[Park Hopper]

A new Internet Web site based largely on theme park employees trading their park perks made its online debut recently. Actually, the site says any type of company perk can be traded, so conceivably someone at Disney Central might have a company perk that could be traded for WDW tickets.

The site, called Perk Trader, describes itself as follows:

Perk Trader started as an idea from a group of former theme park employees, who realized that they never fully utilized the personal benefit of the complimentary theme park tickets they received. The tickets were a great benefit, but as employees, they were not permitted to sell a perk valued by others. Over time the tickets would accumulate and remain unused, as friends and family grew tired of visiting the same theme park.

This situation is not specific to any employee or industry. Every employee has job perks they do not use or that they have grown tired of. Movie tickets, airline tickets and discounts, hotel stays, concerts and sporting events… the opportunities are endless. Now you can trade your perks for ones that are more suited to your interests.

I think the concept will have a hard time being successful, but it is an interesting idea. It's worth taking a look.

[jmouse]

Interesting concept. Thanks!

[mickaholic4077]

So anyone can go on this website and just trade for something? Sounds great!!!!

[Park Hopper]

Originally posted by mickaholic4077
So anyone can go on this website and just trade for something? Sounds great!!!!

Of course the catch is the Web site charges a $5 fee for listing your perk, although as an introductory offer the fee is currently being waived. I didn't read closely enough to find out what other "catches" there might be.

[Perk Trader]

Hello everyone,

I'm one of the guys that started Perk Trader. To answer just a few of your concerns.

1. We will be offering free trades for the month of September. This has allowed us to work out any bugs in the system as well as a chance for our visitors to explore and have fun with the site.

2. The $5 listing fee is the ONLY fee you pay. You will be able to include a photo for free and you will also be able to choose the length of your listing from 30day, 15day, 7day, or 3day all for the same price. There are also NO transaction fees at the end of the trade.

3. The site will be marketed in the US as well as internationaly. For example, if your an employee for British Airways....you may want to trade a family & friends ticket for tickets to WDW or possibly a hotel stay while in Orlando. This underground trade network is nothing new, were just going to bring these traders from all over the world together.

There will be a press release going to the following markets at the end of the week: Tampa Tribune, Miami Herald, Atlanta Constitution, San Antonio, Ft. Worth, St. Louis, Philadelphia, San Diego, Los Angeles and Sandusky, Ohio.

PLEASE continue to give us feedback on the site and let us know what we can do to better serve you.

Thank you for your interest.

Brian
www.perktrader.com

[mickaholic4077]

This site sounds good,but I guess my question would be,can people who don't have any perks to trade offer say,100 dollars for a family and friends ticket? Does the thing you offer in trade HAVE to be a perk from your own company?

[Perk Trader]

You are not permitted to pay cash for perks on our site. You can almost trade any perk on our site even if it's not a perk from your employer.

For example, I received a gift certificate to a local restaurant that I have no interest in going to. I can post that on the site and I'm sure there is somebody out there that would like to trade for it. Otherwise, the certificate is going to sit in my desk drawer collecting dust. We are adding a section called Region to the site so when you list a perk you will identify the state or even country the perk is located. You can then search for perks in any state or country in the world.

Another market we are targeting is season ticket holders. You will now be able to trade those tickets instead of letting them go to waste or giving them away if you happen to be out of town or don't feel like going to the game.

Do you happen to have an Xbox or PS2? We did create a category for Video Games. Not only do managers of computer stores get discounted or free games, but we thought it would be a great way to trade games instead of selling them back to a compute store for $4. Right now I have my GTA 3 - Vice City PS2 game on the site. I'm tired of playing it and would look to trade it for a game that someone else is tired of playing. For $5, I'll trade games every day of the week.

We already have meetings scheduled with some professional sports teams to talk about our program. We feel it will be a great incentive to drive season ticket sales.

Our main goal is to get the site out in the market so please feel free to tell all your friends and co-workers about us. Your well aware of the power of the internet and we defintely want to be a global site.

Thanks for the support,

Brian