Here is an example of a bartering add I posted on Craigs list that proved very successful.
*******Beginning of Craigslist Sample Add*********
Thank you for your interest. We have plenty (as in hundreds and hundreds, if not THOUSANDS) of plants. We are selling our 150 acre property at 4747 W. Swamp Road and concentrating at our "headquarters property" about a half mile away at 5275 W. Swamp Road. Both our locations are on the eastern side of the road a mile or so north and west of Doylestown in the hamlet of Fountainville (zip code 18923), about 30 miles north of Philadelphia, PA. Swamp Road IS ALSO Route 313. There's even an exit off the Route 611 Doylestown Bypass onto 313. We REALLY need to clean out those 150 acres by JUNE 1.
Seriously, why not BARTER AND TRADE with us?
Give us whatever you DON'T want and GET some plants you DO want.
After all those years, all those acres at our 150 acre property have been filled with "lotsa trees and shrubs" indeed. So, we'll take most ANYTHING in trade and to YOUR advantage, not only because there's just no way we can remove all those trees and shrubs from those fields by JUNE 1. Why you can dig out your own trees to save even more money if you want to. NO OFFER YOU MAKE CAN INSULT ME!
Think about the most famous barter in American History: In about 1625, Dutch governor Peter Minuit traded with the Weekquaeskeek Indians, a Canarsie tribe of the Lenape Native American Nation on behalf of the settlers from his nation and got Manhattan Island. He gave a pretty collection of beads and trinkets valued at 60 guilders, worth what would have been 24 US dollars, if there were dollars at that time. That's LESS than $2,000 today, in 2006. If the Dutch could get a whole island of 23 square miles for their settlers at about a dollar per square mile, imagine how well you can trade to get trees and shrubs for the settlers at your house!
We have registered with Pennsylvania's Department of Environmental Resources as a place where you can drop off your items such as old tools, tractors, plumbing and construction supplies, farm implements, fencing materials, useable nuts and bolts... You get the picture. This is recycling and conservation at it's very best. Even the environment wins as your trading with me is a "win-win situation!"
If we can't use an item maybe we can trade it to someone else that can, or sell it at our "flea market store" in the town of Milan where we own some more properties. It's up north in Bradford County near the border with New York. "Wanna" trade for some hunting, camping, or searching for Susquehanna Indian artifacts up there? We can do that too.
I once put an ad in the paper that said, "If it free its for me," but soon had to cancel it because I collected so much great used stuff. For example, I had enough paint to dip an entire VILLAGE in it, let alone paint a house. Disposal became an issue. That's how I came up with the barter and trade idea. Now, it is TREE and SHRUBS we need to dispose of. Email us about your surplus materials, send a list with brief descriptions. Or call us.
Barter has proven to be a great is a great way to meet new people too.
Though I did not invent this wheel I have accumulated enough wheels so that it appears I might have. Barter has become a means of exchanging my surpluses for other people's surpluses. Here is a sample list from an ad that I ordinarily run on my website www.seedlingsrus.com :
Trades Wanted
We are always looking to trade our surplus nursery stock and seedlings for your surplus.
Examples of what make a ready trade are:
ANY Construction materials and equipment (lumber, brick, sand, cement, steel, etc., etc.)
Plumbing supplies
Hunting and fishing gear and items
Hand tools
Farm implements
Farm supplies
Fencing materials
Palletized stone
Lumber
Household items
Livestock
We are open from 7 A.M. 'til the last dog dies, all SEVEN DAYS A WEEK. We'll stay open late for you if you call first and make the arrangements with us. You can do some sightseeing in history-rich Doylestown or go to neighboring Lake Galena Park, or perhaps the Delaware River, and New Hope, etc. if you want to stay for awhile and make a long trip all the more worthwhile.
Thanks again for your interest,
Bill Hirst
********* End of craig list sample add*********
Now I can't say why this add was so good, I am not an expert writer or marketing Guru. Simple adds like this have generated customers coming in the door. These people tend to be networkers....finders of good deals and they bring in referrals. The best customers are always those who give referrals. I call this an organic add. Organic adds are most effective because everyone likes to get a deal like or better than what their buddy obtained.
Source: http://www.ArticlePros.com/author.php?William J. Hirst
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