Topeka Metro News, December, 2, 2005

Bartering business growing by leaps and bounds

By Peggy Mooney

Metro News

Bartering has been around for hundreds of years. But Topekan Dan Pentimone has put a new twist on it.

Pentimone operates Tradebank Topeka, the locally owned office of one of the world's largest bartering exchange networks in the world.

"We are an organized trade and barter exchange," he said. "So, basically we bring bartering to the next level. Instead of doing one-on-one trades, we allow the businesses who participate to trade with anyone else in our system, either locally or nationwide."

Pentimone said that Tradebank is the largest trade exchange in Canada and the second largest in the United States. There are also offices overseas, but Pentimone was unsure about those.

"We have approximately 10,000 clients (nationwide)," he said. "We can even barter for trips to the Carribean. There are 47 offices in the United States."

Pentimone, in an interview with The Topeka Metro News on Wednesday, said that he was getting ready to sign up the Topeka office's 50th business, or client.

Some of the company's clients are the Computer Store, The Glass Doctor, Evolution Protective Coatings, Boulevard Pizza, Kansas Furniture Mart and Topeka Blueprint.

Penimone said that bartering works without any "out-of-the-pocket cash expenses."

According to Pentimone, bartering is the exchange of items of equivalent value between two individuals or businesses. So, focusing on that idea, Tradebank formed a system in which member businesses could network and trade services among themselves.

"The advantage of joining Tradebank is that a business does not have to find someone who needs their products or services," Pentimone said. "They can look through our listings, and we will also help them find what they need."

Jim Driggers, of The Computer Store, agrees.

"… Though a company may need our computer services, I may not need what they have to offer at that time," Driggers said. "The beauty of this system is that I can use the 'trade dollars' I earn from one company and spend them elsewhere. That concept really appeals to me."

Pentimone took it a step further.

"Say for instance that one of our clients needs some auto repair," he said. "The client can go to any one of our mechanics, get the work done and pay with trade dollars."

He said that the mechanic can then take the trade dollars and spend them anywhere in the Tradebank system. He doesn't have to go back to the person who purchased from him, which is typically what you have in a trade.

Pentimone said that once the Topeka office shows plenty of success, he hopes to open offices in Lawrence and Manhattan. The company is also looking at opening an office in Emporia.

Bartering is a fast growing industry.

"It's been around a long time," he said. "Tradebank has been around for nearly 28 years. It's a $28 billion industry."