How to rent out all that stuff you’ve accumulated

There are a few new rental websites that I’ve been watching to see how they progress. They all enable people (private individuals and companies) to advertise items to hire. This is close to my heart: anything that encourages people to share all the stuff we accumulate sounds good to me.

The websites originate in various countries: Rentoid is Australian, irent2u and Zilok are American, and Hirethings is from New Zealand. None of them have many, if any, items for rent in the UK yet. They are look easy to use and appear to have similar underlying processes, which isn’t surprising.

They have come to a similar logical conclusion as me: it would make a lot more sense if we shared stuff, particularly if we only use it occasionally. All four sites are pretty similar so it will be interesting to see which one or two come out on top. I really hope that one or more become the “ebay” for rentals. Ebay has made a significant difference to the way we own things: it is often easier to justify buying items if you know you can sell them a few months later for a high percentage of the purchase price. A major rental website could have equally major impact on how we own and use all kinds of things.

All four websites enable private individuals to post up items for rental on a one-off basis. This is where they differ from yours2share. yours2share enables people to find like-minded partners who will rent more expensive items on a fractional basis. yours2share is not designed for one-off rentals.

So, for example, if someone owns a high quality camera, costing (say) £1000, they could rent this on a one-off (probably daily) basis through one of the websites above. Or they could look for someone who wants to use the camera on a regular basis using yours2share. For example they could rent the camera to one person for (say) 50 days a year, with the dates agreed between the two people on a first come basis. Or of course, the owner could look for both fractional and one-off lettings.

If the fractional route is taken, the rental might also include other photographic items, such as lenses, filters and tripods. The owner would get to know the renter before the first rental period, and also over time, enabling a greater degree of trust with the equipment.