[bcrl]

At least with barter exchange tends to happen in person so you can figure out if you're being scammed before you hand over your goods. Bitcoin gives you the worst of all worlds by making the exchange completely impersonal while lacking the ability to look your counter-party in the eye. The two are most decidedly not the same.

[freeAgent]

Nothing stops you from exchanging Bitcoin in person, though, so I’m not sure what’s been lost there. Bitcoin can also use a multi-signature escrow. Many services are set up like this.