Although he doesn’t carry too much cash in his wallet, whatever Sushant Saini wants, Sushant Saini usually gets. Yes, the 33-year-old Gurgaon-based project consultant does usually pay by plastic, but he has also been offering his advertising expertise on occasions in return for stuff that catches his fancy. Saini plays safe, though, and swaps only with clients he has been dealing with for a while and is comfortable with.

Smart way to shop? They call it barter, and it has been going on ever since man became civilized. But the mechanism has evolved, and the way barter is being done today is very different from the way people swapped 5,000 years ago—and the way Saini still does.

Today, a number of trade exchanges facilitate swapping a wide range of goods and services even between three or more parties, not necessarily just two.

Manoj Bhatia, a West Delhi home appliances retailer, saves on cash by offering merchandise in exchange for print ad space worth Rs20-25 lakh a year. He usually routes the transaction through Net4barter Pvt. Ltd and Intrex India Ltd, two trade exchanges that help him reach a number of English language and vernacular newspapers he normally would not have access to.

Bhatia says he is comfortable using the services of a trade exchange for the wider range of newspapers he can tap, without dipping into his pocket or bank balance to avail of the service, or having the publication explore his financial antecedents before accepting his ad.

“There is another reason, as well,” says Rakesh Bhatnagar, co-founder of Net4barter. “In traditional barter, a deal takes place only when you have something I want, I have something you want, both of us think we’re getting a fair deal if we swap, and so we do.” Bhatnagar says this limitation is lessened in the three-way model, because it uses an electronic bookkeeping system that assigns credit points for all sales made by a member on an exchange and debit points for purchases. In Net4barter, Re1 worth of sales or purchases equals one credit or debit point.

So, if Bhatia places an ad worth Rs10,000, his account gets debited 10,000 points. He offers his wares on sale to square off his account, but it isn’t necessary for the publication he advertises in to pick up a water purifier or geyser from him. Any member, who needs Bhatia’s merchandise, can pick it up and help him approach a zero balance in his books.

The newspaper, on the other hand, can redeem its credits by picking up anything else on offer, from any other member on the exchange—from air tickets to appliances, computers to cutlery, holidays to health-care packages, and pens to pest control services