易貨貿易是指在換貨的基礎上，把等值的出口貨物和進口貨物直接結合起來的貿易方式。 傳統的易貨貿易，一般是買賣雙方各以等值的貨物進行交換，不涉及貨幣的支付，也沒有第三者介入，易貨雙方簽訂一份包括相互交換抵償貨物的合同，把有關事項加以確定。在國際貿易中，使用較多的是通過對開信用證的方式進行易貨，即由交易雙方先訂易貨合同，規定各自的出口商品均按約定價格以信用證方式付款。根據協定規定，任何一方的進口或出口，由雙方政府的指定銀行將貨值記帳，在一定時期內互相抵沖結算，其差額毛有的規定結轉下一年度。

綜觀全球現階段的易貨貿易，主要表現出以下特征：
1.公司個體行為：采用最傳統的以貨易貨手段，互取所需，隨著商品的互換經濟活動隨之截止；
2. 小范圍的內部調劑：由專門的易貨公司統一發展內部會員，統一結算、收費標準，內部自由調劑，各取所需；
3.電子商務模式：由互聯網公司提供網上交易平臺，收取會員費，各會員單位自由發布易換信息，自由交易；
4.政府牽頭：由政府出面，以本國特色資源換取所需的他國產品；
5. 民間組織協調：由全球較大的專業易貨公司簽定合作協議，相互交流所屬會員信息，實現資源共享，互利互惠。


以上五種表現形式基本包括了易貨貿易的交易特征，但存在以下缺點：
交易范圍較小，往往出現企業提供的產品或服務易不出去，自己所需的產品易不進來；
無信用保證體系，容易導致企業被騙；
無統一的全球結算體系，沒有統一的結算工具和結算標準，長時間形不成交易；
無統一的交易規則，企業無法在公平公正的條件下實現交易；
無統一的管理機構，發生糾紛無法調解；
無專業的大家認可的易貨經紀代理商；
無統一的交易平臺，易貨信息交流不暢，成交與否無法監管。
從目前現代易貨的表現形式和存在的缺點來看，成立以全球國家或地區為成員的全球統一易貨貿易組織，充分利用全球各大商業銀行的結算體系作為結算工具，以專用的國際互聯網站和中心城市易貨交易所為交易平臺，制定全球統一的易貨貿易交易規則，必將能夠解決現代易貨貿易發展的瓶徑問題，為未來的全球易貨貿易提供無限的商機，這也是全球易貨貿易未來發展的必然趨勢。


Barter is a system of exchange by which goods or services are directly exchanged for other goods or services without using a medium of exchange, such as money. It is distinguishable from gift economies in many ways; one of them is that the reciprocal exchange is immediate and not delayed in time. It is usually bilateral, but may be multilateral (i.e., mediated through barter organizations) and usually exists parallel to monetary systems in most developed countries, though to a very limited extent. Barter usually replaces money as the method of exchange in times of monetary crisis, such as when the currency may be either unstable (e.g., hyperinflation or deflationary spiral) or simply unavailable for conducting commerce.

The inefficiency of barter in archaic society has been used by economists since Adam Smith to explain the emergence of money, the economy, and hence the discipline of economics itself. However, no present or past society has ever been seen through ethnographic studies to use pure barter without any medium of exchange, nor the emergence of money from barter.

Since the 1830s, direct barter in western market economies has been aided by exchanges which frequently utilize alternative currencies based on the labour theory of value, and designed to prevent profit taking by intermediators. Examples include the Owenite socialists, the Cincinnati Time store, and more recently Ithaca HOURS (Time banking) and the LETS system.

Limitations
Barter's limits are usually explained in terms of its inefficiencies in easing exchange in comparison to the functions of money:

Need for presence of double coincidence of wants
For barter to occur between two people, both would need to have what the other wants.
Absence of common measure of value
In a monetary economy, money plays the role of a measure of value of all goods, so their values can be measured against each other; this role may be absent in a barter economy.
Indivisibility of certain goods
If a person wants to buy a certain amount of another's goods, but only has for payment one indivisible unit of another good which is worth more than what the person wants to obtain, a barter transaction cannot occur.
Lack of standards for deferred payments
This is related to the absence of a common measure of value, although if the debt is denominated in units of the good that will eventually be used in payment, it is not a problem.
Difficulty in storing wealth
If a society relies exclusively on perishable goods, storing wealth for the future may be impractical. However, some barter economies rely on durable goods like pigs or cattle for this purpose.
Advantages
Direct barter doesn't require payment in money (when money is in short supply) hence will be utilized when there is little information about the credit worthiness of trade partners or there is a lack of trust.
The poor cannot afford to store their small supply of wealth in money, especially in situations wher money devalues quickly (hyperinflation).