While reading my daily dose of news I ran across the PC World article "100 Incredibly Useful and Interesting Web Sites". Browsing the list I saw very few sites I had never heard of, that is until I reached the very bottom. That is where I found Zilok.
Zilok, the "to rent anything online" site, allows users to offer for rent basically anything they own to anyone at anytime, and by anything I do mean anything.
Here is the break down on how it works:
Once registered on the website you can add any object you own, that is not covered in the prohibited items list, for rental purposes. You define the price, the area you can cover, and the rental conditions (time period, deposit amount ect). Zilok will issue for you a rental agreement that you will then use directly with the renter. There is a small listing fee for listing your items for rent, $0.10 per month per Listing Item plus a minor commission isn't bad.
A user (the renter) can use several tools to find what they are searching to rent including a search engine, a category directory or google map mashup. Once the renter identifies what they are searching for (an example with a Ducati 848), the renter will contact the owner and the closing of the rental will happen off site in real life.
Zilok currently does not provide a payment system or a third party deposit service. But like on standard marketplaces they have created a reputation system to filter through some of the mediocre and show power-owners or power-renters.
The service is open to both private individuals and professionals. So there is a good chance you'll find several of the high ticket items you might be looking to rent, like say a Bentley Continental GT or a Lamborghini Gallardo Spyder. At the same time you can rent small ticket items like this $9/day Push Mower. The list of items available is endless.
The idea is really not a new one and the name sounds a little funky, I'm not even sure how to pronounce it. But the site has built a pretty strong user base. They do have a pretty limited coverage area right now which of course will go up as more users find their way to the site.
I was actually a little surprised when I didn't see the Sacramento area covered. Even if your area isn't on the list do a search, as a search yielded one hit in my area.
For more details here is a full tour of Zilok explained as well as their blog with even more information.
Thanks Richard for the post, we're working hard to be able to provide rentals of any kind in every community of the United States, sorry to hear Sacramento is lacking.
ReplyDeleteI actually enjoyed the site. I was amazed at some of the things I saw for rent. I'd have to say the Lamborghini sucked me in and got me looking around. Hopefully this will catch on in the Sacramento area. I could probably get some good use out of it if it does.
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