“Bartering goods and services — ski tunes for bar drinks, carpentry work for accounting help — is a longtime tradition for cash-strapped locals in Aspen and other ski towns. One 17-year local is now taking that concept to a whole new level,” writes Catherine Lutz, “blending this old-fashioned idea with new technology and adding a dash of creative entrepreneurship.
“This summer, Joshua Landis launched SwapAspen.com, an online marketplace for trading goods, services and real estate. The concept is simple: Those who have things or talents to trade post them on the website, often listing what they are looking for in return. Or vice-versa.
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“Long familiar with the local bartering tradition, Landis said he conceived the idea in yet another traditional way: ‘I though of it on the gondola last spring.’”