Trade (CBGH)

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: "They cleaned me out! What's even more amazing, they made me feel like I was having a good time while they did it!
: "Now, I've taken my wagon of goods into many a village before, and always I came away with a little more than I took in. This trip I had it all: bright copper kettles, some jeweled necklaces and bracelets—trinkets, really—and an assortment of good hammers and knives.
: "I'd no sooner rolled into town than I smelled bread baking. I think that was the start of it—I didn't realize how hungry I was. The baker came out and gave me a piece—free! Best crust I ever tasted, too.
: "Then there was the innkeeper, who brought me over a mug of sweet ale. Why, before I knew it they were givin' me a bit of this and a taste of that, and I just sort of started doing the same thing back.
: "Fact is, though, you can't make it in this business if you trade a steel knife for a glass of beer, or a copper kettle for a loaf of bread. Why, the liveryman took such good care of my horses—they positively gleamed in the morning!—that I paid his bill with a smile.
: "Gave him one gold for each horse, I did. You know, I can't even remember when I've forked over that much to put myself up for the night!"
:: —Grantancrous Jute, Human Tinker and Tradesman 
Barter is a way of life to the halfling—though in more cases than not it is the unspoken, unrecorded barter of village life. However, halflings also trade among themselves on a more formal basis and are skilled at interacting with human suppliers and customers. They have a keen eye for detail and are generally quick to spot counterfeit or low-quality goods, all the while proclaiming the good points of whatever they are offering in return.
Most trade between halfling villages, and between halflings and other folk, is carried on by professional halfling merchants called Traders (see Chapter 4: Character Kits). These halfling merchants transport surplus goods from one village to trade for the products of another. While halfling merchants will certainly take gold and other coinage as payment, they are also willing (more so than human or dwarven traders, certainly) to accept goods in return for goods. Pragmatic here as elsewhere, however, Traders generally don't take goods unless they feel that they will be able to sell or barter those same goods at one of their next few stops.
Since they enjoy the give-and-take of a good bartering session, a typical halfling merchant will offer far less for the goods he or she desires than they are actually worth, while at the same time asking an exorbitant price for his or her own. The small folk view bartering as something of a game and sometimes forget how much better they are at it than most of the Big Folk. However, a halfling who belatedly discovers that he or she has unwittingly talked a human into buying goods at considerably more than their value will often salve his or her conscience by throwing in a `bonus' once the deal is closed to compensate the poor bargainer.