Questions about or policy to send new users ANYTHING they want to borrow for 2 weeks!

Jessie Rose

Mar 25th, 12:35am

Hello, I have just learned about neighborrow and am very curious about how exactly it works. How do you request an item? Who can vouch for you? Is there size or weight limits on items? Are any amazon.com items available or only ones shipped and sold directly from amazon? What happens if you keep an item for longer than the two weeks? Thank you for your help, Jessie Rose

neighborrow.com

Sent by Adam Berk

Mar 25th, 11:14am

great questions - you request an item on the public wall... you should see some examples, anyone can vouch for you as long as it is not pure spam... 25 pounds is the limit for FREE shipping... ANY item on Amazon that someone else could reasonably use after you... if you keep it longer than 2 weeks we charge you $25 for the first week $50 for the second week then the whole value of the item for the 3rd week... if you find a CONFIRMED borrower AFTER you, you only need 5 vouches

Myths about borrowing

At neigh*borrow we think that clarity will go a long way in helping people embrace the new sharing economy. So we want to help clear up a few myths about borrowing.

Myth Number 1: Borrowing = Free

Borrowing does not necessarily equal FREE. Borrowing refers to the fact that you are going to return it, it has nothing to do with pricing. You are borrowing everything you rent, but you are not necessarily renting everything you borrow. The perfect item to borrow is something that you do not need to use all the time, regardless of whether you need to use it ONCE or ONCE IN AWHILE. We know better than to try and re-write the dictionary or try and re-teach our audience about the definition of a word- the point we are trying to make is that borrowing is not about a price, it's about access. It's about "velocity of use". Since a drill is used infrequently on an individual basis, the goal is to get it used frequently, collectively; regardless of the underlying motivation.

We are getting a whole bunch of feedback about pricing. Some lenders want the option to make a few bucks when they lend something out. Some just want to lend things to support their community and do good deeds. Both are perfectly awesome reasons:)

Again, the economics are secondary, anything that motivates you to USE AND SAVE rather than OWN AND WASTE is our goal..

So next time you think of borrowing, think FREquency, not necessarily Free.

-thanks to Cameron Tonkinwise for his wise feedback

Myth #2 - borrowing is just for people who can't afford to own... (coming next week)