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To: oilbabe who wrote (84668)	11/20/1999 2:09:00 PM
From: Glenn D. Rudolph	Respond to of 164684

CATCH OF THE DAY: B2B Monopoly money I was in a meeting yesterday with Steven White, CEO of uBarter.com, trying to understand how his business worked, and I wasn't getting it. On reflection, I think that's because I've been brainwashed by living in the U.S.'s single-currency economy. UBarter.com is a business-to- business exchange (another one!) for goods and services, but instead of trading with real money, uBarter.com participants buy and sell products for "uBarter dollars." The only way into this micro-economy is to sell stuff your business owns or makes. Once you've generated some sales, you can then buy things that other businesses have for sale. There is no way to "cash out" of uBarter.com -- aside from spending your uBarter dollars on the network. Mr. White was pitching his operation as a great way for companies to generate a small amount of business while using their assets (not their cash) to acquire needed goods and services. The company will compete with BarterTrust and Doublebill when those services launch. Ultimately, though, uBarter.com has to turn a profit itself. How does it do this if its customers only use Monopoly money for their transactions? Simple: it charges a fee for all transactions. Payable in U.S. dollars.