A Chinese girl wants to use a paper clip in her hand to barter for a house recently.   Chinanews, Changchun, Dec. 18 – With information network platform, a group of young people in China are trying to make goods exchanging experience become an unforgettable memory. A fashionable backpack that one bought on impulse might get one a set of good books via exchanges and a used cushion may finally be sold for several big paper boxes that one needs.

 

People call them “barter traders” (huan ke), who trade for goods on the Internet with the things they have. In the city's first website that has just opened for these traders, the reporter saw that the website contained more than 1,000 pieces of information, which is always updating. A large variety of goods were put on sale, including MP3 players, computer accessories, books, ornaments, clothes, collections, paper boxes and even baby cribs.

 

When exchanging goods, these traders stick to one principle: necessity, not price, determines the value of a thing. As long as they need something, they are willing to exchange for it, regardless of its actual price.

 

The exchanging experience can be fun, too.

 

“By exchanging goods on the Internet, we can not only get the things we want, we also make a lot of new friends during this process,” said an online trader named “jumping fish”, adding that he could tell a person's morality during this process.

 

At present, college students or young people aged between 20s or 30s constitute the majority of the barter traders group. The group is expanding to cover more and more people and the variety of goods is also increasing, said Mr. Wang, founder of the website.

 

Experts say the trading activities are, in fact, driven by traders' desire for expectation and their emotional needs.