Community based electronic bartering network

An electronic bartering method, comprising:

• registering a plurality of persons as users of an electronic bartering system;
• associating each user with at least one community and enabling users to create their own communities;
• associating each community with an electronic bulletin board;
• enabling each user to specify at least one barterable item in a wish list and at least one barterable item in a trade list;
• upon request, (i) comparing a given user's trade list of against the wish lists only of other users that are members of the same communities as the given user in order to identify other users that desire items possessed by the given user, (ii) displaying to the given user at least a portion of the trade lists of said other identified users to thereby identify potential trades for the given user, and (iii) associating each potential trade with a web link which upon actuation incorporates any potential trade item into the given user's wish list;
• within a given community, periodically comparing the wish lists and trade lists only of users within the community in order to identify a trade match;
• sending a message to users advising of the trade match;
• and
• receiving confirmation from the users accepting or rejecting the trade match;