From cows to clicks: the Swap or Trade It story

You have an exercycle that you no longer want, it’s in perfectly good nick but you haven’t used it in years. Actually, who are you kidding? You never used it. Now it sits there taunting you and taking up precious space. What you really need is an elliptical cross trainer but money is tight. If only you could find someone who wants to swap…

Well now you can, thanks to dairy farmers-turned-entrepreneurs Sharon and Wayne George who started Swap or Trade It (SOTI), a bartering website that lets you connect nationwide with a community focused on swapping and trading goods and services.

Taking a leap

It was the third drought in four years that convinced sharemilkers Sharon and Wayne to try something drastic. “We’d just had enough,” says Sharon. “So I said to Wayne: ‘Let’s list our cows on Trade Me for sale or swap and we’ll just see what opportunities come our way.’” The ad was only up for a couple of days before Trade Me removed it, informing the Georges that they weren’t allowed to swap goods, they could only buy and sell. But in two days their listing had more than a thousand views and they got dozens of offers of swaps; for houses, baches, lifestyle blocks, a panel-beating business, a roading company, and even an airplane.

“We were pretty amazed with the response,” says Sharon, “so we started looking to see if there was a swap site around and there was nothing that was really doing what we thought needed to be done. We saw an opportunity and we just thought let’s see where things take us.” After a year of research, planning and meetings, all the while still share-milking, they launched their website in August last year.

SOTI is fully funded and owned by the Georges who had to sell the majority of their dairy herd to free up capital. The remainder of their herd they swapped for a car, a chicken house, and a fishing charter. They also swapped a ute and campervan for the self-contained 9m bus (which they fondly call SOTI) that they live and travel the country in.

A tool for tough times

“We operate on an absolute shoestring budget, personally,” says Sharon. “But we don’t mind it because at the end of the day it goes along with the ethos that we are trying to promote. We don’t think that people need to go without stuff, but [by swapping, rather than buying] you can live within your means and that’s what we are doing.”

Starting SOTI was a brave move, but one they are very passionate about. To them, SOTI is more than simply a website, it’s an online community. “We want to have a business that’s run on ethics and morals and values and camaraderie – a common need and common goals. So many people are looking for the same things.”

Sharon and Wayne share a story from their recent travels around the country where they met a 55-year-old former agricultural scientist who was homeless and had been sleeping in his car for two and half years. Moved by his story, they vowed to help and on the SOTI website and Facebook page they posted a request asking if anyone had work for him. The response was heartwarming; there were offers of work, a caravan, of putting together his CV and others asked to put money directly into his account. Says Sharon: “To me, our spirit is really well and alive and people want to be able to do the right thing and they want to be able to help people, but it’s just being able to find the right forum to do it.”

Why bartering is sustainable

In the course of setting up SOTI, the Georges did a lot of research into both the local and global economy and they say they were struck by just how many people are struggling financially.

“A lot more people were asking questions like: ‘How can I earn more income and how can I reduce my debt?’ And so what we are seeing is people becoming a bit more resourceful and a whole shift in thinking, you know: I’ve got this stuff in the garage, rather than taking it down to the dump and paying to dump it and actually filling up the world with useless rubbish, maybe there is someone out there who could actually better utilise this.”

The Georges have a catchphrase they are fond of using: “Clutter is currency”. Or, put another way, ‘One person’s trash is another’s treasure.’ And it’s this sentiment that underpins the philosophy behind SOTI. The less stuff we buy and throw away, the better for the environment, and the better for our bank balance. They also use the website and the SOTI Facebook page to promote and share ideas around recycling, reusing, and upcycling.

Getting more from less

SOTI is part of a growing global movement called collaborative consumption, which is based on the idea of a sharing economy. In a sharing economy, rather than every person on a street buying (for example) a power drill that takes resources to make, costs money to buy, and sits in the shed for 99 per cent of its life, you’re instead encouraged to get to know your neighbours so you can loan and swap the things you need. That way a larger group of people can benefit from a smaller pool of resources, freeing up money and time and reducing waste.

Of course, the concept is hardly new and as Sharon and Wayne discovered, it’s a way of life familiar to our older generation. Asked to give a presentation about SOTI to a group of seniors in Whangarei, the Georges enjoyed an enthusiastic reception.

“We were telling them about the concepts and the philosophy behind the business and they all got it,” says Sharon. “They said: ‘This is what we used to do, we used to share amongst our neighbours’. As a community, we’ve done this before.… We’ve got complacent because it’s been easier to buy stuff, but now we are finding it more and more financially difficult to buy. I do believe it’s been in us in the past to do that so if you’ve done it in the past why can’t you do it in the future?”

Where to now?

The Georges say they are seeing around two to three successful swaps a week.

Some trade requests are modest: one guy had a tree full of lemons but in exchange he wanted someone to make him lemon honey. Others are more substantial: one person wanted to trade their house and land in the central North Island for as much land as they could get in the central South Island. There are interesting offers: an artist wants to swap an artwork for a smartphone – and there are those offering services; babysitting work in exchange for rides into town.

It hasn’t been easy for Sharon and Wayne. While people seem genuinely excited and positive about the SOTI concept, the uptake rate on the website has been slower than they had hoped for. However, the Georges are philosophical about this and believe it will take time for people to embrace the idea.

Because the website is free to register and there is no charge to make a trade or sale, the only money they make from SOTI is a little from online advertising. To financially support the business they are relief milking and crisis managing farms around the country.

While they’re not ruling out the idea of introducing a minimal fee to use the website in the future, they are clear that if this happens, it will be a nominal amount – perhaps $1 to have your ad featured more heavily. “As soon as you start to put a barrier up to charge the users then they won’t use it, which defeats the purpose of what we are trying to do… we see this as a long, gradual process that as people’s mindset changes, they’ll understand the reason behind why we’re doing this. We are in it for the long haul, and not a five-minute wonder.”

How do I use it?

Visit www.swaportradeit.co.nz and register – it’s free and takes a couple of minutes. Once registered, you can list the item or service that you have to offer under the heading ‘I Have’. Or, if it’s something you want, browse the ‘I Want’ listings section or create a ‘Wanted’ listing. Any trade, swap, or sale you make is negotiated directly with the other party and no commission is taken by Swap or Trade It, however you must be sure you are comfortable with the deal.