Online Rental Markets Are Thriving

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Peer-to-peer rental sites generally include a rating system like that used on eBay. RelayRides founder and CEO Shelby Clark says that during the six months he's been in business, he's had to remove only one member—and it was a car owner, not a renter. (The member's car often wasn't where he said it would be, causing headaches for renters.)

There are more formal ways to ensure safety. RelayRides screens aspiring renters by examining their driving records and requires cars to have a recent safety inspection before joining the network. Airbnb offers lenders the option to require a security deposit. SnapGoods users can import their friend lists from Facebook and Twitter and opt only to interact with people in their social network. Although such checks may not be enough to assuage the concerns of every potential member, RelayRides user Derosier says they've worked for her: She hasn't found any scratches or dings on her Focus. "I think one time someone left a piece of paper in the car," she says.

Not everything lends itself to rental markets, of course. It's probably still easier to just buy, say, a screwdriver than to arrange to rent one. Rental sites may narrow in on the bigger-ticket items, like cars and homes, which can yield significant income for renters. (Clark says the average RelayRides car owner makes $250 a month.) Some in tech think the rise of rental markets signifies nothing less than a historic shift toward a more fluid sense of ownership. "Fifty years of advertising have convinced people that owning stuff is part of their status," says Rachel Botsman, a former marketer and co-author of a recent book on sharing sites called What's Mine Is Yours: The Rise of Collaborative Consumption. "Future generations are growing up expressing themselves through digital means. They're thinking of themselves as the 'we' generation."

The bottom line: Online rental sites are letting consumers make money on their dust-gathering cars, tools, and whatever else they don't use much.

Sheridan is an associate editor for Bloomberg Businessweek.

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