Trading services instead of paying: how skill swapping works
Skill swapping, or bartering services, lets you get help without spending money. Here’s how it works, what to trade, and how to make it fair.
What skill swapping is
Skill swapping means trading your time or skills for someone else’s, instead of paying cash. A designer makes a logo for a developer, who fixes the designer’s website. It’s especially useful early on, when you have more skills than budget.
What people commonly trade
- Introductions to clients, partners or investors
- Design, writing, development and marketing work
- Testing, feedback and honest reviews
- Legal, accounting and hiring help
- Mentions to an audience or newsletter
Making a trade fair
- Agree on exactly what each side will do, and by when, before starting.
- Keep trades roughly equal in effort, or split a big job into smaller ones.
- Start small with someone new, then do bigger trades once you trust each other.
- Rate each other afterwards so others know who delivers.
- Check whether bartered services count as taxable income where you live.
Where to find trades
Scratch my back is built for this: people post what they can do and what they want back, and you can browse by category to find a fit.
Trade help, not money
Post what you can do for someone and what you’d like back, or find someone offering exactly what you need.
Updated September 2026