I've been reading Ferfal's book about the 2001 economic crash of Argentina and he has a lot to say about bartering. Most of which is that was cludgy and rarely worked well because it was hard to find someone who had what you wanted and wanted what you had. He did point out that the ones who did best in barter economies were the ones who owned the land where people would meet to offer their wares. They took a cut of everything.

-Blast