If there was no money, could you buy a sandwich with a YouTube video? Daniel Soares hopes so.
Soares and partner Pedro Sampaio are San Francisco-based digital artists who just launched The Merit Shop, a marketplace that offers goods in exchange for talent. The goods are varied, from a bag of rice to a PS3 game, and the talents are even more diverse.
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In a video explaining the idea behind the project, Soares and Sampio trade San Franciscans candy and snacks for handstands, songs and beat poetry. One small child even sings the ABC's.
"We see this as an experiment, and want to see how people react. And how crazy they will go for a simple bar of chocolate," Soares says.
Now, with themeritshop.org, they are taking the experiment to the Internet. To get the rice or the game, upload a video of yourself showing off your unique skill or talent. One man has traded his ability to make a "honk sound" for a new pair of shoes.

Soares and Sampaio go through all the videos, which are submitted in the marketplace in exchange for specific items, and look for original and interesting talents. If a talent meets their standards, the item becomes sold out and the video is displayed under it, sharing the winning talent with the world.
The duo paid for the project out of pocket, including the original video, the website and the goods they're selling.
Soares has humble goals for the Merit Shop. "We don't wanna change the world, but we already put some smiles on peoples faces," he says. "That's priceless. Like our shop, priceless. Once someone invented money, now we are re-inventing it. Money divided the world. So we are trying this social experiment, to remind people of things that are way more important than money."
Check out the store and tap into your talents.
Image: YouTube, The Merit Shop
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