Forum Moderators: rogerd
Basically, a "rent your stuff" website will be a website that lets you put up ads about the stuff that you want to rent out. Books, CD's, Toys, Rooms whatever.
But, I know that these sites were around and many of them failed. Anybody knows why? What is wrong with this idea? Why is nobody making these sites and why are these websites not around anymore?
If such a site is to be started now, it would basically make its money from ads.
So, whats your opinion on the idea?
must_learn_more
I would never had imagined tha there was a market to rent your books or CD's out. Certianly not to anyone outside of your local community.
Maybe thats the problem?
That may be the problem i guess?!?
Some things such ad CD's are sold for personal use only - you would have to get a licence if you wanted to rent them out.
Even SELLING them can be a problem!
Yes, stores that sell used CDs are under pressure from publishers. The publishers now want sworn statements from the sellers that they did not first copy the tracks on the CDs.
well there are quite a few sites for renting out rooms/property and i imagine some at least are successful
I wouldn't dismiss it on it's face. Who'd have thought that we'd be renting videos by mail, or that bookstores would be closing because of online book sales?
On the other hand, look no further than online groceries as an example of what sounds like a good idea that has still gone nowhere.
I think the big problems to solve are convenience, product quality, and damage.
Sure lots of people have specialized stuff that they almost never use. A lot of it wasn't designed for commercial or regular use, though. And owners might not be happy with the wear-and-tear that is just normal.
What happens when somebody rents something and the break it? How to you provide security to the owner and assurance of quality to the renter?
On a very small scale, my local BMW club maintains a database of tools that owners are willing to lend-out to others. Maybe this sort of model would be a good starting-point - seek out specialized communities, rather than offering to rent-out "anything".
This is no problem for a company with superb systems like Netflix, but for a site trying to facilitate transactions between individuals... wow. eBay is complex and risky enough, and that's a simple sale transaction.
I think this would work only in relatively high value items (where you can justify some transaction overhead) or in very specialized areas where a tight community exists.
To rent something from someone involves a relationship on some personal level and people don't take to that online, unless it's sex of course..
and even then..
1. People for the most part only rent big ticket items, TV's, Cars, Boats etc.
2. Since these are going to be big ticket items the person renting the item is taking on a big risk because of possible damage to the item.
3. There's also the liability in the case of cars, boats, RV's etc.
