Ask HN: Why aren't there more rental apps for renting personal items?
Why aren't there more rental apps for renting personal items?
I have some DJ equipment sitting around that I would like to rent out to fellow DJ's. I did some googling, and only came up with peerrenters (which I cannot find the US App Store) and Zilok (which has no app, and is online only). Then I found frntal which seems promising. Then this article (with a clickbaity title), but has some good information on why renting personal items isn't a thing.
https://www.fastcompany.com/3050775/the-sharing-economy-is-dead-and-we-killed-it
Thoughts? Sharing economy is usually supply side constrained. There needs to be enough incentive for the "seller". If you are renting your mower for $20, the $ benefit is way lower than renting your house. An acquaintance of mine setup http://www.rentoid.com/ a looong time ago and I never asked but this is probably the reason. What I saw was professional hire companies using the site as leadgen because it was free advertising and they had lots of inventory. Makes sense right? So the sharing economy had problems a long time before fastcompany shared its wisdom ;) That makes sense, thanks! It's hard for a renter to disappear with your house/apartment but easy to never return your DJ gear. Very True!