We’ve all got those possessions that cost us a fortune, whether they be the petrol wood chipper I’ve got stashed away that’s only used a couple of times a year or that Prada handbag that you isn’t for daily use but could never part with. eBay would turn either item into instant cash, but all the time they’re sitting around they’re not earning you a penny, at least up until now. New sites such as Zilok are springing up – a marketplace dedicated to renting
Zilok was born on a Sunday afternoon in the Winter of 2007.
Two old friends just bought a mirror and want to hang it in the living room. But they have no drill or hammer handy…
They looked at each other wondering outloud: “Why can’t we simply rent tools in a few clicks from our neighbors?”
And so Zilok was born… a useful, convenient and community driven platform that allows anyone to rent or offer for rent any kind of goods, and gives everyone access to anything they could possibly need on occasion, for rent.
Anyone can use the site – either individuals or professional rental companies. Putting your goods up for rent on the internet lets you benefit from keeping your items for when you need them, whilst making more money over time by renting than you would by selling.
There are no fees for renters, owners pay £0.10 per month for each item listed and there’s a sliding scale of fees paid on successful rentals.
Whatever you need from a chainsaw to a marquee, from a fancy dress to a top hat, if you only need it for a few days it makes sense to rent. By using Zilok not only can you locate the items you need but you’ll often find them for rent at a lower cost than from traditional rental outlets.
10 Responses
Sounds interesting but I wouldn’t trust people to return my stuff, even with the legally binding contracts on that site. Seems like it would be a really cheap way to get a used digital camera though.
I know exactly what you mean. It’s similar to ten or so years ago some chap thought up a really crazy idea for people to send money to complete strangers the other side of the world and expect them to actually send an item in return. As if you could actually trust people and make it work…. I mean just what’s the chance? 😉
I get what you are saying but unless that other person did a chargeback then that other system really did work. Also the mutual feedback system did a fairly good job working as a deterrent.
In the case of renting the renter has very little reason to ever return the item. Years ago I had a buyer win an auction and then request to pay me in instalments for an $800 camera ($200 upfront and $200 / month afterwards). Funny thing is that when I told him PayPal had a service to do exactly that I never heard from him again.
full of pitfalls
so some guerkin slices its nuts off with your chain saw , and you did not provide them with protective clothing,or instruction
etc etc etc,
In the case of renting the renter has very little reason to ever return the item. apart from the loss of the hefty deposit that the site allows you to charge, plus the fact that anyone with the slightest bit of sense would make sure they knew where the renter lived….
FWIW in my opinion mutual feedback withdrawal was one of the worst things eBay ever did as it simply compounded the retaliatory neg situation. It’s so much better now that buyers can’t be negged by the sellers (many of who had the highest number of MFW were quite frankly the worst on eBay to deal with anyway).
if I were renting an item
I would rather go to any one of the hire shops, where I knew, or at least hoped ,the item was well maintained, fit for its use ,and I had some sort of legal contact, and insurance,
where hiring was their business, and they had an interest in providing a reasonable service
Only from Liverpool can you rent for £20/day a copy Gucci handbag !
Gotta lurve them enterprising Scousers 😆
https://uk.zilok.com/rental/25235-gucci-bag/13877-hyton
as a renter,
there is no way I am going to give a large deposit to an unregulated complete stranger who may keep it if I am a few minutes late or there is some minor damage
and the comparison to ebay is a little skew wiff,
ebay worked because someone in Alaska could buy and have Hawaiian pearls delivered direct to there door, and someone in Hawaii could have Alaskan salmon delivered to their door
without leaving their home
If you want to rent something for a day why don’t you just log into eBay and use Paypal.
betta ya some scouser tries to rent out Dickie Lewis 😆