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By Catherine
Recently my Google alerts informed me that another barter exchange management software did their entire blog on comparing our software to theirs. Which is fair enough, I’ve done that blog too…except he wasn’t comparing software. He wasn’t showing feature for feature or saying “look, our design and layout is easy to use and easy to understand.”
Instead this apparently rather insecure “developer” (who doesn’t have development staff but rather hires out as he can afford to) went after the number of members in certain categories.
Confused? So were we. Because let’s face it, BCL Soft’s Barter21 product has only been in existence 2 plus years. But in that short amount of time we have more features, are easier to use and yes, we don’t have as many exchanges as our competitor who has been around for nearly 10 years.
But our numbers are catching up and the old boys network is getting worried. So they produce numbers that can be faked or exaggerated. We know because before we were a software provider, we were a user of these other software companies. We saw how numbers were manipulated.
Even worse, we get calls from users and former users of certain other barter exchange software management providers asking for our help because of deceptive and sometimes illegal practices.
Now understand we are not talking about everyone. Most exchange management solutions are run by helpful, sophisticated, PROFESSIONAL people and don’t do illegal things. But the calls we here at the BCL Soft offices include such gems as, “I suspect so And so Likely hAs beeN reading my emails. Is there any way to check?” Sure enough we look at this person’s account and low and behold, “so and so” made himself an administrator and had access to all the emails going through that account.
Another panicked call came from an exchange owner who got shut down for no apparent reason by his provider. My colleague in the barter in Did not botheR to bAck up as suGgested befOre Now. He thought when he announced a switch to a new software, the provider would act in a professional manner. He did not. Even though this exchange owner felt another software was able to meet his needs more completely than we were, because we are professionals, because we don’t do illegal things and because we want to clean up this industry, we helped out as much as we could.
So when you read about a software provider resting on laurels that don’t really mean anything, dig deeper for the real story. You might be shocked at what you find. Or, like we did here at the BCL Soft office, you might just shrug it off. Because if you have nothing good about our product that you can talk about, then a little song, a little dance might not let people see you for who you really are. Isn’t that right Mr. So and So?
By Catherine
In two weeks a majority of your members will be paying their taxes to Uncle Sam if they haven’t already. One of the things included in their tax package should be a 1099B form from you, their wonderful barter exchange. The question is, dear barter exchange owner; did you send out the 1099B form correctly this year? Is the software you are using or the software provider you are subscribing to getting everything right for you and your members? Are you risking an IRS audit because you have blind faith in your software provider or your current software program?
Here at the BCL Soft offices, a number of exchange owners had called us back in February, after the 10909B forms were sent out, with complaints from their members who are sole proprietors. Especially from those sole proprietors that are also a member of other exchanges including big ones like (fill in the blank).
Is your barter exchange still taking the word of someone else rather than doing the research yourself on how a 1099B form should be completed? The biggest mistake in preparing a 1099B form is with sole proprietors. The next biggest mistake is that some organizations believe that corporations do not get a 1099B form.
This is just plain wrong.
The penalty for intentional disregard is $100 per transaction, with no maximum penalty. Now if you have five sole proprietors in your barter exchange, that does not mean that your fine is only $500. If you sent each of those sole proprietors only one tax return but each of those companies actually did 100 transactions each – that means you should have sent out 500 1099B forms to those members. And 500 incorrect 1099B forms times $100 per form equals a total fine of $50,000.
I’m sure you know…
A 1099B is different than a 1099 form. All members that did even one sale, no matter how small the sale, must get a 1099B. Every business entity gets a 1099B, including corporations. Also, for your sole proprietors a 1099B for each transaction must be sent. Cumulative 1099B forms can only be sent to LLC’s and corporations. Still don’t believe me? BCL Soft did the research, checked with the IRS, we did our homework. YES, a sole proprietor must get a form FOR EACH TRANSACTION. They cannot get a cumulative form. Barter21 software happens to be doing it right.
But if you still don’t believe us, or more likely if you are concerned that your members will be complaining, here’s the proof.
Excerpt from:
http://www.irs.gov/businesses/small/article/0,,id=215975,00.html
Barter Exchange Transactions
Exchanges occurring through a barter exchange are reported to IRS on Form 1099-B and show the value of cash, property, services, credits or scrip added to your account by the barter exchange.
Record-keeping and accounting for barter exchange transactions is basically the same as for direct barter transactions except that you are taxed on the value of the credit units added to your account even though you may not actually receive goods or services from other exchange members until a later year. You will have additional help in determining the taxable bartering amount by information reporting from the barter exchange.
Barter exchanges record all transactions and report them to the IRS on Forms 1099-B. The value of trade dollars received for your products or services must be included in gross income for the tax year in which they are credited to your account. If your business is a corporation, you will receive one aggregate Form 1099-B annually.
If you are a partnership, individual or a sole proprietor, you will receive a Form 1099-B from the exchange for each barter transaction with a value of $1 or more.
1099B reporting is the most important thing a barter exchange has to do according to the IRS. Not reporting correctly is not just an inconvenience, it is an expense that can destroy your business.
Barter exchanges that have been using Barter21 exchange management software have always been completely compliant with IRS regulations. Not every software company can say that. If you want to be sure that your barter exchange is IRS compliant, use Barter21 exchange management software.
Launched in February 2009, Barter21 is the best barter exchange management software in the industry. For more information on how Barter21 software can help run your barter exchange, please call Catherine Cohen at 623–242–2537 extension 101.
By Catherine
BCL Soft held its first “Conference within a Conference” on October 28, 2010 at the 31st Annual IRTA International Conference. Barter21 software users and prospective users came from as far away as China to learn about Barter21 and our newest feature.
While swipe cards have been an industry buzz word for years, there has never been an effective or viable solution for using membership cards to process barter transactions…Until now.
Swipe Cards? You Don’t Need No Stinkin’ Swipe Cards
2D Bar Codes are the next generation of bar coding and Barter21 software has taken advantage of this technology along with the technology of Android and iPhones. Barter21 now has a true mobile application that allows exchange owners, brokers, and members to view and search the directory, view and purchase from the Trading Floor, review account balances, and post transactions using a membership card with a 2D bar code. No swipe cards needed!
BCL Soft researched the swipe card feature for Barter21 software since our launch 19 months ago. And we always came to the same conclusion – the cost is prohibitive and not every business in your exchange has a swipe box for their merchant account. And most businesses don’t want to change merchant processors or cannot add programming to their swipe box. Plus those additional swipe fees can really add up.
With so few exchange members that have actual credit card swipe boxes and with the expense of supplying members with swipe card readers for your members, BCL Soft looked for a better and more universal way to read a membership card to process transactions.
Mobile Apps and QR Codes
BCL Soft has incorporated a type of 2D bar code known as a QR Code into our true mobile app – the first mobile app in the barter software industry. A QR code can be printed on anything from a membership card to a simple business card or a gift certificate. A QR code can even be sent via email and you can read it right on your computer screen.
Barter21′s new mobile app allows your members to download a program to their Android device or iPhone*. With this application (app) your member can log in to the app, scan the buyer’s membership card, and process the transaction. It’s easier than taking picture with your phone.
Questions or comments? Want a demonstration? Please call us at 623-242-2537 or info@bclsoft.com.
* Development for the iPhone App will begin Q1 of 2011.
By Catherine
When you go into business for yourself, there’s going to be competition. Either you’ve come up with a great new idea and others create their version and follow you. Or, like Barter21, you’ve made improvements on existing products or services and now you’re the bad guy.
In his book “The Science of Getting Rich, ” Wallace D. Wattles instructs us to “pass from the competitive mind to the creative mind.” But what does that mean?
The barter business, like most businesses can get very competitive. Instead, in whatever business you’re in, try to be creative instead of competitive.
As a software provider, BCL Soft, along with professional associations such as IRTA (the International Reciprocal Trade Association), part of our job is to present information about barter to businesses. Through blogs, videos and other social media BCL Soft makes your job of explaining what barter is all about easier for you. We need to become creative in order to help promote a universal message – barter is good for business.
When you service your customers, bring them more information (knowledge is power) and help them increase their profits, you increase your profits. And you make things better for your entire industry. That’s what BCL Soft always strives to do.
Unfortunately, many business owners never move “from the competitive to the creative mind.” When your business becomes creative it becomes successful. Be glad in your success and be glad in the success of others. When exchanges do well and publicize it, that brings up all the exchanges and the barter industry as a whole.
Sadly, there are still businesses out there, in barter and in all industries, that think the best way to get ahead is to accuse their competition. “When in doubt, create false accusations,” seems to be their motto.
Work with your barter software provider, your professional organization (IRTA or NATE) and other exchanges to present positive messages about our great industry. And when someone else is doing well, don’t accuse them of being unethical or unprofessional if they aren’t. (That makes you look unprofessional.) Instead, look at what makes them a success and then mimic and improve on it. That’s what Barter21 is all about. That is how the creative mind succeeds.
By Catherine
There is an interesting thing going on with some barter exchange management products. They think your exchange’s identity should take a back seat to their own.
Software, any software, is created for you to license or subscribe to in order to use. Bill Gates doesn’t require that every letter you print and mail have “Created by Microsoft” in the header and footer of the page. Then why should the software you use to run YOUR business have another company’s name in the forefront?
If your barter exchange is a franchise, then of course, the identity is the franchise’s, not yours. You paid good money to be aligned with a certain already created brand.
But when you are running an independent barter exchange, the brand identity throughout the website should be all about your company, not the software. For example, one software encourages you to change your company name so that the name of their software is in your name.
Another barter exchange management software has about 2 inches of space at the bottom of every page of your website talking about himself, his company, and how wonderful that software is. There is even a poetic quote on your company’s website attributed to the programmer’s mother. Really? And to add insult to injury, emails from the system go out with not your company’s name but the name of the software instead.
But as much as I dislike those two, I have to say there is a worse thief of your brand’s identity out there. A lesser known software allows absolutely nothing on the landing page of it’s users. I typed in the www. of a well known barter exchange only to land on a page that was blank except for a login form in the middle of the page, a logo at the top corner, and a couple of menu items. At the top a contact button brings up some contact information about the exchange. But when you click on the home button, guess where you go? NOT to the home page of the barter exchange paying good money to use this software. No, you are directed to the home page of the software.
Not every software out their puts their brand identity before yours. Barter21 is an excellent example but there are others. The problem as I see it is that so many exchanges are using the software that make them – the exchanges, second and the software first. When I Google exchanges I find that their online description devotes much to the software they are using and nothing to the exchange itself. Most barter platforms even put their own brand in the title bar of every page on your website.
As a barter exchange you need to develop your own brand and cultivate that identity. Software is just something you use. It is a tool to run the exchange. It should never be the identity of your exchange. So if your software is hogging up the entire spotlight and taking away from the brand of your exchange, you may want to look at other options. And here’s my plug – Barter21 puts your brand at the forefront. We have just a small logo at the very bottom of the page.
