Saturday, November 3, 2007

Loanables----Neighbor To Neighbor Borrowing Network

What Company Is Offering:
The Loanables community brings together people who have worthwhile items to loan out and people who want to borrow them.It's free.

How It Works:
Let's look at an example. Todd has stuff that he hardly ever uses (sound familiar?) Like that pressure washer that he uses once a year, or that camping gear that he hasn't used since 1980. Most of the time, this stuff just sits in his garage or a closet, gathering dust.
On the flip side, there is Jen, who really needs a pressure washer, but doesn't want the expense and hassle of owning one herself. She also realizes that Mother Earth would really like us to consume less stuff.

That's where we come in, and it works like this:

Todd creates an account on loanables.com and posts his items to be borrowed. He gets to decide things like how much to charge and whether or not he requires a security deposit.

Jen searches on loanables.com for a pressure washer and sees that Todd is willing to loan his out, for a small fee. It is cheaper than the big home improvement store down the road is charging, and she can keep it for the whole weekend, not just 4 hours.

Jen chooses her desired pickup & return times and requests to borrow the item online.

Todd receives the Borrow Request by email, and accepts it by clicking a link in the email. (He could also decline it, if he wanted to.) Jen and Todd both agree to a standard loan agreement that is between the two parties. (Loanables provides the agreement, but is not actually part of the borrowing transaction. We simply introduce the two parties and help with the logistics.)

Jen picks up the pressure washer from Todd at the scheduled time. They discover that they actually live in the same part of town, and chat about the neighborhood. Jen pays Todd directly (by cash, check, or PayPal) when she picks up the washer.

When Jen is done using the pressure washer, she returns it to Todd, ready for its next adventure.

Todd puts his cash into his piggy bank, excited about his new source of income.

What happens if a Borrower damages or loses an item?

When you post your item on Loanables, you can choose to require a security deposit in case something happens to your item. The Loaner gets to decide how much to hold as the deposit (or can choose not to require one at all).
Of course, they encourage Loaners and Borrowers to discuss any potential damage themselves before resorting to the security deposit. Often they can work out an arrangement that is fair to both parties. After all, we're all neighbors.

more at:http://www.loanables.com/home/

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