With new sites popping up all the time, the internet-only barter competition is heating up. In this series of articles, I pit the top five internet barter sites against each other for the grand prize: recognition and kudos from our site! Our battle will have a number of rounds of judging: domain names, sign up and getting started, time from start to posted item, ease of site navigation, ease of finding what you want, and the ability to actually make something happen. I’ll also include any important information I run across during the process.
The items I intend to barter? A leather recliner/rocker with ottoman and a KPC Shuttle computer, new in the box.
For the ads, I will use the exact same wording and pictures on each of the ads so there is no variation and no advantage to any of the platforms. The only exception will be PayMeWithaChicken, which claims that video is the medium for displaying your items for trade.
As part of the test, I am going to be open to any and all suggestions from anyone on any of the sites, but I will only accept deals I want or can move again in some other way.
Let’s start with domain names…
Craigslist.org has been around for years and in my mind is the easiest to remember. If you can’t spell craig, it may be a problem. Craigslist gets an A-, mostly because of the built in recognition and the ease of spelling, but lack of barter in the domain name.
BarterQuest.com is all over the news. It seems like a day doesn’t pass without me finding another article on the web that mentions BarterQuest. That being said, their domain name is easy to remember, and fairly easy to spell. The only alternative spelling I can think of is barterqwest.com, and I imagine that it actually does get typed in to browsers, at least once in a while. That being said, BarterQuest gets an A. Easy to spell, easy to remember.
U-Exchange is almost as media prolific as BarterQuest, but their domain name has a number of problems: many alternative spellings (youexchange,uexchange,youxchange, etc) none of which are owned by U-Exchange. Second, the dash is going to throw some people off. It does make sense in the realm of barter, so I give U-Exchange a B in the domain name category.
PayMeWithaChicken.com is a new site, video based, but the domain name is terrible. It’s fun, it’s funny, but has nothing to do with barter. From a search engine marketing position, they are going to have to work really hard to get on the barter pages…my verdict? I give PayMeWithaChicken.com a C- for the domain name. The only redeeming part of the domain name is that it is funny.
SwapTree.com, a specialty barter site for media, doesn’t have a stellar domain name either. What does a tree have to do with barter? Swap, on the other hand has at least a nod towards barter. My judgement? SwapTree.com gets a B-.
The Winner of Round 1: BarterQuest.com - with a name like barterquest, there is little left to the imagination, and it will hit well on the search engines.
Round Two: Signing Up
Craigslist -The first page, Craigslist.org, isn’t clear about signing up, but as you click Post a Classified, on the next page there is an option for Apply for an Account. Clicking that link takes you to a screen that asks for email address and verification via Captcha. After clicking go, you are taken to a thank you page and a confirmation email is sent immediately. Logging in, you create a password, agree to the terms of use, and you are ready to post your listing. Time from sign up to post: <2 minutes.
BarterQuest -BarterQuest has a clear Register button on the right hand side of the front page. The register page asks for first and last name, username, email and confirmation, password and confirmation, gender, birth year, occupation, and an acceptance of terms and conditions. The password has to be at least 8 characters and one letter and one number, which for me is really annoying. I like the passwords I like, and being forced to make up something else on a site where no money is going to change hands and personal information is not going to be available seems a bit over the top. BarterQuest also wants to send you a newsletter, which I declined. Lastly, they require confirmation via Captcha. After clicking go, you are taken to a thank you page and informed a confirmation email has been sent to your email address. The email came quickly, and clicking the link took me to a login page, which is kind of ambiguous. I don’t know whether I need to just login or if the confirmation is complete. I assume I can now use the service. Within ten minutes I also received a welcome email with some basic instructions on what to do next: posting. Time to posting: <5 minutes.
U-Exchange -My first attempt at signing up with U-Exchange led me to a “Could not connect…” error. I’ll try again later, but this takes points off their grade considerably…ten minutes later the site is still down. This may be the end of U-Exchange. I’ll try again in a couple of hours or tomorrow. For now, the sign up process is not available. Time to posting: ???
Update: Three hours later and U-Exchange is back up. The home page has a nice Sign Up Now button at the top, and a number of Register Here links. The information on the register page that is required for sign up includes first name, last name, organization, telephone 1 and 2, email and verification, agreement to get updates, password and verification, language preferences 1 and 2, full address, web site 1 and 2, title of listing, type of exchange, what I have to offer, and what I’m looking for, along with the requisite agreement to terms and conditions and verification via Captcha. By far, this is the longest sign up form of all of the online barter sites. After filling out the form, you are forced to participate in a survey about where you found them. They have six options, and none of the options is for Internet or Search Engine, so I chose one and commented about the lack of other options. The next page says I can login and post items for trade, so I’m assuming I’m finished signing up. All told, the time to posing: <4 minutes
PayMeWithAChicken -Registering with this site is very clear. A big “Join Us” button greets you on the front page. The next page asks you to select a region: USA/Canada or Outside. After selecting USA, you are taken to a page where you are required to give first and last name, full address, email and confirmation, username, password and confirmation, secret questions and answers, birthday, gender, agreement to terms of use, privacy policy, and idemnity (sic) terms, and then ultimately a Captcha style verification of humanity. That’s a lot of information for a person to person barter site. I forgot to select a country and had to do this step again, and the second time I forgot to retype my password, so the third time was the charm. Then I was taken to a thank you page asking me to check my email. The email did not arrive immediately. Ten minutes later the email had not arrived. Time to posting: ???
SwapTree - SwapTree has a box on the front page that claims you can join in 8 seconds. Indeed, after asking for a username, password, confirmation, and an agreement that I am older than 13, I am permitted to enter the site. A confirmation email was quickly sent, and after clicking the link I was informed that my account was confirmed and asked if I wanted to be taken to the site. SwapTree has been, by far, the most painless of the signups. Quick, efficient, and painless. Time from sign up to post? <1 minute.
Score card for sign up processes:
Craigslist - B - Fairly quick, fairly painless, but you still have to go through 5 screens before you can post an item.
BarterQuest - B- - Almost as fast as Craigslist, but you have to put in too much information and the forced password is just silly.
U-Exchange - B- - U-Exchange has the most invasive of the sign up forms, but they also don’t make you verify via email, which cut down on the time it took to sign up significantly. It’s a B minus because I don’t like being forced to participate in silly surveys that don’t offer enough answers.
PayMeWithAChicken - D (until I get an email) - If I never get a verification email I’ll never post, and I promise normal users won’t go back and ask for another verification on a barter site.
SwapTree - A - Quick, painless, and as expected. No ambigiuity or confusion. Three pieces of info, a confirmation email, and I am ready to post an item. SwapTree is the CLEAR winner.
Part Two: Posting What I Have and What I Want
In part two of the series I will detail the process of actually posting what I want and what I have to trade. Look for it on Friday.
