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<title>A quick introduction to multiswap.net</title>

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<div class="document" id="a-quick-introduction-to-multiswap-net">

<h1 class="title">A quick introduction to multiswap.net</h1>



<div class="contents topic" id="contents">

<p class="topic-title first">Contents</p>

<ul class="simple">

<li><a class="reference internal" href="#what-is-multiswap-net" id="id21">What is &quot;multiswap.net&quot;?</a><ul>

<li><a class="reference internal" href="#why-barter" id="id22">Why barter?</a></li>

<li><a class="reference internal" href="#why-circular" id="id23">Why circular?</a></li>

<li><a class="reference internal" href="#how-does-it-work-in-practice" id="id24">How does it work in practice?</a></li>

</ul>

</li>

<li><a class="reference internal" href="#using-the-system" id="id25">Using the system</a><ul>

<li><a class="reference internal" href="#advertising-your-trader-id" id="id26">Advertising your trader ID</a></li>

<li><a class="reference internal" href="#putting-your-products-on-the-market" id="id27">Putting your products on the market</a></li>

<li><a class="reference internal" href="#deciding-which-products-you-want-to-buy" id="id28">Deciding which products you want to buy</a></li>

<li><a class="reference internal" href="#waiting-for-deals" id="id29">Waiting for deals</a></li>

<li><a class="reference internal" href="#delivering-goods-to-your-customers" id="id30">Delivering goods to your customers</a></li>

<li><a class="reference internal" href="#receiving-the-goods-you-ve-bought" id="id31">Receiving the goods you've bought</a></li>

</ul>

</li>

<li><a class="reference internal" href="#reaching-a-critical-mass" id="id32">Reaching a critical mass</a><ul>

<li><a class="reference internal" href="#do-a-campaign" id="id33">Do a campaign</a></li>

<li><a class="reference internal" href="#create-a-local-business-directory" id="id34">Create a local business directory</a></li>

<li><a class="reference internal" href="#start-small-grow-big" id="id35">Start small, grow big</a></li>

</ul>

</li>

<li><a class="reference internal" href="#disclaimer" id="id36">Disclaimer</a></li>

</ul>

</div>

<div class="section" id="what-is-multiswap-net">

<h1><a class="toc-backref" href="#id21">What is &quot;multiswap.net&quot;?</a></h1>

<p>Multiswap.net is a free platform for <strong>circular barter exchange</strong> <a class="footnote-reference" href="#id10" id="id1">[1]</a>

<a class="footnote-reference" href="#id11" id="id2">[2]</a>.  It gives you the concreteness of ordinary two-person barter

along with the flexibility of being able to give to and receive from

two different people.  That is: you supply goods <em>to customers who

trust you</em>, and you receive goods <em>from partners whom you trust</em>.</p>

<div class="section" id="why-barter">

<h2><a class="toc-backref" href="#id22">Why barter?</a></h2>

<p>Barter can facilitate trade even when cash flow is tight.  People are

interested in trading products (goods and services) for other products

even when they can not afford to buy the products with money.</p>

</div>

<div class="section" id="why-circular">

<h2><a class="toc-backref" href="#id23">Why circular?</a></h2>

<p>Conventional two-way barter can only happen when there is a

coincidence of wants: &quot;A&quot; wants what &quot;B&quot; has while at the same time B

wants what A has.  Circular barter allows for a lot more flexibility:

A wants what B has; B probably wants what someone else has, and that

person in turn probably wants what a fourth person has.  Eventually

it's likely that the chain will loop back on itself, so that a

circular trade can be arranged:</p>

<div class="figure">

<img alt="diagrams/circular-trade.jpg" src="diagrams/circular-trade.jpg" />

</div>

<p>In a circular trade, you know exactly what you're going to receive and

exactly what you're going to give.  The products are not actually

delivered at the same moment, but <em>the deal is made in one instant</em>:

the agreement to deliver one product, and the agreement to receive

another product.  Where, when, and how the actual delivery of goods

will happen depends on the concrete arrangements you make with each

one of your partners.  Remember, you should choose people you trust as

your partners!</p>

</div>

<div class="section" id="how-does-it-work-in-practice">

<h2><a class="toc-backref" href="#id24">How does it work in practice?</a></h2>

<p>Although, in theory, with multiswap.net the lack of money shouldn't be

a problem at all, in reality, you often need certain products right

away, so you can't wait for a circular deal to happen. In order to

avoid needlessly spending your money, you should, in advance, collect

delivery promises for sufficient amounts of these products that you

are likely to need in the near future. That is: <em>you buy a bulk of

products which you, later on, receive in portions.</em> If you do so, your

partners will be committed to provide you with the goods and services

you need, at the moment you need them.</p>

</div>

</div>

<div class="section" id="using-the-system">

<h1><a class="toc-backref" href="#id25">Using the system</a></h1>

<p>We did our best to make the system easy to use <a class="footnote-reference" href="#id12" id="id3">[3]</a>.  Nevertheless,

having a quick introduction to the key concepts will make you much

more confident when you buy and sell things in the system.  Notice

that when we say &quot;buy&quot; and &quot;sell&quot;, it really means &quot;receive&quot; and

&quot;deliver&quot;, because no money actually changes hands.</p>

<div class="section" id="advertising-your-trader-id">

<span id="my-business-card"></span><h2><a class="toc-backref" href="#id26">Advertising your trader ID</a></h2>

<p>A unique trader ID is automatically generated for every user.</p>

<div class="section" id="id4">

<h3>My business card</h3>

<p>To find out what your trader ID is, click the &quot;My business card&quot; link

in the main menu:</p>

<div class="figure">

<img alt="diagrams/my-business-card.jpg" src="diagrams/my-business-card.jpg" />

</div>

<p>Your ID will show up at the top of the page.</p>

<p>Make sure your customers will be able to find your trader ID too: put

it on your real business card, put it on your website, put it in your

ads <a class="footnote-reference" href="#id13" id="id5">[4]</a>.  Knowing your trader ID is really the only way for your

potential customers to find you in the system!</p>

</div>

</div>

<div class="section" id="putting-your-products-on-the-market">

<h2><a class="toc-backref" href="#id27">Putting your products on the market</a></h2>

<p>First, you have to create a list with all the products that you offer

together with their respective prices. When this is done, you should

register your spare items for sale.</p>

<div class="section" id="create-a-product">

<span id="my-product"></span><span id="new-product"></span><h3>Create a product</h3>

<p>To define a new product, click the &quot;My pricelist&quot; link in the main

menu, then click &quot;ADD NEW PRODUCT&quot;:</p>

<div class="figure">

<img alt="diagrams/create-product.jpg" src="diagrams/create-product.jpg" />

</div>

<p>On this page you can describe your new product, so that your customers

know what they are going to receive.  Click &quot;Submit&quot; to add the

product to your price-list.</p>

</div>

<div class="section" id="my-pricelist">

<h3>My pricelist</h3>

<p>To see your current offers, click the &quot;My pricelist&quot; link in the main

menu: (The examples shown here are for someone who has already

participated in a trade.)</p>

<div class="figure">

<img alt="diagrams/my-pricelist.jpg" src="diagrams/my-pricelist.jpg" />

</div>

<p>Here you can update the prices of your products.  Although the prices

given here are in U.S. dollars, <em>you should put your prices in the

currency that is used in your country</em>.</p>

<p>Take a look at the &quot;Available amount&quot; column — it tells you the total

amount of product that you need to keep in stock, or otherwise be able

to deliver.  Click on the product's name to see all the customers to

whom you agreed to deliver this product together with the agreed

(deposited) amounts:</p>

<div class="figure">

<img alt="diagrams/my-product.jpg" src="diagrams/my-product.jpg" />

</div>

<p>On this page you can see that you owe 20 pieces of your &quot;Product A&quot; to

a customer with trader ID &quot;958770802&quot;. You can also see that there are

80 spare pieces of this product that you currently offer for sale.

Look at the &quot;Roundoff amount&quot; number in product's description — for

your convenience, product amounts are rounded off according to this

number.</p>

<p>If there are no deposited items for a product, a check-box will show

up here instead, allowing you to delete the product.  The next

section, &quot;My items&quot;, will explain how to increase the &quot;deposited

amount&quot;.</p>

</div>

<div class="section" id="my-items">

<h3>My items</h3>

<p>After you have at least one product in your pricelist, click the &quot;My

items&quot; link in the main menu to register your spare items for sale:</p>

<div class="figure">

<img alt="diagrams/my-items.jpg" src="diagrams/my-items.jpg" />

</div>

<p>This page tells you one more time that you have 80 pieces of your

&quot;Product A&quot; for sale. To increase this amount click on &quot;MAKE A

DEPOSIT&quot;; to decrease this amount click on &quot;withdraw&quot;.  When you list

items on &quot;My items&quot;, you should set aside that amount of stock of

actual goods, or otherwise ensure that you will be able to deliver

that amount of a product if required.</p>

</div>

</div>

<div class="section" id="deciding-which-products-you-want-to-buy">

<span id="my-partners"></span><h2><a class="toc-backref" href="#id28">Deciding which products you want to buy</a></h2>

<p>In order to buy from people, first you have to list them as your

partners to indicate that you trust them.  Then you will be able to

view your partners' respective price-lists, and to add products to

your shopping list.  Finally, you have to define in your shopping list

the exact amounts which you want to buy.</p>

<div class="section" id="id6">

<h3>My partners</h3>

<p>To add someone as your partner, click the &quot;My partners&quot; link in the

main menu, then click &quot;ADD NEW PARTNER&quot;. You need to know your

partner's trader ID in order to add him/her to your partner list!

Listing someone as a partner means that if a deal is made that they

will deliver goods to you, then you trust them that they will actually

deliver the goods and that the goods will be adequate.</p>

<p>To view your partners' respective price-lists, click the &quot;My partners&quot;

link in the main menu, then click on the name of the partner whose

price-list you want to see.  From there, you will be able to add to

your shopping list those of the products which you like.</p>

</div>

<div class="section" id="id7">

<span id="my-shopping-list"></span><h3>My shopping list</h3>

<p>To define the exact amounts which you want to buy, click the &quot;My

shopping list&quot; link in the main menu:</p>

<div class="figure">

<img alt="diagrams/my-shopping-list.jpg" src="diagrams/my-shopping-list.jpg" />

<div class="legend">

<ol class="arabic simple">

<li>You <strong>have</strong> bought 2.5 kilograms of &quot;Product X1&quot; from your

partner &quot;Trader X&quot;. You <strong>need</strong> 10 kilograms in total, so you

specify that you want to buy additional 7.5 kilograms.  The

maximum price you are willing to pay is $5.50 per kilogram (this

also happens to be the current price).</li>

<li>You want to buy 5 kilograms of &quot;Product X2&quot; at a maximum price of

$14 per kilogram. Since the current price is $15, your bid is

currently void (this is indicated by the red asterisk).</li>

<li>You have bought 20 pieces of &quot;Product Y1&quot;. You do not need them,

so you specify that you want to sell them all back at a minimum

price of $3 per piece (the current price is $3.30).</li>

</ol>

</div>

</div>

<p>Here you can specify your bids for the amounts and the prices that

satisfy you.  You can also add new products to your shopping list by

clicking on &quot;ADD NEW ITEM&quot;.</p>

</div>

</div>

<div class="section" id="waiting-for-deals">

<span id="unconfirmed-deals"></span><span id="customer-deals"></span><span id="my-deals"></span><h2><a class="toc-backref" href="#id29">Waiting for deals</a></h2>

<p>Once you've made all your offers, and all your bids, you should wait

for the desired deals to take place.  Trading turns will be launched

automatically at regular intervals. The time of the next trading turn

is shown at the bottom of every page.</p>

<div class="figure">

<img alt="diagrams/next-turn.jpg" src="diagrams/next-turn.jpg" />

</div>

<p>During a trading turn the system analyzes all users' offers and bids.

When a chain which loops back on itself is found, a deal gets

executed.  A list of deals you're engaged in this trading turn is then

presented to you.</p>

<div class="figure">

<img alt="diagrams/new-deals.jpg" src="diagrams/new-deals.jpg" />

<div class="legend">

The system is designed to arrange trades such that the values of

exchanged goods are in perfect balance according to the prices

selected by the users.  As deals are executed, the relevant customer

account balances are updated accordingly.</div>

</div>

<p>On this page you can see that you have sold 20 pieces of your &quot;Product

A&quot; in exchange for 9 kilograms of &quot;Product X1&quot; from &quot;Trader X&quot;.

Notice that the displayed amounts are rounded off: you really get

9.09090909 instead of 9 kilograms.  The exact numbers will show up in

a tooltip when you rest your mouse over the amounts.</p>

<p>If you are eager to learn more about the system before your first real

deal happens, you may sign up using several different usernames, so

that you can do some experiments.  While you are exploring the system

in this way, do not forget to put &quot;testing only&quot; in the description of

each product.</p>

</div>

<div class="section" id="delivering-goods-to-your-customers">

<span id="customer-orders"></span><span id="customer-items"></span><span id="find-customer"></span><h2><a class="toc-backref" href="#id30">Delivering goods to your customers</a></h2>

<p>When a customer wants you to deliver some goods which he/she has

bought, click the &quot;Find customer&quot; link in the top menu:</p>

<div class="figure">

<img alt="diagrams/find-customer.jpg" src="diagrams/find-customer.jpg" />

</div>

<p>Here you enter the trader ID that your customer tells you. When you

click the &quot;Submit&quot; button, all the items which your customer has

bought will show up:</p>

<div class="figure">

<img alt="diagrams/customer-items.jpg" src="diagrams/customer-items.jpg" />

</div>

<p>Before you click the &quot;withdraw&quot; link, you should make sure that either

the person who wants to obtain the goods is the person in the trader's

photograph, or a delivery order has been made that authorizes this

person to receive some goods on the trader's behalf.</p>

<p><strong>Important notice:</strong> You need to have a way to reimburse your

customers for any fractional amounts that they may have bought, which

are impossible to be delivered directly (0.25 bicycles for example).

In such cases, you can deliver some amount of other goods or services;

or you can give or receive some amount of money, so as to get rid of

the fractional part.</p>

</div>

<div class="section" id="receiving-the-goods-you-ve-bought">

<span id="make-delivery-order"></span><h2><a class="toc-backref" href="#id31">Receiving the goods you've bought</a></h2>

<p>If you upload your photograph to <a class="reference internal" href="#id4">your profile</a>, your trading

partners can confirm that they are delivering goods to the right

person.</p>

<p>If you want some goods that you've bought to be delivered to someone

other than you, or to a specific address, you need to make a delivery

order.  To make a delivery order, click the &quot;My shopping list&quot; link in

the main menu, then click on the name of the product that you want to

order:</p>

<div class="figure">

<img alt="diagrams/make-delivery-order.jpg" src="diagrams/make-delivery-order.jpg" />

</div>

<p>If you follow the &quot;MAKE A DELIVERY ORDER&quot; link, you will be able to

specify the exact amount which you want to order, along with some

additional delivery instructions.  Remember that when you authorize

someone to receive goods on your behalf, your delivery order should

contain sufficient information, so that your partner can reliably

identify the intended recipient.</p>

<div class="section" id="my-delivery-orders">

<h3>My delivery orders</h3>

<p>To review the delivery orders you've made, click the &quot;My delivery

orders&quot; link in the main menu:</p>

<div class="figure">

<img alt="diagrams/my-delivery-orders.jpg" src="diagrams/my-delivery-orders.jpg" />

</div>

<p>Here you can see that you have authorized your partner &quot;Trader X&quot; to

deliver 9 kilograms of &quot;Product X1&quot; to your assistant.  Make sure

&quot;Trader X&quot; has the means to identify your assistant reliably, so that

the delivery order can be completed.</p>

</div>

<div class="section" id="transaction-notices">

<span id="unconfirmed-transactions"></span><h3>Transaction notices</h3>

<p>You will receive immediate notices for every withdrawal, and every

deposit, that any of your partners make to your account. <a class="footnote-reference" href="#id14" id="id8">[5]</a></p>

<p>Now you've learned how to register your goods for sale, receive

delivery orders, deliver goods to your customers and receive notices

of deals.  It's time to get involved!</p>

</div>

</div>

</div>

<div class="section" id="reaching-a-critical-mass">

<h1><a class="toc-backref" href="#id32">Reaching a critical mass</a></h1>

<p>A large and sufficiently interconnected network of traders is needed

for multiswap.net to uncover its true potential.  If you want to

pioneer such a network in the community where you live or do business,

there are three simple things you can do:</p>

<div class="section" id="do-a-campaign">

<h2><a class="toc-backref" href="#id33">Do a campaign</a></h2>

<p>Usually when money is scarce and trade is stagnating, traders are open

to new ways of selling their products.  Believe it or not, people are

quite receptive to good ideas.</p>

</div>

<div class="section" id="create-a-local-business-directory">

<h2><a class="toc-backref" href="#id34">Create a local business directory</a></h2>

<p>Set up a local website where traders can advertise their products,

search for products they need, and find new trading partners.  Have

criteria determining which businesses are allowed to advertise on the

website so that people have a level of trust that the businesses

listed are reputable local businesses.</p>

</div>

<div class="section" id="start-small-grow-big">

<h2><a class="toc-backref" href="#id35">Start small, grow big</a></h2>

<p>As few as three or even two persons can benefit from multiswap.net by

using it to organize and keep track of their deals.  That is: you can

start with having a very small, very well interconnected network.  The

more people join the network, the more useful it becomes.  Eventually,

this will lead to a boom in the number of goods and services that are

offered in the system.</p>

</div>

</div>

<div class="section" id="disclaimer">

<h1><a class="toc-backref" href="#id36">Disclaimer</a></h1>

<p>THE SYSTEM IS INTENDED TO FACILITATE COMMUNICATION BETWEEN PEOPLE WHO

MAY WANT TO TRADE WITH EACH OTHER.  WHILE EFFORTS HAVE BEEN MADE TO

DESIGN IT WELL, NO GUARANTEE IS MADE ABOUT THE CORRECT OR CONTINUING

FUNCTIONING OF THE SYSTEM.  NO GUARANTEE IS MADE ABOUT THE QUALITY OF

DELIVERY OF PRODUCTS AMONG PEOPLE WHO USE THIS SYSTEM.  IN NO EVENT,

UNLESS REQUIRED BY APPLICABLE LAW OR AGREED TO IN WRITING, SHALL

MULTISWAP.NET, OR ANY PERSON BE LIABLE FOR ANY LOSS, EXPENSE OR

DAMAGE, OF ANY TYPE OR NATURE ARISING OUT OF THE USE OF, OR INABILITY

TO USE THIS WEBSITE.</p>

<table class="docutils footnote" frame="void" id="id10" rules="none">

<colgroup><col class="label" /><col /></colgroup>

<tbody valign="top">

<tr><td class="label"><a class="fn-backref" href="#id1">[1]</a></td><td><p class="first">See the following papers explaining the concept:</p>

<p><a class="reference external" href="http://portal.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=376648">&quot;The impact of money-free computer assisted barter systems&quot;, David

L. Parnas (2001)</a></p>

<p><a class="reference external" href="../cmb-general.pdf">&quot;Circular Multilateral Barter&quot;, Evgeni Pandurski (2009)</a>.</p>

<p class="last"><a class="reference external" href="http://www.tesisenxarxa.net/TESIS_UPC/AVAILABLE/TDX-0602109-102247//01DCcb01de01.pdf">&quot;Peer-to-Peer Bartering: Swapping Amongst Self-interested Agents&quot;,

David Cabanillas (2009)</a></p>

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<colgroup><col class="label" /><col /></colgroup>

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<tr><td class="label"><a class="fn-backref" href="#id2">[2]</a></td><td>Download <a class="reference external" href="http://sourceforge.net/projects/cmb/">the source code!</a></td></tr>

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<colgroup><col class="label" /><col /></colgroup>

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<tr><td class="label"><a class="fn-backref" href="#id3">[3]</a></td><td>Please <a class="reference external" href="http://www.google.com/recaptcha/mailhide/d?k=010SK7i9Pv-yrJWZM7DDXTfA==&amp;c=WqV-A0_vfyRHzdC1KfebmnCx4IJVOSo2nevMV50MtJI=">send your comments and suggestions</a> to make this

website better.</td></tr>

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<colgroup><col class="label" /><col /></colgroup>

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<tr><td class="label"><a class="fn-backref" href="#id5">[4]</a></td><td>You can use &quot;https://multiswap.net/<strong>your trader ID</strong>/&quot; to

redirect people to your profile.</td></tr>

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</table>

<table class="docutils footnote" frame="void" id="id14" rules="none">

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<tr><td class="label"><a class="fn-backref" href="#id8">[5]</a></td><td><a class="reference external" href="video/screencast.htm">See a flash demo!</a></td></tr>

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