Good on em.

[Pblais]

If you were truly bartering, I would not think that there would be a tax liability.

No, it would be tax evasion. It's what convicted Al Capone. It was the bartering that got him. There were a lot of barter organizations back in the early 1970's. The FBI arrested a lot of the leaders and members of these organizations. They used PC's to store the member transactions so the members could do all the trading between each other with no cash exchanged. By using the running balances they could allow any one to trade with anyone. The system made it really easy to convict most of them. They proved a simple lesson.

If you want to barter then don't advertise it and don't keep records.

[rsn48]

This is really to Brian and Clare, attached below is a link to the paper clip guy story that occurred in Canada. It seems to me that the way you are doing it is going to be slow and painful. In essence what you are doing is a form of charity, nothing wrong with that, but as all good charities know, without public knowledge and support, the results aren't going to materialize.

The first thing to note with the Canadian is that he got his house in fourteen trades. Fortunately the media got on the band waggon and propelled him along. And if the media isn't behind you, then you need to jump start it by writing your own "newspaper" articles etc. to get the exposure you need.

For example, seems to me there is a TV channel somewhere that is dedicated to boating. Why not pitch a show to them, following your trading adventures to a boat, which means you better beg, borrow, or steal a video camera real quick. You can barter for a motor and installation on your boat for the right to show your story. I have the feeling the boat you will end up with will be a bit of a fixer upper, so might as well have a pledge for a motor and installation on the horizon.

Why not pitch a show for getting the boat ready to sail, then pitch a show of your adventures.

You need to get into the media limelight somehow. Have you produced your Utube video yet of the trades you have achieved to date? Have you got your pictures in facebook with your planned for dream and trading?

Where ever you are have you approached movie producers with the idea of trading a bit part in a movie for goods?

Here is a link to one story on the paper clip guy:

From paper-clip to house, in 14 trades

[Alan Wheeler]

We have a second guy here in NZ that did a similar thing. He has bought several investment houses now and is makign big money in other investments, all started on Trademe. but within the story was a couple of points. He had to be very ruthless and had to "rip" a few of his freinds off doing the trades. He has a personality that leads to being able to do this, The sort of person I don't believe Clare and Brian are, nor want to be. So I think this is goign to be uphill for them. But anyway, they are giving it a go and it is that, that I am applauding and supporting. The way I look at it, is they may not trade all the way to the boat, but I am willing to help as much as I can try and achieve their goal. And that maybe soemthing as simple as I have my eyes open for a great deal that they maybe able to afford.

[brian and clare]

There is definitely a point there. The swap would be a much faster way to go of course, but the only way to do that within new zealand that I see is through trademe. It may be the slow way, but the way I see it is that it is actually more like a business than the swapping. By the time we are in schooner town, it will probably be a full on job. I see your point about publicity. I really dont think we are that far along enough to get anyone excited as yet. I mean at this point, we will be just under a hundred dollars of profit, and that is kind of small potatoes. Clare is a bit of an arty type, so perhaps we could go that route when things get bigger. OH, and I missed the story about the other traddeme guy, and as far as ripping off firends, thats pretty much 180 degrees from what we are about. The point is that it would happen because of GOOD people with GOOD intentions. I think the fact that people can get ahead by screwing each other over has been long proven. Anyway, got to go to work.

Thanks guys, have a good day.

[NoTies]

What about a combination of Green Dollar (or similar) & Trademe? Green dollar transactions don't attract tax except goods offered by a GST registered company (they can still offer services tax free)

[mudnut]

While I like your idear,it seems like it's going to take for ever.For the bucks you allready have,you could have made more for less input with another job(2nd job).What really impresse's me is what you intend to do by way of helping outer Island kids.

A little girl here in OZ sold her tooth on E-bay for ten grand instead of going the conventional way(Tooth fairy for 5c under her pillow).But then again,the money went to charity.

Without anybody taking this the wrong way,this thread is probably going to last forever and at the rate the sales are going,so will be the reality of trading up to a schooner.You folks are young and this might not be the quickest way of realizing your dream.Quirkey,but not to practical.Mudnut.

[dana-tenacity]

True,but it provides us with free entertainment

[brian and clare]

I agree that getting a second job would probably be faster in the short term, but I look at it as an exponential thing, and the coll part is that we started with basically nothing. So we start off slow, but once we get to bigger items then things will hopefully build more quickly.

If it works, it proves that a person can do virtually anything (within reason) if they want it bad enough. Call it a social experiment. If it doesnt work, or takes 100 years we look foolish, but so what. It is entertaining, even for me, and I have made contact with some nice people in the process.

If nothing else, this has got me thinking more like a retailer and less like a consumer. I think a really big part of us wanting this to work is that it would prove that anyone who is willing to put in the time and effort can acheive their dream. Its not always feasible for somoen to get a secod job, but for the single mom, etc, it would at least show a glimmer of hope. Or something like that. Or it would just prove that another couple of knucklehead had a pipe dream and failed at it. Either way, folks get to see the results and be diverted for a bit during an otherwise slow day. OK, thanks for the support.

B

[brian and clare]

Clare got her web stuff sorted, and I have the pics. I will try to attach.

[clausont]

Looks like some that I have looked at. Right now I have 2 offers of free sailboats: 1 is a Seafarer 31 and the other is an Atkins (or Atkinson) 37' with a rotten deck according to the current owner. But I wonder if either one is even worth hauling down here. I will get up there and look at them, you never know - maybe one is just what I am looking for.
Keep on working on it - if you don't continue, you surely will never reach your goal

[Alan Wheeler]

A little girl here in OZ sold her tooth on E-bay for ten grand

I'm willing to loose several teeth for $10K.


I'm sure Dawn won't mind sucking soup through a straw, it's for the cause after all :-0

[Steve Pope]

I had a steel Roberts offshore 44 Hull that was built in the early 80's, it was still viable up to 5 years ago when the primer started to lift, try as I might I couldn't give it away? by now it is probably part of the olympic stadium in China

[mudnut]

Originally Posted by Alan Wheeler

I'm willing to loose several teeth for $10K.


I'm sure Dawn won't mind sucking soup through a straw, it's for the cause after all :-0

I can just see ya now,3 teeth between ya,a **** load of money,soup and straw,with an upside down TV.

Don't listen to him Dawn,"Ya have to give the money to charity!"Mind you,I do like soup,thick and rich.Mudnut.

[brian and clare]

Hi guys,

we are back again with a new set of items up. Just thought I would say hi. We have a speargun for sale:

http://www.trademe.co.nz/Browse/List...x?id=106512594

and will be selling a couple of other things as soon as they come in. One nice thing about this is we have got some great offers of help from some really nice people. I talked to somone who wants to share an 80 footer out of mexico yesterday! I kind of wanted to have our own schooner though. Though I dont like to look a gift horse in the mouth.

I looked into the doctors without borders thing the other day, but man are they full on. They dont really want to know about some little guy. I suppose if you are dealing with the really war torn parts fo the world, a peaceful backwater of the south pacific does not seem really important, and fair enough, I could be a nut (and probably am a bit). Might just have to find the doctors and dentists ourself when the time comes. Though truthfully for most things the book "where there are no doctors" will cover. (I dont know nothing bout birthin nobabies though) ;o) When the time comes the right people will find us I think.

Anyway got to get back to work

Cheers!
Brian

[mangomuffins]

Dear Kids,

Looks like you're making some progress. Let us know if you really want to do an aid flotilla (esp. Central America). We would love to provide our Oriental Medical services on such an endeavour. Maybe we could form a group of boats... or pool resources and get a REALLY BIG boat
Free Boats are GOOD!!

You may be closer than you think. At least in terms of actually going sailing... I have a feeling on this.
Onward through the fog!!

mangomuffins