While trading companies for business-to-business exchanges have been around for at least two decades, the Internet has made bartering easy and efficient for individuals. Online trade communities are seeing the number of postings hit all-time highs. For example, the barter feature on Craigslist topped more than 63,000 in April, double the same month in 2006, according to Craigslist data.

"The level of barter transactions at this point, relative to the size of the U.S. economy, is small," said Akbar Marvasti, an associate professor at University of South Mississippi who studies bartering. "But it continues to grow."

Even though online bartering attracts spam mail and potential scams, several users say they're swapping thousands of dollars in items and getting some pretty sweet - albeit quirky - deals.

Offers of business services for big-ticket items in the Miami area dotted recent Craigslist and U-Exchange requests. Andreas Vanaerde, a Naples, Fla., cabinetmaker who has been living with family in Hollywood, Fla., traded his expertise in kitchen remodeling for a 1998 Dodge Ram he said would have normally cost about $6,000.

Since discovering Craigslist's barter section three months ago, South Beach, Fla., resident Hugh Robinson has traded "six or seven" times. He recently tried to barter cruise tickets he received through his television production job and, in less than two days, was offered exotic birds, a motorcycle and singing lessons. He hasn't exchanged his golden tickets yet, but he said he has been tempted.

"I'm not the best singer in the world," Robinson said, laughing about the music offer.

But finding an online barter match is usually unsuccessful, economists said. One person has to want exactly what the other person has and vice versa - what's called a "double coincidence of wants" - and that's rare.

"That involves a search, and it's very time-consuming," said Marvasti, the economics professor.

Cynthia Fortney, a registered nurse in Deerfield Beach, Fla., put up one posting on U-Exchange offering her nursing services and asking for a personal watercraft. After six months passed without any response, she forgot about her post and stopped checking the site.

"If I had more things on there, I might have had more catches," she said.

Lindsay Gay, who lives in unincorporated Miami-Dade, checked back on her post offering licensed massage therapy in exchange for dental work or plastic surgery. But she quickly received something she didn't expect: a slew of inappropriate sexual responses.

"It didn't work out in my favor," Gay said.