Rentoid blog

There isn’t much to say about some of the whacky things that people have put up on rentoid apart from that they are freakin’ awesome and hilarious, or just plain weird. My thanks go out to them for brightening my day!

Wife - ‘does not nag! Supportive & Respects Shows Love Happy to do House chores’

http://www.rentoid.com/item/1WIFEFORRENT-AustraliaWide-9076

Air band - ‘This is not a joke - we will play at your party - and we rock out and are always dressed up in killer 80\’s cock rock fashion’

http://www.rentoid.com/item/Airband-Werribee-9217

7 Seater bike - ‘The most enjoyment you will have with your pants on!

http://www.rentoid.com/item/7SeaterBike-SouthMelbourne-7221

StarWars Chewbacca Supreme Edition Costume - ‘Great for dress up parties and special events…

Body-suit and mask completely covered with hand layered multicolored long hair fur, for an authentic blended look’

http://www.rentoid.com/item/StarWarsChewbaccaSupremeEditionCostume-Whittington-4650

High striker - ‘Adults and teenagers alike can never resist testing their strength by swinging the big hammer and trying to ring the bell’

http://www.rentoid.com/item/Highstriker-Cheltenham-5075

Private Jet - Seats 8 in comfort, leather seats, in-flight refreshment centre & restrooms… Special event? Why not travel in absolute comfort and live the high life’

http://www.rentoid.com/item/Privatejet-Melbourne-5359

Segway - ‘The ultimate in personal transportation’

http://www.rentoid.com/item/Segwayi2-Sydney-7502

Cheers, Geordie

Yes, I own a ladder. But why? It’s something that most of us only need to use a few times a year, if that. I’m sure it’s a similar story at your house. Is it really necessary for us all to have one each? Why couldn’t we just buy one collectively with our neighbours and share it? Well I’d like you to tell me! In the meantime, here is my theory:

People have been willing to pay for access to a ladder anytime, with no hassles for say $100 for a new one, and the space it will take up in the already cluttered garage because until very recently there hasn’t really been an alternative, no other easy option.

Sure you could ask your neighbours if you could borrow theirs but maybe you’re afraid of annoying them. You could post an add up at the local shops asking to borrow one but this is quite a bit of hassle and maybe no one who owns one.

But things are different now. With the Internet and rentoid it is easy to rent access to a ladder only when you need it for say $10 each time. Is that all? Sounds too good to be true! Well yes, there is a small caveat, if someone rents the ladder at the same time you were planning to then you have a problem. But the thing is, it’s unlikely that will happen, and if it does, well it’s also pretty unlikely that it will be the end of the world if you can’t rent it today like you planned and have to get it tomorrow instead. For me, that small chance is definitely worth taking because I save money by renting, and because I can feel good about saving the environment by getting one less ladder manufactured.

The real truth behind this post is that the ladder is just an example for most things we buy. So remember this post nexct time you go out to buy something you intend to use infrequently.

Geordie - rentoid team.

I’ve been thinking recently about the concept of ‘Ownership’. What do we really own in life? What do we aspire to own? More importantly, how do these “assets” and desired accumulation of assets impact how we live? But before I answer these questions, I’d rather make a list of things we think we own, but actually don’t.

Our House: If it’s mortgaged, we clearly don’t own it. If it is unencumbered it is still owned by the government. Real Estate, is Spanish for Royal Estate. All land is ultimately owned by the crown or the government of the day. Stop paying your ‘rates’ and they will repossess your house. The rates we pay are a form of rent from the true owners. What we have is a lease without an expiration date.

Our Body: In actual fact it owns us. It demands what we feed it, how we treat it and how we exercise it. Disobey and it will cut our lives short.

Our Car: We can’t drive it without insurance and licenses, or the fuel which is taxed. Our car is a liability we hold for which fees must be paid to make it ‘usable’

Most things we think we own, we have greater access to. If we ‘own’ it in law, it just means we have permanent access, not true ownership. The only things we ever own are our thoughts, our memories and our hopes. Why most people spend their lives accumulating liabilities instead of experiences is beyond me. The real cost of perceived ownership is the pillaging of the planet, and locking ourselves into the industrial complex. All we really need is the right level of access to assets and we’ll be able to do and achieve more than people who go around buying stuff.

We had a rentoid customer asking for advice on how to get more rentals. We sent him the information below and thought it was worth sharing here on our blog. Our little bag of tricks!

We get many thousands of rentals every week. There are however some keys to getting your items rented out and they are as follows. I guarantee if you follow these rules you will get rental income:

1. Make sure your pricing is right. We recommend the following pricing structure (that is rental fee on your items).

• Charge 1% of the items value for 1 day rental.
• Charge 2% of items value for a weekend.
• Charge 5% for a weekly rate. and
• Charge 10% of items value for a months rental.

Check your pricing.

2. Write a long and detailed description of your rental items. People want detail so they don’t waste their time. Give your item the full description.

3. Have many photos. You can upload many photos for each item. Make sure you have pictures which show what they are renting so there are ‘no surprises.

4. Share your rental listings. Once you have listed an item on rentoid.com - make sure you share it on your facebook account and twitter (if you have one). You can also like your own items on rentoid… so your friends will see your stuff for rent. You’ll notice every item on rentoid has the ability to “like” it on facebook and also twitter. Just click it - it is very easy. This also adds your Google ranking of your item.

5. Share rentoid - the more people that use / know about rentoid the more they share it - which equals renters for you. So share the goodness. Post it on your facebook page…. tell / email to friends. Favourite the rentoid facebook page - share it:

6. List items people want. Like all businesses it is about 20% of the itms that get 80% of all the rental transactions. So make sure you are renting stuff people need / want. The most popular items are those things that people only use temporarily. eg A Lawn mower, A caravan, a tent, A nintendo Wii, a jetski. Stuff we love to use on a weekend or for an event / party or for a project. These are the things that people need and want, and would rather rent than buy. If you want to know what people want. Then a good trick is to check the catalogs from retail stores. People generally rent the same things that people buy…. items in demand.

7. Trial - A lot of people rent things as a try before you buy. I personally rented out my iPad and had it ‘paid off’ in 5 weeks because so many people wanted to rent it before they bought one…

8. Send us a list of the items you want to list. We’ll give you some advice on their demand (how often they are searched) and some pricing / promo advice.

9. Have a ‘reasonable’ bond & terms on conditions which are ‘fair’. If your bond price is crazy people will say ‘too hard’ and rent the next thing…. Just make it like 20-40% of the items retail value.

Let us know if you would like any further advice - also send me some links to your items and I’ll put them on the blog to promote them for you which will help for sure.

Cheers, the rentoid team.

We are continuing our Exploding Rental Myths series today, busting the often held “myth” that people only rent our their old junk…

This really is an easy one to squash.  You don’t even need to look too hard for the evidence.

How old do you think these ipads are?   Old junk? Hardly.

What about this Porsche? Can’t be more than a few years old.

This ‘ol Technika Washing Machine.  Not what you call a clapped out piece of junk, hey.

In fact, spend a few minutes searching for anything on rentoid and you will find very few items that are old, or junk.

Sure some folks out there will try and rent out some stuff that belongs on the kerb awaiting hard-rubbish collection, and you will stumble across them from time to time.  But they don’t last for long.  One, because no-one rents their stuff and two, because even if they do rent it they can’t get the rental fees they want for it, so they don’t bother.  Basic supply and demand rules- even in rental.

Successful rentreprenuers rent out quality items, at a fair price.  To suggest anything else is just a myth.

We’ve recently discovered at our humble rentoid office about the uber intelligent Rachel Botsman. She’s co-author of new book “What’s mine is yours” - the rise of collaborative consumption. Which is well, really the movement we’ve been promoting since rentoid’s inception. We’ll talk more about it in the coming weeks. But here’s a great little video to whet the appetite.

Collaborative Consumption Groundswell Video from rachel botsman on Vimeo.

Whether you are renovating, or on building sites - check out what rentoid partner South City hire has for offer.

A simply tip for when listing your items on rentoid.com

Make sure you label the pictures you put up for your rental items.

Why?

Well many people search the web for picture of stuff they need - this includes rental and hire items. And unless your pictures are labeled as what the item is, Google wont know. If this item is labeled as say ‘Callaway Golf Clubs’ then Google can index the picture. And the result for you is more people finding your rental items.

The best way to do it is to label the jpeg before you start the listing process.

If you need any help listing your items, drop us a line via twitter www.twitter.com/rentoid

Steve - rentoid team.

Alright! So here’s the 411:

University is back! (well at least down here in sunny-one-day, rainy-the-next Melbourne, it is).

Here is the inescapable truth; Uni books are way too expensive for any self respecting uni student to spend all their hard earned on!

I mean come on - beer Vs uni books. Everyone knows who wins that battle. Hell, one book will set you back a minimum of 100 large (and we’re talking bare minimum here)! Multiply that by four or ask the Maths nerds to do it for you… and you’ll soon realise the hip pocket is about to go for ten rounds with Mohamed “the credit card” Ali!

So what’s the solution?

Simple! Don’t buy uni books… RENT THEM!

And it’s so easy. Rent out your old books from last semester then use that cash to pay for the rental of this semester’s books… It’s the perfect solution.

This means you’ll be getting this years Uni books for free… Brilliant, we know!

You’re welcome.

Check out a few books here and then put some of your own to work and start making money!

Luke and the rentoid team.