to attend a product day that was going to have a huge attendance - I paid to have a stall. It was dreadful - no-one turned up and the staff said it was so quiet that there were only around 10 vendors present in huge showground area. How embarrassing and how dreadfully unhelpful for those that got sucked in to this 'barter service'. I am very disappointed in Bartercard. I would not recommend them. Mainly because they don't care when you complain - there is no negotiation or understanding of the issues. They do not assist with sales as promised. They are cut-throat if you question their accounts. My feeling is they are a cold money hungry business that suck small businesses into a never ending cycle of payments for services that don't do what they promise.

Not interested in helping businesses – Before I join Bartercard they explained that they will list my business on the map. I paid and joined and notice that this has not happened. I contacted office MULTIPLE times and they finally listed it on their website and map. I checked a few month later and noticed that they have removed my listing with out even notifying me. I called their… Read more

office to see why and they advised that they have done this because I don't do full trade on Bartercard.

I checked other dental clinics on bartercard map, called them and realised that their statement is absolutely not true.

Very disappointed in bartercard. Especially the fact that this is not the first time that they remove me from the map.

I have always paid their bill.

My recommendation to you: Do Not Trust Bartercard. They are not Honest in their Business!

Bartercard leads to more cash customers !!!!! – I took photos at a prestigious Gold Coast restaurant, this improved my business connections, networking, and cash business revenue. I have since been referred onto thousands of dollars worth of extra business throughout the Gold Coast & Brisbane from that one Bartercard job.

Interested in taking your money, not interested in helping businesses – Firstly I jumped on board bartercard because l was recommended to me via a friend. When l got on board, l was promised BC would do a huge marketing campaign through their network and my business would work well with their client base. Firstly l feel the rep that was assigned to me didn't understand my business all that well and l don't think… Read more

the rep cared. I was seen as a new cash flow. The marketing campaign that was promised never happened. I was told that BC would produce a marketing proposal for me which would go out to all clients but in the end l spent hours putting together the marketing proposal because the proposal l got back from my rep looked like a 10 year old did it in that ancient program wordpad. I was shocked at what l received.

I made enough sales through BC in the end only because l did ALL THE WORK. As l said no marketing was ever done through BC for me. However this was probably a good thing in one way... l spoke to almost all the people l had a transaction with... so maybe 15 and only 1 PERSON had anything good to say about BC. Most people were having the same issues as me, no marketing, no assistance, we all felt it was a money grabbing exercise.

I knew from all the negative feedback l should get out and l know that at least 7 of those people l spoke to have left as well. Upon mentioning this to friends l am hearing more and more negative stories about BC and l feel it should be written here so people know the truth.

I feel it's appropriate to say this is a scam. I complained several times to my rep, who did nothing. I told head office who did nothing for a while until l called again to complain and they did something but it was not even close to what l was entitled to. I paid for several months ($50 a month) and basically go no help what so ever.

Besides the above, they provide an online listing in their directory. My listing details, email, web address and phone number were incorrect for 5 months which means anyone trying to get through to me was going to a dead end. It took me 2 months to get that corrected after about 6 phone calls and a few emails. Uuugggg

I would not recommend them to anyone in fact l've told everyone to avoid them like the plague.

Bartercard has not proved to be worthwhile. I would not recommend it – 15 years ago we were introduced to Bartercard by a customer who obviously wanted to use $Trade in payment of our goods & services. We lost that cash customer to $Trade together with a number of other cash customers as soon as they became aware of our bartercard membership. Over the last 15 years we have respected the Bartercard Fair Trading… Read more

Rules and built up a sizeable $Trade balance, especially given that we have not been able to use or spend much of the $Trade efficiently and effectively.

We have now sold our business and have no way of getting any real value from our Bartercard account balance.

Joining Bartercard has not proved to be worthwhile. I would not recommend it.

Great exposure for our business! – Barter card has provided us with a whole new avenue to Advertise and sell our products whilst benefiting from a large range of other businesses goods and services.

This is great!! Its a real asset!! – Improves business connections and networking, business revenue generation and profitability, and increased opportunities to do business and purchase products with minimal cash flow.

Trading platform at its best!!! – This platform of barter card has enabled my business to widen my profile, my business arena, market as well as exposure. Making trading an easier, smoother business especially in a challenging economy. Barter trade being global with very large database of traders has made every member's life easy.