Is bartering legal in France?

Reader question: What are the laws and customs around bartering for goods in France? Can it also include services or is it limited to items?

Yes, bartering for goods - also known as exchanging them - is legal and is increasingly popular in the context of the increased cost of living and eco-friendly aims to reduce waste.

Websites such as France-troc seek to help people make contact with others looking to barter goods of all kinds, from cars and motorcycles to clothes. 

Article 1702 of the Code civil (dating from 1804) states: “Exchange is a contract by which the parties respectively give one thing for another.”

Offers to exchange one item for another are acceptable, provided both parties accept the exchange as fair. 

Anything that is legal to sell or offer on a commercial basis can be bartered, meaning that alongside physical items, services (cooking lessons, DIY tasks, etc) can enter the equation.

Exchanges can be made by individuals, but also companies, groups, associations and charities etc, as long as both ‘sides’ are open to bartering.

In cases where the goods are not equal in perceived value you can exchange one item for many, or one person can add money into the equation to make it fair for both parties. In this case the balancing money is called la soulte in French legal terminology.

Written contracts are not essential but can provide added clarity, particularly if exchanges include items that would be expensive if monetary exchanges were included. 

Otherwise, bartering entails an ‘oral contract’ when the exchange is made. 

Invoices can be used, with the phrase échange de marchandises sans but lucratif (non-profit exchange of goods). 

People who barter are still protected by the usual laws on buying and selling, such as those that protect recipients of items against hidden defects (vices cachés) for up to two years and rules which state that the item sold must conform to the description given of it.