Barter trading, the old system of commerce, that is, exchanging goods with other goods, is back. But in a slightly modified way.

A new company - Philippine Barter Trading Systems, Inc. - has introduced the new mode of barter trading to assist business firms dispose surplus inventories and unutilized services and allow them opportunity to turn unsold products or unused capacities into value.

Philippine Barter Trading Systems, Inc. – or Philbarter, facilitates the transactions acting as the intermediary and sort of a clearing house.

Business companies register with Philbarter to participate in the trading. Nearly 100 have already registered.

A registered member-company can barter its surplus goods or services with another member-company or companies for goods and/or services that it needs, or sell through Philbarter for which they receive as payment, not cash, but Trade Peso (or TP) value. This new kind of barter trading uses Trade Peso (TP) to put value on the goods or services being traded, with TP1 equivalent to P1.

Business conserves cash and increase productivity by putting unused assets to work, says Philbarter president Joyce D. Urieta.

The 24-year-old Urieta who comes from the Dizon family of the Dizon Farms in Davao, the country's
pioneer in fruits production and export, put up Philbarter in October 2008 and introduced the new mode of barter trading that have already been proven in countries like Australia, UK, USA, Singapore, China, Turkey, Russia.

Some 70 percent of Fortune 500 companies practice barter trading on a regular basis amounting to billions of dollars of transactions annually, she said. On the other hand, 65 percent of the companies listed under New York Stock Exchange barter.

The International Reciprocal Trade Association says that in the United States, approximately 400,000 businesses are involved in barter trading. The United States Department of Commerce estimates that 20 percent to 25 percent of world trade is in the form of counter trade.

There is not a company out there that does not have some kind of stagnant inventory from time to time, according to Urieta. So, "why not give of what you don't need anymore in exchange for what you currently need?" she asks.

Giving example, Urieta says that "If you sell P10,000 worth of product, your account receives TP10,000. You can use your accumulated TPs to purchase any good or service that is available on the Philbarter member-community."

With the barter world that we know of, barter, or better known as x-deal, is an exchange between two parties. For instance, exchanging an ad space for a hotel room – a business process that is very known to most businesses.

However, what happens if the seller provides a certain item for barter but the recipient does not have any need for it? Or does the exchange justify the value of their product? This is where PhilBarter can put a step up in the usual x-deal process.

So how does this work exactly? For instance, a computer distributor would like to sell their excess inventory. Then a printing company would like to purchase them, and pays the computer distributor with what they call Trade Peso (or TP). With the Trade Peso that the computer company earns, they can purchase any product or service provided by the PhilBarter Member Community – whether it may be ad space to further their marketing efforts, office furniture to expand the office, web development for further exposure, dining vouchers for client calls, and many others.