What is ebarts?
ebarts is a digital barter currency which can be used on your smart phone or online. Unlike other digital currencies you cannot buy ebarts. The currency it is created by users as you buy and sell from one another. ebarts is a system of transferrable IOU’s.
Why would I use it?
ebarts enables you to buy and sell without money. You can supplement your income in a flexible and friendly way, by using your time, skills, ideas and possessions. At the same time you can make new friends and contacts, gain experience, and become part of an online or local support network.
Why is it better than bartering?
ebarts is designed to make bartering or swapping things easier, and more worthwhile. So rather than having to exchange things of equal value, you can use the ebarts currency to buy and sell things. For example, I could buy a pair of shoes from you for 20 barts; my account would be debited, and yours credited with 20 barts to spend as and when you like.
How do I get ebarts?
You can download the ebarts mobile app, open an account and start trading straight away. When you sign up you will promise ‘I will give as much as I take’. All accounts start on zero, and you can buy by going in to debt, before you earn ebarts. Going in to debt is encouraged as it creates currency.
What can I use ebarts for?
You can use ebarts to trade anything, online or face-to-face. You can buy and sell goods and services, and rent out or share your possessions and resources.
How do I use ebarts?
You will have an account on ebarts.com where you will advertise what you have to offer and what you want, see what other people are offering or want, and trade with them. You can also trade with people face-to-face, simply by sending and accepting ebarts on your smart phone. In the future, ebarts will also be usable on other trading and exchange sites.
Does it cost anything to use ebarts?
You can download the mobile app for free. There is no charge for ebarts, as they are created by you as you buy and sell. There is a minimal charge of 1% in ebarts on all transactions.
How does it work?
Your account starts on zero, and you are given a trading limit which restricts the amount of debt and the amount of credit you can have in your account. In order to buy on ebarts.com, or face-to-face, you send the required ebarts from your account to the account of the seller, which the seller then accepts in exchange for their goods or services. Your account is debited by this number of ebarts, and they are credited to the seller’s account.
As you establish yourself as a trader, the ebarts system will extend your trading limit, enabling you to do more on ebarts.
Who decides the value of the goods and services?
The seller decides how much they want for their goods and services, and the buyer decides whether they are prepared to pay that amount.
Who determines the value of ebarts?
As a benchmark, to begin with prices will be set as one bart being equal to one pound or one euro. However, the bart is not pegged or attached to conventional money, and over time, the ebarts users will determine the value of goods and services, with the things more in demand being of more value.
The currency has no value outside the ebarts system, but is based entirely on the trust between traders, and the goods and services they exchange. ebartex ltd, the company who run the ebarts system, neither issues nor underwrites the ebarts currency.
Who can I trade with?
You can trade with any other ebarts account-holder. To begin with you will probably trade with people you know, or who are nearby, and then extend your trading networks online and in the local community.
How do you stop people abusing the system?
The ebarts system is based on reciprocity and trust. It is possible for an account-holder to spend ebarts with no intention of ever giving anything back to the system. However, their spending will be restricted by their trading limit, and in buying from others they will have created currency, and paid others for goods and services.
All transactions must be accepted by the seller, and you can see the account history and credit rating, of anyone who wants to trade with you. There is no obligation to trade with anyone who you think is not contributing.
How do you assess credit ratings and trading limits?
A healthy ebarts account will fluctuate either side of zero. The ebarts system employs machine-learning to assess the throughput of your account, including the frequency and value of trades and the extent of your trading network. This information will be displayed as a graphic ‘heart-beat’ on your account.
There is also a feedback system for buyers to give feedback on your goods and services, which will be expressed as a percentage ‘credit rating’.
As you establish yourself as a trader who is giving and taking regularly, your trading limit will be raised to enable you to do more.
How do you prevent rogue trading?
As a buyer, when you send ebarts to another account, they are held in the system (as a pending transaction) until the transaction is accepted by the seller and confirmed by the buyer. Where there is a dispute about a trade the ebarts will be kept in the holding account until the dispute is settled.
Credit ratings allow you feedback on the quality of goods and services, and also to check up on the experience of previous traders.
How do you prevent fraud?
Every credit is balanced by a debt, so the total amount in the ebarts system is always zero. Furthermore, every transaction is traceable, making it very difficult to counterfeit barts.
The ebarts system uses machine learning to assess the trading activity of accountholders, and where unusual trading is detected, alerts will be raised, and if necessary accounts can be frozen.
How do you stop people manipulating the system?
The ebarts system is transparent and self-regulating, before trading with someone you can see their trading history.
This is to stop people from hoarding ebarts and therefore preventing trading, or from accumulating too much debt, without giving anything back to the system.