Trade Scale
Up to six things a side. Items by value or by price new and condition; work by hours and rate. You get both totals, the gap in dollars and as a share, and a plain verdict: even, close or lopsided.
Free, always. Open the scale
For swaps between people, not shops
Is it a fair swap?
Put a value on what you give and what you get: things, or hours of work. Swapwright weighs the two sides, tells you how far apart they are and what evens it up. Then put it in writing.
- Items and hours of work
- Condition rule of thumb
- Cash or extra hours to balance
- Printable Swap Sheet
Weigh my swap Start a Trade Tab
The Trade Scale is free and needs no account. Nothing you weigh is saved in our database.
A worked example, weighed by the code
You give
- Bike tune-up, brake pads fitted (3 h)$105.00
- Brake pads (parts)$24.00
Total$129.00
They give
- Cordless drill kit, used$95.40
- Fresh eggs, dozen × 6$27.00
Total$122.40
Close
You give $6.60 more (5.1% of the bigger side).
To even it up: They add $6.60 in cash to you.
Three tools on one stall
Weigh it. Write it. Keep the tally.
Swap Sheet
A one-page written record of the swap: who gives what, the values you agreed, the difference and how it is settled, the terms you both tick, and two signature lines. Print it or save it as a PDF.
$1.00 a sheet, or in the Trader Pass. Free during preview. Make a sheet
Trade Tab
For swaps that keep going: babysitting for lawn care, eggs for honey, design work for bookkeeping. Log each swap and see who is ahead, by how much, and what you received each year.
Free for 25 entries; Trader Pass for 1,000, CSV and a year statement. Start a tab
How the scale decides
Plain arithmetic you can check
No secret price data and no guesswork dressed up as fact. The values are yours; the scale only does the sums and says what they mean.
- Value each thingEnter a fair value, or the price new and a condition. Work is hours times an hourly rate.
- Add up both sidesEvery line is worked out to the cent, then each side is totalled.
- Measure the gapThe difference, as dollars and as a share of the bigger side: up to 5% is even, up to 15% is close.
- Even it upThe side that gives less adds the difference in cash, or in more hours of its own work at its own rate.
The condition rule of thumb
When you know the price new but not a fair used price, the scale takes a share of it. It is a starting point to talk from, not a market price: check what the same thing actually sells for used.
100%New, unopened
80%Like new
60%Good, light wear
40%Fair, clear wear
20%Worn, still works
Barter and US tax, from the IRS
A swap can still be income
“You must include in gross income in the year of receipt the fair market value of goods or services received from bartering.”IRS Topic No. 420, Bartering income
That is why the Trade Tab shows what you received in each calendar year, and why the Swap Sheet records the values you agreed. Swapwright is not tax advice: read Topic 420 and ask a tax professional about your own case.
What Swapwright is not
It is not a barter exchange or a marketplace. It lists no goods, introduces no one, holds no money and issues no trade credits. You find your own trading partner; Swapwright helps the two of you agree a fair swap and keep a record of it.
Pricing
The scale is free. Paper and tallies have a price.
Free during preview. Payments are not switched on yet, so everyone has the Trader Pass and nothing is charged. These are the prices that will apply.
Free
$0
No account, no card.
- Trade Scale: unlimited swaps, six lines a side
- Condition rule of thumb and hours at your rate
- The guide: valuing a swap, barter and tax
- Trade Tabs of up to 25 entries each
One Swap Sheet
$1.00 once
For a single swap you want in writing.
- Both names, every item and hour, the values agreed
- The difference and how it is settled
- The terms you tick, two signature lines
- Print it or save it as a PDF
Free during preview.
Make a sheetTrader Pass
$1.95 a month
or $19.50 a year (two months free)
- Unlimited Swap Sheets
- Trade Tabs of up to 1,000 entries
- CSV export of every tab
- Printable year statement: what was given and received
Free during preview. Everyone has the Pass until payments start.
Start a Trade Tab