Imagine an online network of people so generous and resourceful that they lend and lease their unused belongings to people in their communities who actually need them. It almost sounds too good to be true.

Such a system of borrowing, however, already exists in Charlottesville, and it is growing everyday.

With all the perks of popular Web sites like Craigslist and Amazon, BorrowMe.com allows students, small organizations and other “frugal folks” to enjoy the convenience of borrowing the items they need, without the purchase price, safety concerns and hassles of cross-country shipping.

Created in 2005, BorrowMe began in Calgary, Canada as a way for people to save money on items like textbooks, furniture and cookware.

The idea for the company started with a Spiderman DVD and a close friend, CEO and Founder Sean Young said.

“I was walking to the rental store when I bumped into one of my friends,” he said. “We chatted and I revealed where I was going and why. He later suggested that I just borrow his entire Spiderman DVD collection instead of buying it.”

Everyone appreciates saving a few bucks here and there, Young said. Why not take the idea one step further?

“If I had X-ray vision and could look through all of these peoples’ garages, I’d find all of these piles of stuff that we all collect,” he said. “Who really uses all of the junk in their basement or garage? On average, how much dust does it collect? If everyone could share the things they didn’t use with people they chose, money would be saved and those items would be put to great use. Life would be a whole lot cheaper and everyone would be happy.”…

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Eric Seniuk | Oct 12

With the economy turning sour, people are looking for creative ways to save money. Many have turned to BorrowMe.com, an online forum where people can lend, rent or sell just about anything.

Users that are new to BorrowMe.com must begin by creating an online profile — similar to those found on Facebook or MySpace. Once the profile is created, users can then register items that they wish to lend or sell.

In addition, users can register “wishes” for items that they’re looking to rent or buy. When a wish is matched up with an item that someone else is looking to unload, users can be alerted with emails, text messages or even Facebook notifications.

Each BorrowMe.com user sets a geographic radius in which other site users are considered “neighbours.” For example, if Jane deems anyone living within a 50 km radius of her home to be a “neighbour,” then she would receive alerts when people living within this radius are looking to lend or sell something that she has requested…

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Posted on 23 September 2009

New website “helps students borrow, lend, or rent anything from anybody”

Amy Szybalski

“Imagine a world where you bought as little as possible, borrowed as much as possible, got as much use from what you already own as possible, and brought as little as possible – to the dump”: this is the goal of a new social networking website. BorrowMe.com helps connect people, mainly students, with others who may be willing to lend some of their possessions.

“A lot of students have just left home for the first time, and are setting up in new digs. They need everything from pots and pans to a couch, a stereo, textbooks, maybe a used car or course supplies. Money’s tight, and every penny counts,” says Sean Young, chief architect of the program.

On BorrowMe you create your own profile, a home page if you will, that keeps you up to date on your BorrowMe activities and inventory. There you can read comments, see new people in your friends list, and get updated with items of interest in your area.

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By Eric Johnson and Ariel Cheung | The News Record

In the everlasting search to save a buck or two, more students are turning to the Internet to order textbooks.

Now, not only can books be purchased on Web sites like Amazon.com or the University of Cincinnati Bookstore’s site, but they can also be rented or exchanged.

Rental sites like Swaptree.com and BorrowMe.com let users borrow everything from textbooks to DVDs. BorrowMe.com also offers swaps for furniture and game consoles.

Other sites are created specifically with students in mind. Web sites like Chegg.com and Campusbookrentals.com both offer rentable textbooks at a discounted price.

Most rental sites offer textbooks for nearly half the price of a retail store and give students the option to rent their books for varying periods of time.

“I guess if there are no hidden fees, it would be worth it,” said Emily Schwieterman, a third-year education student. “It seems pretty cheap and efficient.”

One negative aspect of the rental sites is being able to find the textbooks required for classes in a somewhat shallow pool. Long delivery time can also be a problem….

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A Vitamin Daily .. daily dose: September 10th, 2009

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Thanks to Mike from CityTV for helping us tell the stories of the many great people using BorrowMe – to build community, make money and save by not buying new when they just don’t have to.  You guys were great, and a pleasure to work with.

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Karin Klassen, Green Corner, For Neighbours: Thurs, July 09 09

To rent to someone in my neighborhood: Four kayaks, used once and hopefully again and again, hanging from garage roof.

To give away to someone who needs it: Well cared for baby furniture, packed with love now taking up precious room in basement. Needed for one time use: Designer dress, size 12, black, expensive, no spaghetti straps please.

Imagine a world where you bought as little as possible, borrowed as much as possible, got as much use from what you already own as possible, and brought as little as possible to the dump.

That’s the philosophy behind a website that just launched… Full Story >

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It was a pleasure sharing the story of BorrowMe with Chris dela Torre on the Eye Opener in our home town.  The response was overwhelming.  Thanks Calgary, and CBC!

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ONLINE – Calgary entrepreneur Sean Young has launched a new website that aims to combine the community-based Facebook model with the trading atmosphere of eBay, Freecycle or newspaper classifieds.

The site, borrowme.com,not only helps users gift, loan, rent or sell things; it creates communities among a trusted group of people with whom you do business.

In the process, you save items from going to the landfill, buy less stuff and use what you have more.  Full Story >

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By Susan Pederson

For Avenue Magazine
Illustrations by Isabelle Cardinal

03/24/2009 – 14:06

Sharing is one of the first lessons we teach children, and yet for adults, it’s looked upon with more than a bit of skepticism. Why share when we can buy our own? But, as many are discovering, sharing not only lowers costs for rarely used items, it can decrease waste and build community.

“These days, if I went to my neighbour and asked to borrow a cup of sugar, they would look at me like I had three heads,” says Sean Young, a Calgary entrepreneur and the president of BorrowMe, a website where people from all over the world borrow items from other people within certain groups that the individual user establishes (such as trust networks, neighbourhood affiliations and so on).

Young aims to override our collective reticence about sharing and borrowing with BorrowMe, which was launched as a study in 2006 and will relaunch later this year.

“When we did our research originally, we looked at the social sharing movement,” says Young. “It encapsulates everything from car pooling to open-source software, and is becoming a really big social phenomenon.”

Young describes our society as weighed down by “stuffocation” — debt-ridden and overwhelmed with personal possessions, where we no longer need our neighbours for anything. Instead, if we need a rake twice a year for the yard, we drive to the big-box store and buy the latest and greatest. If we are short an egg for a muffin recipe, we wait until we do the weekly Costco run or zip down to the corner store, instead of asking a neighbour for one.

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– Sean

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