The night market was called as Allangadi.

Day market was called as Nalangadi.

Barter system refers to a system where "Goods were exchanged for goods prior to invention of money".

Port towns like Tondi, Korkai, Puhar and Muziri were developed by Pandiya kingdom.

1. Trade in Sangam period was both internal and external but it was conducted by means of barter (pandamattru).
2. Trade was one of the major means of linking various regions in the medieval period.
3. Sangam work refers to great traders, their caravans, their security force, markets, marts and guilds of such great traders.

Big cities like Poompuhar had two towns called 'Maruvurappakam' (inland town) and Pattinapakkam (Coastal town) had market and bazaars where many merchants met one another for the purpose of selling or buying different kinds of commodities and food stuff.

Commerce and Trade in North India:
1. India was prosperous even during medieval period from 12th to 16th centuries despite political upheavals.
2. Balban was first sultan who paved the way in the dense forest and helped traders and their commercial caravans to move from one market place to others.
3. Alauddin Khilij brought the price to a very low ebb.
4. He encouraged import of foreign goods from Persia and subsidised the goods.
5. Arabs were dominant players in India's foreign trade.
6. They never discouraged Indian traders like Tamils, Gujaratis, etc.
7. The trade between the coastal ports were in the hands of Marwaris and Gujaratis.
8. The overland trade with central and west Asia was in the hands of Multanis who were Hindus and Khurasanis who were Afghans, Iranians and so on.
9. During Sultanate period, trade flourished due to the establishment of currency system based on silver and copper.
10. Moorish traveller described the teeming market of big cities in the Gangetic plains, Malwar, Gujarat and South India.
11. The important trade centres were Delhi, Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Sonar, Sonargoon, Jaunpur, Lahore and so on. The burgeoning foreign trade led to the development of market place in the towns and villages.
12. India's handicraft commanded a good foreign market. India imported horses, dry fruits, precious stones, glassware, high grade textiles, raw silk, corals, scented oil, velvets, etc.. from Kabul, Arabia, Europe, West Asia and China.
13. Indian products were exported to East Africa, Malaya, China and Far East.
14. Trade was conducted through overland routes with Afghanistan, Central Asia and Persia. India conducted foreign trade via land route with Quetta, Khyber pass, Iraq and Bukhara.
15. The traders of Malabar, Gujarat and foreign settlers in the ports of Calicut, Khumbat and Mangalore controlled a major business sector in port cities.

The barter system envisages mutual exchange of one's goods to other without the intervention of money as a medium of exchange. It imposes certain constraints in the smooth flow of trade as explained below.
Lack of Double Coincidence of Wants:
Unless two persons who have surplus have the demand for the goods possessed by each other, barter could not materialize. For instance 'A' is having a surplus of groundnut and 'B' is possessing rice in surplus. In this case A should be in need of rice possessed by B as the latter should desperately need groundnut possessed by A. If this "coincidence of wants" does not exist, Barter cannot take place.
Non - Existence of Common Measure of Value:
Barter system could not determine the value of commodities to be exchanged as they lacked commonly acceptable measures to evaluate each and every commodity. It was difficult to compare the values of all articles in the absence of an acceptable medium of exchange.
Lack of Direct Contact between Producer and Consumers:
It was not possible for buyers and sellers to meet face to face in many contexts for exchanging the commodities for commodities. This hindered the process of barter in all practical sense.
Lack of Surplus Stock:
Absence of surplus stock was one of the impediments in barter system. If the buyers and sellers do not have surplus then no barter was possible.