People may claim that bartering is a thing of the past, but we know better, don’t we? We trade our time for food (dinner parties), our ideas for business cards (networking events), and chocolate for good behaviour (babysitting). In fact, there’s so much unofficial bartering of goods and services that Swapaskill.com has decided to create a place where people from all over the world can swap their skills or goods for those of others. Impressive testimonials include stories from members who swapped French lessons for a new patio, web design skills for a trip to India and a pair of Jimmy Choos for legal advice (bet you never thought you’d be envious of a lawyer).

It’s free to sign up and the site already seems to have an impressive amount of members from all over the world. In London alone, you can find over 800 people looking to swap anything from plumbing to painting for book writing to book keeping.

While Swapaskill.com is a great idea – and highly reminiscent of the School of Everything, it’s hard to tell how active any of the members are, or exactly what you get out of a swap. “Flooring” may be a reasonable trade for salsa lessons but does that cover materials and installation or will you be left with a pile of tiles on your floor? The issue brings us back to why bartering fell out of style in the first place – with out a set price and value for goods, there’s the danger of someone getting burned.

But bartering bungles aside, Swapaskill.com might be on to something here – thousands of members already seem to think so, and they can’t all be in it for a shot at a pair of Jimmy Choos.