Countertrade, a contractual form in which there is a two-way flow of goods, occupies a position of significance in East-West trade. In this paper, it is shown that countertrade can solve problems which arise when the quality of Eastern European products is unknown. Using the market signaling literature, a theory is formulated in order to make predictions concerning the use of countertrade. Countertrade will be particularly useful when quality information is important but cannot be obtained directly and when a country has a poor quality reputation. These predictions are supported by empirical tests.