I understand the point about bartering one to one as being somewhat difficult, logistically speaking.
However, when I lived in Philly I was fortunate to find an organization called Butcher Trade Association which organized and tracked everything eliminating the necessity of only being able able to trade with someone who also needed your service.
Everything was done with trade credits. One trade credit was equal to one dollar. The org. kept track of each person’s credits earned and spent.
This way, the guy at the tire place may have had absolutely no need of what I had to offer, but I could still purchase from him with credits I earned doing a job for the guy who owned the gardening/nursery place and so on.
This really opened things up because it expanded your network considerably, provided a convenient tracking vehicle and gave your business exposure to many who might not have heard of you otherwise.
I wish there were more groups like it all over the country. A well organized and managed barter group can do a whole lot to facillitate this type of trade and free up cash flow.
I also didn’t experience any who were overcharging above the usual going market rate since that would put them at a competetive disadvantage.
Naturally, some businesses are more service based and have lower actual product/overhead costs (such as mine) For businesses more product based, the org suggested that they had the option of doing 60–70% trade to cover out of pocket and/or inventory costs.
But even some of those even chose to do full trade. They were free to use their own judgement.
I did find that the social aspect was higher since we all belonged to the same organization and would often do repeat business. It was overall a fun, enjoyable experience for me.