Ameritrade Business Exchange

ABE (Indiana's Barter Company) has built a network of hundreds of businesses in the Northeast Indiana, the Fort Wayne area.

Ameritrade Business Exchange (ABE) is a commercial organization that provides a trading platform and bookkeeping system for its 260 members. The member companies buy and sell products and services to each other using an internal currency known as barter or trade dollars. Modern barter has evolved considerably with the advancement of the internet to become an effective method of increasing sales, conserving cash, moving inventory, and making use of excess production capacity for businesses around the world. Businesses barter to earn trade credits (instead of cash) that are deposited into their account. They then have the ability to purchase goods and services from other members utilizing their trade credits – they are not obligated to purchase from who they sold to, and vice-versa. ABE plays an important role because of the record-keeping, brokering expertise and monthly statements to each member. ABE makes money by charging a commission on each transaction. Modern trade and barter has developed into a sophisticated tool to help businesses increase their efficiencies by monetizing their unused capacities and excess inventories. The worldwide organized barter exchange and trade industry has grown to an $8 billion a year industry and is used by thousands of businesses and individuals. The advents of the Internet and sophisticated relational database software programs have further advanced the barter industry’s growth. Organized barter has grown throughout the world to the point now where virtually every country has a formalized barter and trade network of some kind.