Trade Finance Assists Corporate Barter’ Spend-Down Efforts

TradeBanc foresees Trade Finance as a way to assist corporate barter companies’ spend-down efforts, by using an aggregate collection of catalogs. Clients of a corporate barter company can then make purchases on a cash blend basis—paying part cash and part trade credits for their purchases.

Trade Finance ( Buying Side) 

TradeBanc will have electronic catalogs online from major manufacturers. Everyday needed products like office supplies, stationery, copy paper, light bulbs, furniture, and carpeting for hotels will be aggregated. Online searches will enable one to see the products of every supplier—allowing easy comparisons and electronic ordering.

The cash portion of the payment is made directly to the supplier, and the trade portion comes directly off the client’s trade account with the affiliate corporate barter company.

If a case of light bulbs selling for $300 is offered online at 80% cash, 20% trade, the client of the barter company would pay $240 cash direct to the supplier, and the $60 trade would be deducted from their trade credit account.

Procurement (Selling Side) 

The selling side of Trade Finance revolves around TradeBanc’s industriousness in bringing vendors into their online system. By October of this year they expect to have over 200 vendors within the system, with an eventual goal of 3,000 vendors. (All fulfillment will be done by the vendors.)

TradeBanc already has the backend software in place, for purchasing “business rules.” For example, specific individuals within a large purchasing department have limits as to how much they can spend, per purchase, per month. And certain of these purchases must be approved by managers. All of the foregoing “business rules” can be programmed into TradeBanc’s system.

So if a major corporation is a client of a corporate barter company, and they have $500,000 of trade credits to spend, they can go to their purchasing department for access to the TradeBanc system.

Then it’s only a matter of inputting their particular business rules and regulations, as to purchasing. All of this can be accomplished with TradeBanc’s purchasing system, electronically, by the clients themselves.

Barter News Magazine