Why Lending is Safe on iRent2u

Lenders —

When considering lending assets on iRent2u, many people consider the dual concerns of getting their property back in good condition and the liability concerns of lending. Both are important, and we have gone to great lengths to build protections for you, so you can feel free to lend without worrying.

Here is how we keep you safe:

Deposits — Whenever you list your items on the website, you are free to charge whatever deposit you like. Of course, charge too high a deposit and people may not borrow from you, but we recommend placing a deposit for the replacement value of the item. That way you can lend without ever needing to worry about the item while it's gone. Of course this won't work for big things like cars & houses, but a good idea is to use a deposit that equals your deductable on your insurance. One important point about insurance — make sure your insurance covers the item if you lend out in a commercial transaction. Some will and some won't, and it is important to check with your provider before proceeding.

Contract — There are reasons why companies have contracts, and that is to protect everyone who uses their services. We provide you with a very solid contract designed to make the rules clear and keep you safe. One of the important points is the claim that holds lenders without liability for the use of the item. That means if someone rents your drill, and proceeds to drill themselves with it, they understand it is their fault and not yours. Of course this isn't a free ticket to lend out broken items or things with undisclosed dangers (a boat with holes in the bottom), but with reasonable care you will not have to worry about getting sued.

Arbitration — If something bad does happen, and you cannot come to an agreement, we provide the services of American Arbitration Association. Everyone must agree to use arbitration when they use the site (it's in our Terms of Service), and it is included in our contract. What this means is that it becomes very hard for someone to sue you. Why is that good? Because unfortunately our legal system in the US is not optimized to keep legal costs low, and if someone sues you often the legal costs are much higher than the issue at hand. So we get rid of that completely with a very low cost alternative, binding arbitration. By using this system you reduce the risk of getting one of those crazy lawsuits and you definitely save money on lawyer fees.

PayPal — PayPal has been very successful at protecting people and their money. We highly recommend accepting payments through PayPal and paying others using it. By doing so you get all the protections they PayPal offers. When you purchase goods online with PayPal, your transactions are covered by their Buyer Complaint Policy. If they find the complaint in your favor, the amount of the payment, if available from the seller, will be transferred back to your account. Learn more here and here.

Rating System — The nice thing about lending to people you know is that you know who you can trust. Because trust is important, we developed an advanced rating system that tells you how the user you are dealing with has done in the past on similar transactions. Of course this is not as useful in the beginning, or for first time lenders, but make sure to leave your feedback for people so that you can help others, as soon we will have a system that is valuable for everyone.

Insurance — Do you have insurance that you offer your customers? Do you require it? We can facilitate the sign-up for this on our site. Alternatively, your existing insurance policies may cover your renting or lending of items, check with your insurance provider for details.

Encryption — Nobody likes someone sneaking around looking at their data, and there is no reason you should have to put up with it. We have advanced 128 bit encryption on our site that can stop the most advanced hackers.

Privacy Policy — iRent2u makes your privacy our priority! We have created a privacy policy that is certified through independent certification company eTrust. You can rest assured we NEVER sell your information, and always give you the ability to stop emails from us if you don't want them.

Identity documentation — Know who you are renting to. Check their ID when they pick up the item, and document it with our process. This way there can be no disputes as to who picked up the item.

Flagging System — We don't want inappropriate content on our site. So we created a flagging system where you can notify us if you see something that you think is questionable. Just click the little flag next to the item in the item description and we'll quickly check it out.