NOW THAT YOU KNOW A LITTLE BIT MORE about what collaborative consumption is and how the sharing lifestyle works, you might be excited to give it a try in real life. You’re probably wondering “where do I start?” and “what should I share first?”
Every single one of us is different. We have different needs, different assets, and different limitations on our time, money, and energy. That’s why there are thousands of different ways to start sharing. It’s usually best to start small, especially if you plan on sharing via a newly discovered service or online community. Some people like to join a sharing group, network, or online collaborative consumption service and spend a few days or weeks just poking around and getting a feel for how the community works. If you’re looking at a peer-to-peer car-sharing service, you might spend some time browsing the profiles of those offering cars in and around your neighborhood. If you’re looking for a way to share the excess harvest from your summer vegetable garden, you might take a few minutes to understand differences between the way sites like Yerdle, BackyardBarter, and Craigslist can connect you with those who would appreciate it most.
Once you’ve scoped out a few convenient sharing outlets and are ready to give it a try, look around your house, garage, or office. Everything you see can be shared! Think about all of those errands, hobbies, and side projects clamoring for your attention. Collaborative consumption can help you crowdsource the energy and skills you need. Think about your spare room or the driveway that sits empty all day while you’re at work. Sharing can allow you to utilize and even profit off of those empty spaces while helping someone else save money and unnecessary carbon emissions. Think about your messy home office, the one with a million distractions just waiting to pull the plug on your productivity. By joining a cooperative of other freelancers or remote workers, you can finally emancipate yourself from that claustrophobic home office and make connections that can boost your career.
Once you’ve decided what you’d like to share, or what you’d like others to share with you, it’s time to figure out where to do the sharing. You already know that sharing can happen between people who know each other as well as those who are complete strangers. Although in-person peer-to-peer sharing is often the most instantly gratifying, online sharing services are often more convenient. With just a few clicks of the mouse it’s possible to swap or barter with someone who lives across town — or on the other side of the world.
In the pages that follow, you’ll find a cross section of the things, spaces, and services that can be exchanged, rented, or simply given away through collaborative consumption. This list is by no means exhaustive. For starters, it focuses mainly on the sharing economy now emerging in the United States and Canada, but there are collaborative consumption services operating in dozens of countries. It’s meant to give you an idea of just how many services already exist to help you engage in the sharing economy. Don’t be afraid to poke and ask around in your own community to see what you can find!
Sharing goods is a easy introduction to collaborative consumption because we’re already familiar with a similar concept: donating.
Many people are comfortable with the idea of donating things they no longer want or need to thrift stores or organizations like Goodwill or the Salvation Army. It feels good to know that your gently used items will be redistributed in the community. Like recycling your aluminum cans, donating prevents usable items from landing in the landfill; at the same time, it’s creating a low-cost alternative to new items for someone else. Donating is a version of collaborative consumption, but it’s somewhat disconnected. When donating to a church or local thrift store, most of us just drop the stuff off. We’re so happy to have it out of our way that we rarely stop to think about what happens after that.
When we make a conscious effort to share goods in person or through a meaningful online exchange, we remain more involved in the process. People who choose to share goods in this manner often create a personal connection with those who rent, borrow, or assume ownership of their things. The same thing applies if you’re the person taking advantage of an item that’s offered up. This slight difference refocuses our thinking about people — the friends and neighbors with whom it makes so much sense to share what we have. Sharing our goods, either as temporary rentals or permanent gifts, makes us more aware of the life cycle of our material possessions; it also encourages us to be more responsible stewards of our possessions while they belong to us.
Because sharing allows us to extend the life of an item, it’s important to choose a style of sharing that will allow that life cycle to go on as long as possible. Ideally, we should try to put it in the hands of someone who needs it and will use it immediately. This is most easily accomplished by swapping.
Swapping can be accomplished via a face-to-face connection or online. In order to participate in a swap, you’ve got to let the world know what you have and what you’d like to have. In this sense, swapping is very similar to bartering because no money is exchanged and the mutual benefit of all parties involved is a high priority. The difference between swapping and bartering is that it doesn’t require a mutual exchange to happen at the same time or with the same person (aka one-for-one swapping). You may list several items that you’d like to share on a swapping website and find that there’s nothing you need or want in exchange. When attending a local swap event, you might find one person who wears the same size shoes and really needs your old winter boots. In a barter situation, the only way for them to get the boots would be to offer something you needed or wanted. In a swap scenario, they can snag your boots while you might find something you need from someone else.
Through the online sharing site Yerdle, I’ve given items like books and clothes to one person in the community, and then received items like a digital voice recorder from another member days or even weeks later. Some online swapping sites realize that a coincidence of wants is hard to come by, so they reward community members with points each time they give something away. Accrued points can then be used to “purchase” something from another member when the time is right. However you choose to do it, remember that swapping is often just a fancy term for purposeful giving.
If no one in your immediate social circle is interested in swapping, it’s time to take the search online. A number of online communities exist to help individuals host or find a swap in their areas. SwapforGood.org helps people host clothing swaps that raise money for local domestic violence shelters. TheSwapTeam.org is a similar resource that has chapters in Montreal, Boston, New York City, Ottawa, Toronto, Calgary, Halifax, Winnipeg, Northampton (MA) and Quebec City (at least that’s how many there were at this writing; they seem to be ever-expanding). Both are great websites for finding swap events as well as getting some support and guidance for holding your own exchange event. While these sites focus on clothing swaps, it’s possible to exchange just about anything through an online swap service. And don’t forget about sites like Freecycle and Craigslist which have been facilitating moneyless sharing in communities around the world for many years.
Ready to start sharing goods? Here is a sampling of all the collaborative consumption services I’ve found to help you share your clothes, furniture, media, toys, and more. Many are designed to facilitate online sharing, but some are merely platforms to help organize and execute face-to-face swapping events.
Please note: The following sections contain information about companies and organizations that offer sharing services. Because the sharing economy is growing and changing at a rapid pace, it’s possible that company names, websites, or service offerings may have changed, merged with other services, or become defunct. Great effort has been made to ensure that the listings are accurate by the time of publishing, but be aware that information could be outdated by the time you read it. As always, do your homework, proceed with caution, and realize that this is the happy problem of participating in a new and exciting movement!
Swap.com — The leading online swap marketplace for books, movies, music and games. Amazing selection. Browse this website to find items that can be claimed from online community members or check out their directory to find or list local swap events.
• Cost to join? There is no fee to join or trade on Swap.com.
• One-for-one sharing? Yes, all trades on Swap.com are one-for-one, meaning that you will trade one item and receive one item in return. Swap.com does NOT facilitate two-for-one trades where a user trades multiple items for a single item.
• Point system? No.
• International? No, right now, Swap.com is only available to US residents.
• Who pays for shipping? The person sending the item is responsible for shipping.
• Insurance? None.
BookMooch.com — Lets you swap books you no longer need in exchange for books you really want.
• Cost to join? There is no fee to join or trade on BookMooch.
• One-for-one sharing? Yes.
• Point system? Yes. Every time you give someone a book, you earn a point and can get any book you want from anyone else at BookMooch. Once you’ve read a book, you can keep it forever or put it back into BookMooch for someone else, as you wish.
• International? Yes. You can request books from other countries, in other languages. To help compensate you for the greater mailing cost, you receive three points when you send a book out of your country, but it costs the moocher only two points to get the book.
• Who pays for shipping? The person sending the book pays for shipping.
• Insurance? None.
Goozex.com — A trading platform for video games and movies. Goozex is a unique platform in that members simply list the games and movies they want to trade. Goozex then finds a match and notifies both parties of the potential exchange.
• Cost to join? Goozex doesn’t have a membership fee, but, unlike other platforms, members pay a $1.99 transaction fee (called a Trade Token) for each product they receive. Purchasing more than ten tokens at once is rewarded with a slight discount.
• One-for-one sharing? No. You are not required to give a game or video in order to receive one.
• Point system? Yes. Points are earned by “selling” items to other members and spent by “buying” items from members. Points represent the trading value of any video game or movie on the network.
• International? Goozex only allows the trading of items that are playable in North America (United States, Canada, and Bermuda). But there is no indication that other countries are off-limits for trade.
• Who pays for shipping? When you agree to trade your item with another member, Goozex will provide you the recipient’s address and a printable shipping label, but the cost of shipping is the responsibility of the person shipping the item.
• Insurance? Yes. Trades on Goozex.com are protected by the Goozex Guarantee. Should a product get lost in the mail or be broken during shipping, Goozex will refund you the points and trade tokens you have spent, and put your request back in queue. In addition, Goozex transfers the points to the seller only after positive feedback is received from the buyer, providing additional protection for your trades. Earned points are delivered to the accounts of members with consistently positive feedback faster than those who are new or have negative feedback scores.
GameTZ.com — Game Trading Zone is a community of people who trade stuff, with an emphasis on video games. The site, which has been around for over ten years, was the first in a small family of swapping websites that includes musictZ.com, movietZ.com, and booktZ.com.
• Cost to join? No, it’s completely free to browse and trade on GameTZ. However, trades are not always free on this site. Users can list asking prices which, while typically lower than retail, aren’t always cheap.
• One-for-one-sharing? Yes. The “My Matches” feature will compare your wanted and available lists against all the other users. It will find people who want what you have and have what you want.
• Point system? No.
• Who pays for shipping? Because this is one-for-one sharing, each person pays for the shipping of their own item.
• Insurance? GameTZ provides a system where members get stars for being good traders. The site recommends that you trade mostly with starred traders when you’re just starting out.
Chegg.com — Why pay $100 for a textbook you only need for three months? This website rents an array of required and non-required scholastic materials including millions of textbooks in any format. Community members also gain access to online homework help and textbook solutions, course organization and scheduling, as well as college and university matching tools and scholarship connections.
• Cost to join? There is no cost to join or browse the Chegg community, but there is a fee to rent a resource.
• One-for-one sharing? No. You’re welcome to rent as many textbooks as you like without ever offering one in return.
• Point system? No.
• International? Yes.
• Who pays for shipping? The renter pays shipping costs. A prepaid shipping label is provided by Chegg when returning rented books.
• Insurance? Chegg guarantees arrival of your textbooks no later than the promised date. If the item is late, shipping is refunded. If a book is unsatisfactory in any way, they will ship another copy at no cost.
Note: there are lots of similar textbook and education material rental services out there. Check out: TextBookRentals, CollegeBookRenter, CampusBookRentals, eCampus, or Rent-a-Text.
SwapAce.com — A powerful online marketplace for swapping, selling, buying and bartering just about anything, including services, space, and expertise.
• Cost to join? There is no cost to join or browse the SwapAce community. However there are some enhanced features that require the use of community credits.
• One-for-one sharing? No. You’re welcome to just give or just receive items, if that’s what you’d like. The SwapAce system does allow for counter offers, which is a unique feature.
• Point system? There is a credit system that allows access to enhanced features, but they’re not necessary to swap or barter on the site. Credits can be earned or purchased.
• International? Yes. SwapAce has hundreds of thousands of traders from over 150 countries and growing.
• Who pays for shipping? Shipping costs are worked out directly between the two individuals making the trade.
• Insurance? SwapAce does not provide any guarantees or insurance on trades. However, the community does employ a feedback system that allows users to see how well other swapper’s honor agreements and trades.
PaperbackSwap.com — Don’t worry, PaperbackSwap isn’t just for paperbacks. This online platform helps its members swap, trade, and exchange books for free. It’s a massive online database with over 4.9 million literary listings.
• Cost to join? Currently, there is no cost to join PaperbackSwap. A note on the site’s getting started page does warn that there may be annual “club fees” in the future. Some additional services and products can be purchased.
• One-for-one sharing? Paperback swap does require you to share items in order to get items, but the giving and getting doesn’t have to be between the same two people.
• Point system? Yes. Credits are earned for each book you share and then redeemed to claim books others have offered. Several credits are earned just by signing up. However, there is a Box-O-Books feature that allows swapping between members without credits.
• International? Presently, PaperbackSwap is a US-only service, but plans to expand internationally are in the works.
• Who pays for shipping? Shipping is paid by the person sending the book. PaperbackSwap provides printable shipping labels to facilitate this process.
• Insurance? No. All liability is assumed by the members.
CraftingaGreenWorld.com — This eco-friendly crafter’s website runs a free classifieds section where readers can swap and share craft supplies online. Got too many buttons in your stash? Looking for fabric remnants or reclaimed yarn? You can search for the supplies you need or list supplies that you’d like to offer up.
• Cost to join? None.
• One-for-one sharing? No. You can claim offered items without sharing your own, and vice versa.
• Point system? No.
• International? Yes, although most listings are in the US.
• Who pays for shipping? Delivery method and costs are arranged between individuals involved in the swap or share.
• Insurance? None.
ClothingSwap.com — This organization was created to gather fashionable female swappers together in a fun environment where they can relax, mingle, get pampered, and then swap clothing, shoes and accessories and thus, happily augment their wardrobes. Each event is planned and hosted by the ClothingSwap team of volunteers. On the day of the event, attendees are treated to mini-salon experiences like hair styles or pedicures while munching and sipping on special treats. Finally, all attendees are invited to begin browsing the items others have brought to share. Anything not claimed is donated to a worthwhile charity.
• Cost to join? Sometimes. Each swap event is different, but because of the extra treats and perks involved, there is sometimes a flat fee to attend.
• One-for-one sharing? No. Bring all fashionable items that you are ready to let go of. Play dress up and take home your favorites. Unclaimed items are donated to a local charity.
• Point system? No.
• International? No. United States only for now.
• Who pays for shipping? ClothingSwap.com facilitates in-person swapping during planned events, so there’s no shipping.
• Insurance? No. There are some guidelines about what can be shared, however. All attendees are encouraged to provide feedback and reviews about their experience.
The Swapaholics.com — This is a faction of Swap.com that exists to help people plan or attend swaps in their community. The Swapaholics’ stated mission is to “spread the love for secondhand style, and raise awareness for swapping as the new shopping.”
• Cost to join? None.
• One-for-one sharing? No. However, all attendees are required to bring at least one item to trade.
• Point system? No.
• International? Yes. For the past few years, the Swapaholics have co-hosted a Global Swap Day.
• Who pays for shipping? Swapaholics facilitates in-person swapping during planned events, so there’s no shipping.
• Insurance? No.
RentTheRunway.com — This is a clothing sharing website designed specifically for those who love high fashion (or just need something fancy to wear to a black tie event). The RTR team works directly with over 170 designers to provide access to rent dresses, accessories, and more for about 10 percent of retail value. Simply reserve online, wear, and return the item when the event is over.
• Cost to join? No. All you need is an email address to register for an account and browse listings.
• One-for-one sharing? No. There’s no limit on what or how many garments you can rent.
• Point system? No.
• International? No. At this time, RentTheRunway can only ship orders within the continental United States. Conversely, orders must also be returned from a US address.
• Who pays for shipping? Because this is a garment rental service, the person receiving the item pays for shipping. Standard delivery via UPS or FedEx is about $9.95 USD.
• Insurance? Yes. We’ve all been to those parties where a glass of wine accidentally ends up in someone’s lap. A $5.00 insurance charge included on each item you rent covers most accidental damage; however, significant damage, destruction, and theft are not covered.
Swapstyle.com — This is a fashion website where members can shop from each other’s closets and swap (or sell) unlimited amounts of gently used designer clothes, accessories, shoes, and even books, electronics, and collectibles.
• Cost to join? No. Registration and use of the Swapstyle platform is free.
• One-for-one sharing? Yes. Swapstyle exists to arrange direct swaps between two members. However, some items on swapstyle are offered for sale and can be purchased without making a previous swap or sale.
• Point system? Yes. Swapstyle employs a feedback token system to help make trustworthy members more visible in the system. Good feedback improves the number of tokens associated with your account, while bad feedback subtracts tokens. It does not appear that tokens are a requirement for swapping.
• International? Yes.
• Who pays for shipping? In most cases, the person sending the item pays for shipping, although Swapstyle allows members to negotiate their own terms for each trade.
BagBorrowOrSteal.com — A fashion rental site that focuses on accessories like jewelry and handbags. Items can be rented for a week, month, or an entire season.
• Cost to join? No. Registration is free and only requires an email address.
• One-for-one sharing? No. Bag Borrow or Steal facilitates direct rental from designers, and there are no limitations on how many items can be borrowed at once.
• Point system? No.
• International? No, United States only. Currently, Bag Borrow or Steal is unable to ship to PO boxes, APOs or international addresses.
• Who pays for shipping? Standard shipping is included in the rental price of any item listed on the site. Return shipping is free.
• Insurance? Complimentary insurance is included in the rental price and to cover cleaning and damage but does not cover loss or theft.
FashionHire.co.uk — This online service operates much like other clothing and accessory rental websites already listed, only this one operates in the UK only.
• Cost to join? Yes. Fashion Hire employs a pay-as-you-go membership fee of between £5.00 and £9.95 per month. A minimum commitment of three months membership is also required. Premium memberships are available for a higher price, but these members pay no per bag rental fee.
• One-for-one sharing? No. Rentals are direct from designer and there are no limitations on how many items can be borrowed simultaneously once you’re an established member.
• Point system? No.
• International? No. Currently Fashion Hire operates in the UK only.
• Who pays for shipping? There is a flat rate shipping cost of £12.99 assessed for each rental. Return shipping is free.
• Insurance? Coverage for general wear and tear is included in shipping costs.
99Dresses.com — 99Dresses is on a mission to create an infinite worldwide closet so no woman ever has to wear the same thing twice! Members upload quality unwanted clothes, shoes and accessories into the Infinite Closet and trade them with others using a virtual currency.
• Cost to join? No. There are no fees or commissions associated with the use of 99Dresses.
• One-for-one sharing? Yes and no. Since items are “purchased” using a virtual currency, it’s possible to “buy” from anyone regardless of whether you have something they also want. Still, sharing your own items on the site is the main way to earn this currency. More about that below.
• Point system? Yes. Buttons are the virtual currency used to trade items in the Infinite Closet. Each dress will have a price in Buttons. If you don’t have enough Buttons to buy the dress you want, when you click “buy” you’ll be able to purchase extra Buttons for one dollar each. Alternatively, you can upload and sell more dresses of your own.
• International? Yes. 99Dresses started in Australia and has now expanded to the United States.
• Who pays for shipping? Postage is a set price in Buttons determined by 99Dresses and is added to the price of the item paid in Buttons by the buyer. As no cash changes hands, when a sale occurs, the seller pays for the real cost of postage of the item.
• Insurance? No.
thredUP.com — Tired of having to buy new clothes every few weeks when your kids go through a growth spurt? thredUP is an online store where parents can shop for thousands of gently used, high-quality garments. Costs are greatly discounted from retail, and many items can be returned through the site on a case-by-case consignment basis.
• Cost to join? No. There are some fees associated with using the service.
• One-for-one sharing? thredUP is a marketplace for reselling gently used kid’s clothes. There’s money involved, but it’s a fraction of the retail cost. Listing items on the site is not a requirement for purchase.
• Point system? No.
• International? No. Currently thredUP can only ship orders to the 50 US states, DC, Guam, Puerto Rico and APO/FPO/DPO addresses.
• Who pays for shipping? thredUP currently charges a flat rate of $6.95 for shipping & handling. Orders over $40 are shipped for free.
• Insurance? No. However, thredUP employs a rigorous inspection and certification process to ensure all garments offered on the site are in practically new condition.
Clossette.com — In the words of its founder, “Clossette is a worldwide closet, a ‘re-lovable’ clothing line, and a personal style blog where you can share what you wear.”
• Cost to join? No.
• One-for-one sharing? No. Clossete is an online marketplace where members can sell used or recently upcycled clothing. It operates just like any other retail shopping website, so there are no limitations on purchases.
• Point system? No.
• International? Yes. Anyone can list or order items on the site.
• Who pays for shipping? Shipping costs are paid by the buyer.
• Insurance? No. In some cases, items made and sold by Closette’s founder can be returned/exchanged if found to be unsatisfactory.
ComicSwap.com — An online marketplace where you can buy, sell and swap comics with other comic enthusiasts on a platform built specifically with comics in mind. Run by a group of comic collecting friends from Appleton, Wisconsin, but largely moderated by the community itself.
• Cost to join? No. There’s no cost to register as a member on ComicSwap, and all direct trades between members are free. However, there is a flat fee of 6 percent assessed on all sales conducted on the site.
• One-for-one sharing? Yes and no. ComicSwap provides several different ways to interact with the community. You can list items for sale through an auction (kind of like eBay), a direct sale (an ad with a firm price, no negotiation), or swaps (free exchange between two people who have mutually desired items). In order to take advantage of the free swaps, you must be willing to share something of your own as requested by the other swapper.
• Point system? No.
• International? Yes.
• Who pays for shipping? Shipping costs are arranged between those involved in the trade or sale.
• Insurance? No.
Yerdle.com — Launched on Black Friday 2012, this online platform seeks to make sharing the new shopping. Browsing the site feels a lot like shopping at an online retailer, only all of the products are 100 percent off! The site debuted with over 10,000 items in categories that range from electronics to furniture to food. One unique feature is that members have the option to list items they’re willing to lend as well as give away.
• Cost to join? No.
• One-for-one sharing? No. Although all members are encouraged to list items they’re willing to loan or give away, it’s not a requirement for getting things from other members.
• Point system? No.
• International? Yes.
• Who pays for shipping? Generally, the person who is getting the item covers any cost of transport. Yerdle does plan to add delivery features including low-cost local delivery and prepaid mailers to send items to faraway lands.
• Insurance? No.
RehashClothes.com — Rehashing is an easy, fun way for you to trade your clothing, accessories, and books with others online. Community members join groups, socialize, trade goods, and swap green living tips. By Rehashing, you can shop for clothes, accessories, and books without spending a penny, all while helping the environment.
• Cost to join? No. Rehash Clothes has no posting fees, so you can Rehash as many items as you want and not have to worry about site usage fees.
• One-for-one sharing? Yes. The site is set up to match those who are giving with those who wish to receive. However, many people list items to swap without a particular item that they want, so it’s fairly easy to negotiate unique trades.
• Point system? No.
• International? Although the site is set up to serve those living in North America, it’s still possible for residents of other countries to Rehash. However, shipping costs often make international trades difficult.
• Who pays for shipping? Once a swap offer has been accepted, it’s up to the members to decide who pays the shipping.
• Insurance? No. After a trade has been officially completed, both traders have the option to rate each other’s experiences. This feedback is used to develop a “Karma” rating for each member. A negative karmic history is meant to deter other users from trading with you.
Freecycle.org — One of the oldest and most widely used grassroots organizations for giving and getting free stuff from your local community. Freecycle says its mission is to create “a worldwide gifting movement that reduces waste, saves precious resources & eases the burden on our landfills while enabling our members to benefit from the strength of a larger community.” Members are asked to join a group that corresponds to their physical community. Within just a few minutes, it’s easy to create an offer to give something away or an ad asking for something you want. Groups are moderated by local members, and optional rules can be adopted or not depending on the group’s decision.
• Cost to join? No.
• One-for-one sharing? No. Freecycle members are welcome to request or offer as much or as little as they want. In fact, direct trades/barters are discouraged. Freecycle is meant to just be about giving stuff away for free.
• Point system? No. However, if moderators receive multiple complaints about the same user, they may unsubscribe you from the group.
• International? Yes. Currently there are Freecycle groups in the United States and Canada.
• Who pays for shipping? Freecycle is meant to facilitate peer-to-peer trades and sales only.
• Insurance? No.
Craigslist.org — This is the ultimate free classified site with categories for free stuff, shares, barters, sublets, garage sales, house swaps, tons of used stuff for sale, and more. In a theory, you could set yourself up with a job, an apartment, furniture, and a date all from this site in a matter of minutes and with no out-of-pocket cost.
• One-for-one sharing? No.
• Point system? No.
• International? Yes. There are subcategories of Craigslist for hundreds of cities in the United States, Canada, and around the world.
• Who pays for shipping? Craigslist is only intended as a forum for face-to-face sales and trades.
• Insurance? No. It’s worth mentioning that given the massive number of categories and listings on Craigslist, fraud and scams are quite common. It’s a good idea to stick to local trades where the item and its owner can be evaluated before agreeing to take it.
Trashbank.com — Trashbank is a website where you can sell your items or services or barter, swap, and trade your items, services with other people.
• Cost to join? No. There are no processing fees or other charges for using Trashbank.
• One-for-one sharing? No. Since Trashbank offers barters, trades, and buying/selling, it’s possible to obtain items from a member without making a direct trade.
• Point system? No.
• International? Trading, buying, and selling through Trashbank is available only to individuals residing in the United States and Canada.
• Who pays for shipping? Shipping details are usually displayed in the item/service detail section. Unless the trader/seller specifies who will pay for shipping, the buyer or trade requester will pay for shipping.
• Insurance? Trashbank does not offer insurance, but does offer a two-sided review system. The company will take action on complaints of non-payment for a purchased item.
NeighborGoods.net — Remember when, if you needed a ladder or a cup of sugar, you just knocked on your neighbor’s front door and asked to borrow it? NeighborGoods was founded on the idea that real world connections create happier, healthier communities. Using their modern Web platform, they make reaching out to your neighbors safe and easy.
• Cost to join? Borrowing and lending items on NeighborGoods is free of charge. Members may charge a deposit or a rental fee for the use of their items, but NeighborGoods does not charge transaction fees. Members may choose to upgrade their account for $9.99. Upgrading provides members with access to more items and is optional.
• One-for-one sharing? No. NeighborGoods is about borrowing and lending things needed by the community, not bartering or direct trades.
• Point system? No.
• International? Yes. Although NeighborGoods is based in the United States, and that’s where the most active neighborhood groups tend to be located.
• Who pays for shipping? There is no long-distance sharing on NeighborGoods.
• Insurance? No. NeighborGoods takes no responsibility for failed or less-than-perfect transactions. However, the company does give members tools to solve disputes. Peer ratings and comments are among the primary review systems for both items and members. If something doesn’t go well with someone, feedback is visible for other members to see when they’re deciding if they should share with that person. Too many complaints about the same user may trigger NeighborGoods to disable that person’s account.
SnapGoods.com — An online platform that connects people who need things with neighbors and friends who are willing to lend them those things. SnapGoods lets you look for stuff posted by local members, or you can limit it just to folks within your existing social networks for greater security.
• Cost to join? Signing up for SnapGoods and posting and browsing goods is free. If you borrow something that makes use of the SnapGoods secure payment system, you will be charged a small fee on top of your reservation fee. The fee is $0.50 per reservation, plus 7 percent of the reservation fee.
• One-for-one sharing? No. SnapGoods is about borrowing and lending things needed by the community, not bartering or direct trades.
• Point system? No.
• International? Yes. However, the company is based in New York City, and that’s where the majority of its members are located.
• Who pays for shipping? There is no long-distance sharing on SnapGoods.
• Insurance? SnapGoods allows users to specify a security deposit to cover potential loss or damages. What’s more, SnapGoods backs up transactions between verified users with the SnapGoods Guarantee. If something goes wrong, they guarantee that your goods will be repaired or replaced, plus they will provide you with a temporary replacement item for the few days it can take to patch things up.
us.zilok.com — An online marketplace that allows individuals and professionals to list any kind of item, service, space, etc., they want to offer for rent to their community. Zilok is one of the only sharing services to display listings of all the items for rent in a given location along with their price, conditions and available dates, conveniently mapped around the location of the user.
• Cost to join? Zilok is free to use as a renter. Creating an account is free, and using the site to rent something does not incur any cost (a retainer fee paid to Zilok is deducted from the rental price paid to the owner).
• One-for-one sharing? No. Zilok is about borrowing and lending things needed by the community, not bartering or direct trades.
• International? Yes. Zilok is set up to serve residents of the United States, the Netherlands, and the UK.
• Who pays for shipping? Zilok facilitates face-to-face trades between people living in the same community, so there’s no shipping.
• Insurance? For any rental transaction, whether online or in the real world, a rental contract or agreement should be established between the owner and the renter to confirm the deal and its conditions. This contract is available for display within the description of the items listed for rent. The consequences of an incident are governed by this contract. Individuals are free to use the standard contract that Zilok provides, which includes all the essential clauses of a classic rental agreement.
SwapTreasures.com — SwapTreasures is a bartering website where members can set up online “stores” and auction off unwanted items in return for virtual currency. Points are then used to “purchase” items from other members.
• Cost to join? No. SwapTreasures charges no fees; it does not cost anything to participate.
• One-for-one sharing? No. No giving is required and no purchase is necessary since some points are awarded just for signing up.
• Point system? Yes. The more popular a listing is, the more points will be offered for it. Points earned by giving away an item can then be used to get things you want from other users on the site. Normally, the best offer (highest points) on the item has the best chance to win the item, but the seller decides which offer to accept.
• International? Yes.
• Who pays for shipping? SwapTreasures recommends that all item owners pay for the shipping, so that all members can enjoy the benefits of receiving the winning item at no cost. The Free Shipping tag is specified on an item description if the owner is willing to pay for the shipping.
• Insurance? No. A user feedback rating is employed so members can see how reputable another user is. User feedback is divided into three types: positive, neutral, and negative. Points can be rewarded to item listers and/or winners in situations where SwapTreasures has to step in to resolve a dispute.
BarterQuest.com — No, it’s not another Facebook game. BarterQuest is a cashless trading platform designed for both individuals and businesses. Goods, services, and the use of real estate can be traded, from anyone to anyone, anywhere in the world.
• Cost to join? No. Registration, membership, trading, and listing items is completely free for individuals. There is a one-time fee of $9.99 for members who wish to verify their payment accounts (a requirement for active trading).
• One-for-one sharing? Not necessarily. While most transactions on the site involve trading an item and/or points for another item, it’s not required that you list something before making an offer. Multi-party trades or transactions involving three or more users are possible through the BarterQuest system.
• Point system? One point has a real-world value of one dollar. Points can be used to equalize the value of trades. Members may trade with or without points. Points earned through trades can be redeemed for cash.
• International? Yes.
• Who pays for shipping? The seller. When a trade for goods has been confirmed, the user is required to ship their item to the shipping address of their trading partner within 72 hours, unless otherwise agreed by their trading partner.
• Insurance? No. BarterQuest asks members to alert them to disputes so that they can determine whether a trading partner has violated the Terms of Use and should be sanctioned. Finally, members are asked to detail any negative trading experience in the trade feedback.
U-Exchange.com — A barter site with over 70,000 members that specializes in every type of trade, from books and clothes to dog walking and website design services. Businesses are welcome to join and engage in B2B and B2C barters.
• Cost to join? No. Thanks to advertising on the site, there are no commissions taken on trades, either.
• One-for-one sharing? No. U-Exchange is set up to facilitate direct trades, but multi-party trades are possible.
• Point system? No.
• International? Yes. U-Exchange has barter categories for over 80 countries, although the most active countries are the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, and Australia.
• Who pays for shipping? Members work out their own shipping arrangements for long-distance trades.
• Insurance? No.
Tradeaway.com — TradeAway provides the means for a business or person to acquire goods or services through a medium where cash is not a requirement for a transaction to take place.
• Cost to join? No. Registering on TradeAway is always free. There are fees associated with a number of optional upgrades you can make to an account or listing.
• One-for-one sharing? No. Both direct sales and trades are facilitated through the Tradeaway system.
• Point system? Yes. TradeCredits are a non-cash, barter currency used by members to pay for items and store value in the system.
• International? No. Tradeaway is only open to residents of the United States.
• Who pays for shipping? Shipping arrangements and costs are worked out between trading parties.
• Insurance? No.
Listia.com — Listia is an online auction platform where you win other people’s stuff, from electronics, to crafts and antiques.
• One-for-one sharing? No. People bid on listings using credits they’ve earned. The highest bid wins.
• Point system? Yes. Points are earned for signing up, listing items, making trades, inviting friends, and joining Listia on social networking sites.
• International? Yes, although most listings are in the United States.
• Who pays for shipping? In most cases, the item owner pays for shipping.
• Insurance? No.
The sharing of skills, knowledge, and time is a very important part of the collaborative consumption movement. When people share their time, new skills are learned, new connections forged, and self-sufficiency gained. We start to appreciate skills that were forgotten when we started buying things instead of making or repairing them. You don’t have to be an expert to teach what you know, and no skill is too small or insignificant to share with others.
Even if you don’t have a particular skill you’d like to share, your time is still a valuable resource. Ever heard the phrase time is money? Time banks allow members to turn hours into equity that can then be used to trade for things or services. Peer-to-peer errand and task networks make it easy to hire your neighbors to complete short-term projects. Some people have even turned time-sharing into a full-time job. Sharing your time helps people (including you) save money, eliminate multiple car trips, and support the local economy.
TaskRabbit.com — This errand and delivery marketplace connects people who have extra time with people who don’t. Members, called “TaskRabbits,” can make extra money by doing odd jobs or small tasks for those who are tight on time.
• Where is it offered? United States only. TaskRabbit services are currently available in Boston, SF Bay Area, San Antonio, Austin, Chicago, Seattle, Portland, Los Angeles & Orange County, and New York City.
• Who can use it? Both individuals and businesses can use TaskRabbit to get things done while supporting the local economy. Several well-known companies use TaskRabbit, including Yahoo!, Meetup, and Eventbrite.
• Cost to join? No. However, there is a price for each task (this is the maximum amount a TaskPoster is willing to pay to get a job done). Most of the fee goes directly to the TaskRabbit, who makes at least what he or she bids. A portion of each fee, called a service fee, is paid to the company for each transaction. The service fee is calculated on a sliding scale — the higher the TaskPrice, the lower the service fee.
• What about safety? To ensure the safety and security of the TaskPosters, each and every TaskRabbit goes through a multiple-step application process which includes an essay, video interviews and a background check before being selected to run Tasks.
Skillshare.com — A global marketplace for classes. In this online community, users can learn real-world skills from anyone, anywhere. Members can earn some extra cash by teaching a class or they can learn a new skill to help them get that dream job or start a business.
• Where is it offered? Skillshare community members teach in-person classes in their local communities as well as online classes that can be taken from around the world.
• Who can use it? Both individuals and businesses can use Skillshare to inspire, share, or host a space for learning.
• Cost to join? Posting a class on Skillshare is completely free. Skillshare charges a 15 percent fee on all tickets sold. This only affects teachers; for students, the posted price is the price you pay.
• What about safety? Skillshare has a site-wide set of Do’s and Don’ts meant to help teachers and students be good members of the community. If a class is unsatisfactory, students are encouraged to work it out directly with teachers. If an agreement can’t be reached, Skillshare may step in as a Mediator. Additionally, all students are asked to provide feedback about each teacher.
Gigwalk.com — A mobile marketplace that connects employers looking for part-time, temporary workers to thousands of qualified, smartphone-enabled people who are eager to do field work and earn a second paycheck through Gigwalk’s mobile app.
• Where is it offered? United States.
• Who can use it? Businesses who need things done, and people who are looking for extra money who have done or are willing to do all kinds of work, from photography and data collection, to retail audits and mobile app testing.
• Cost to join? None for individuals, businesses pay Gigwalk to list their jobs.
• What about safety? Most people only apply for gigs that are in their neighborhood or places with which they are already familiar. There is an honor code and terms are listed on the site.
Airtasker.com — A community marketplace that connects people who are looking for help getting everyday tasks and errands done with friendly and reliable people who want to earn some extra cash in a fun and flexible way. Taskers list tasks and Runners place bids of how much they would charge to complete the task.
• Where is it offered? Australia only.
• Who can use it? Businesses and individuals with more errands than hours in the day, and individuals with free time that they’d like to turn into money.
• Cost to join? Free to register and list tasks. Airtasker charges 15% of the agreed Task amount and deducts this fee prior to releasing payment to the runner.
• What about safety? Verification badges, reviews, and references help connect Taskers with the right Runner for the job. There are also safety tips for how to complete a job responsibly.
BountyIt.com — An online platform where people get monetary rewards for sharing their feedback, ideas, time, and skills with those who request them. A member might ask for feedback on a website design, hire an accountant, or offer their babysitting skills. BountyIt provides the platform for people to compete for money and get services done without being exposed to much risk.
• Where is it offered? Since transactions are brokered online, anyone in any country is welcome to join.
• Who can use it? Both individuals and businesses can use BountyIt.
• Cost to join? There’s no cost to join, but remember that BountyIt is designed to facilitate paid transactions. BountyIt makes money for its services by taking 20 percent of the offered bounty.
• What about safety? BountyIt offers administrators that are available to help resolve disputes over feedback or services. Only members in good standing are permitted to post or respond to a Bounty listing.
SittingAround.com — An online network of babysitting co-ops where members can trade free babysitting with other parents, or build a local, private network of trusted paid sitters to share with your friends — or both. Also a great outlet for those who would like to work as a babysitter or nanny. Members earn points by babysitting and then spend those points to hire others to babysit for them. Additionally, paid sitters can be hired and paid with real currency outside of the SittingAround system.
• Where is it offered? Since this resource is online, it’s accessible by users in just about any country. However, most of the co-op networks and sitters are in the United States, Canada, Australia, Switzerland, and France.
• Who can use it? Parents, grandparents, and anyone else interested in finding a vetted sitter. Those who provide childcare services can also use the site.
• Cost to join? Ad-supported memberships are free. Premium membership is just $15 per year — less than the cost of a single night of babysitting.
• What about safety? All sitters on the site are encouraged to run a background check on themselves through TalentShield. This feature is available at no cost to the sitter, and helps parents to feel more comfortable when hiring a sitter outside their personal network. Messaging features make it easy to conduct a virtual interview with potential sitters. If co-op members are unable to resolve a dispute, a moderator acts as arbitrator in settling all issues. Issues mainly arise out of point discrepancies.
Zaarly.com — A hyper-local online marketplace that makes it easy to buy and sell with your neighbors. Skills, services, and experiences can all be marketed through Zaarly’s simple online storefronts. Hobbyists or part-time entrepreneurs can make money from their passions in a simple and secure manner.
• Where is it offered? Currently, Zaarly is only available in the United States.
• Cost to join? Members only pay for the services and unique goods purchased through Zaarly, otherwise, the site is completely free to use.
• What about safety? Zaarly offers a $10,000 guarantee on any transactions conducted through the site. Additionally, the site offers secure payments, secure messaging, and a community flagging feature that allows members to draw inappropriate conduct to the administrator’s attention immediately.
BabysitterExchange.com — Established in 2000, BabysitterExchange allows people to join or create online cooperatives for babysitting, carpooling, sharing errands, pet-sitting, tutoring, and other help around the house. Each hyper-local, moderated community on the site uses tokens as non-monetary currency to facilitate transactions.
• Where is it offered? BabysitterExchange is open to members in the United States and Canada.
• Who can use it? Anyone with a need to fill or a talent/resource to share.
• Cost to join? BabysitterExchange is free for individuals to use.
• What about safety? Communities on the site can only be accessed by those with a Security Key. A community’s Captain is the only person that can provide a community’s Security Key. Disputes, which most often arise over token transactions, are resolved directly by Community Captains. Additionally, each new member must be “approved” by other private community members before he or she can fulfill a service request.
Swappin.com — A community that empowers people to make the most of their skills and talents without the limitations of the traditional job market. Skills and services can be swapped barter-style or purchased with cash. After you’ve created your profile, Swappin will suggest people to swap with in your area. You can also browse other members’ HAVEs and NEEDs on your own and suggest a swap.
• Where is it offered? Currently Swappin is open only to those in the United States.
• Who can use it? Members include skilled designers, developers, consultants, hairstylists, childcare professionals and babysitters, writers, massage therapists, automotive experts, home improvement professionals, contractors, gardeners, and others.
• Cost to join? None; it’s free to join and take advantage of Swappin services.
• What about safety? Swappin encourages members to work together to resolve disputes without intervention. In extreme cases, Swappin or a representative may become involved.
Participatory Government
Participatory government is the idea that all members of a population should be able to make meaningful contributions to decision-making. For too long, we’ve been content to vote, or not, hoping that elected officials will actually keep their promise to act in the best interest of the people. The power of the Internet now makes it much easier for all levels of government to become transparent, sharing data and engaging the public in a dialogue that leads to more creative and efficient solutions. Here are a few resources that help citizens get more engaged in their own governance.
Neighborland.com — People who live and work in a neighborhood know what services, infrastructure, and businesses their community needs, whether it’s a local grocery store, cafe with WiFi, bike lanes, or a recreational center. Neighborland offers residents a friendly and engaging tool to voice their needs and connect with like-minded people to make change happen.
ParticipatoryBudgeting.org — The Participatory Budgeting Project (PBP) is a non-profit organization that helps communities decide how to spend public money, primarily in the United States and Canada. This organization works directly with governments and non-profits to develop participatory budgeting processes in which local people directly decide how to spend part of a public budget. It’s their goal to include those who are normally left out of these types of discussions and decisions, namely the public! PBP offers many different opportunities for participation, from joining or starting a participatory budget movement in your own town, to volunteering, jobs, and internships. This isn’t a typical collaborative consumption service, but rather an invaluable resource for people who would like to see more transparency and community involvement when local government spends public monies.
OpenGovernment.org — A free, open-source public resource website for government transparency and civic engagement at the state and local levels. The site is a non-partisan joint project of two 501(c)3 non-profit organizations: the Participatory Politics Foundation and the Sunlight Foundation; OpenGovernment is independent from any government entity, candidate, or political party. The ultimate mission of OpenGovernment is to ensure that all three branches (executive, legislative, and judicial) at every level of US government (federal, state, city, local) comply with the principles of open government data.
YourView.org.au — YourView aspires to give Australians a stronger democratic voice. It has the unique ambition to present what people really think about major public issues — and giving that collective wisdom a role in the national political discourse.
When we travel, most of us choose hotels, motels, or resorts because they’re commercially run operations that provide a certain level of security. When you book a room in a hotel, you know (within certain limits) what to expect when you arrive. When you decide to share lodging with other people instead, it demands a sense of adventure and a healthy dose of trust. Lodging can be shared on a permanent, semi-permanent, or very temporary basis. Most people choose to experiment with temporary lodging shares as an alternative to traditional options. Others, once they’re familiar with the concept, choose to make lodging sharing a more permanent part of their life, often through the use of cohousing communities.
Short-Term Lodging
Instead of booking a costly hotel room with a well-known brand, you instead look for a regular person who’s got an extra room (or couch, or floor space) they’re willing to give you on the cheap (or in some cases, for free). Of course, this means surrendering some of the anonymity that a hotel room provides, but in exchange you get to meet new people who know and love the area, and can give you all sorts of insider tips about making the most of your stay.
CouchSurfing.com — An international network that connects travelers with free spare rooms, couches, and basements; it’s offered by locals in over 230 countries, and there are over 5 million members. CouchSurfing operates on the assumption that there’s no better way to immerse yourself in the local culture than to stay with a friendly local. The CouchSurfing website connects travelers and locals who then meet offline to share cultures, hospitality and adventures — whether on the road or in their hometowns. With a community of over 5 million members in 97,000 cities — and every country — CouchSurfing is uniquely positioned to help you find a place to stay, no matter where you live or where you’re headed.
• Where is it offered? In 97,000 cities around the world.
• Who can use it? Anyone who loves to travel and isn’t afraid to make new friends.
• Cost to join? No. Free to join and use. No fee is charged for lodging, by the property owner or CouchSurfing.
• What about safety? The first way that members support safety is by filling out a detailed profile and posting photos, both of which are important sources of information about who they are, how they think, and what their life is like. They can also choose to get verified, which means having a check done of their name and location; this helps the community see that they’re being honest about who they are. Additionally, CouchSurfers support each others’ safety by sharing information amongst the community. They do this by writing each other references, creating meaningful and detailed friend links, vouching for people they highly trust, and reporting abuse.
Airbnb.com — The leading fee-based service that connects people who have space to share with travelers looking for lodging all over the world. Whether it’s a guest bedroom for a night, an entire apartment for a week, or an Italian villa for a month, Airbnb connects people to unique travel experiences, at any price point.
• Where is it offered? In more than 33,000 cities in 192 countries.
• Who can use it? Anyone who loves to stay in unique places, meet unique people, and rates that are far less than standard hotels or time shares.
• Cost to join? None. Although one can join Airbnb as a traveler or host at no cost, there is a fee for booking a stay. Similar to the price a hotel would charge, this price is set by the person who lives in or owns the property. Additionally, Airbnb charges guests a 6-12 percent service fee for every reservation booked, depending on the total of the reservation. The higher the total, the lower the percentage for the fee. All fees are displayed quite prominently throughout the browsing and booking process, so you’re not shocked during check-out.
• What about safety? Airbnb’s sophisticated system includes tools like a $1million Host Guarantee, authenticated reviews, security deposits, social networking integration, and 40 other features that facilitate trust and reinforce security in the marketplace. Travelers and hosts are given multiple opportunities to flag users, message threads, and listings, and they have 24/7 access to the Airbnb support team if something feels unsafe or uncomfortable at any time during the process.
9Flats.com — A fee-based service that allows you to rent someone’s room, apartment, or entire house so you can feel more at home while you travel. Unlike other lodging-sharing services listed in this section, 9flats provides a bonus account upon registration. This account can be filled with 9flats credit to spend on your next accommodation. Credits are earned by inviting your friends via Facebook or Web link, and leaving reviews and recommendations.
• Where is it offered? 9flats offers 81,000 places worldwide — on six continents. The company is based in Berlin, Germany, so all prices are initially listed in euros, but can be toggled, depending on your preference.
• Who can use it? Anyone.
• Cost to join? No. There is no cost to sign up or list a space. However, a 15 percent commission is taken from hosts’ total payout when someone books their space.
• What about safety? All payment is online (no cash), and all accommodation is protected by 9flats insurance, which covers guests and hosts against accidental damages of up to €500,000 for every booking. Reviews from guests and hosts help newer members make informed decisions about where to stay or to whom to rent.
Roomorama.com — This service bills itself as the discerning traveler’s one-stop shop for short-term rentals. Its founders believe that it shouldn’t cost an arm and a leg to stay anywhere in the world.
• Where is it offered? Although the company is based in New York City, it offers lodging options on all seven continents. Likewise, the website is available in nine different languages.
• Who can use it? Anyone.
• Cost to join? None. Hosts may post as many listings as they like on Roomorama, for free. Guests are charged a booking fee (which includes all credit card processing fees, etc.) which is approximately 8–12 percent of the total room rate cost. Fee is calculated automatically depending on the length of stay.
• What about safety? Hosts can arrange a security deposit in the form of either cash or credit card authorization. A security deposit is held by the host for the duration of the stay and returned upon check-out if nothing is lost or damaged. Although it lacks a $1 million insurance policy, Roomorama does require guests and hosts to email a scanned photo ID to confirm the name on the credit card in order to make a booking.
Tripping.com — Travelers can save a ton of money and connect to the local scene through this peer-to-peer lodging service and online community. Unlike others in this category, Tripping facilitates both no-cost and fee-based sharing of accommodations.
• Where is it offered? Tripping boasts 850,000 spaces in 18,000 cities around the world.
• Who can use it? Anyone.
• Cost to join? Tripping is 100% free because cultural exchange makes the world a better place. Hosts, however, may charge a rental fee for their property.
• What about safety? Tripping uses a combination of community-based and technological features to help keep travelers and hosts safe and secure. These features include an anonymous review system, publicly posted testimonials and feedback (from both hosts and guests), face-to-face validation of identity and addresses, social networking, a travel support line, and a zero-tolerance policy for any abuse of the community.
iloho.com — Destinations are all well and good, but the memories we make while traveling are all about the people met along the way. iloho makes it easy to share travel advice and plan trips with a network of travel writers across the world. Members share everything from tips on the most affordable airlines to their favorite itineraries.
• Where is it offered? The iloho network provides access to over 300 airlines and 200,000 hotels in over 150 countries.
• Who can use it? Anyone.
• Cost to join? No.
• What about safety? iloho is a user-generated online network for travelers. Its purpose is to allow you to build online connections with people who live in cities where you want to travel, or to provide advice to those who are traveling to your city. Unlike other services, members of this site rarely meet or stay with each other, so risk is minimal. Share as much or as little as you’d like.
Triptrotting.com — An online community that makes it easy to connect with like-minded people around the world. Triptrotting uses a unique algorithm to match you with the most like-minded people from all corners of the world, people who share your interests and might even have similar personalities. Through these online connections, you can join authentic and fun activities, meet locals and host travelers visiting your home city.
• Where is it offered? Globally.
• Who can use it? Triptrotting is a community of verified students, university alumni and professionals.
• Cost to join? None.
• What about safety? Unlike other travel-sharing services, Triptrotters often meet up just to hang out and exchange advice. Publicly viewable reviews and ratings from fellow Triptrotters make it easier to choose a new friend.
Vayable.com — An online marketplace where ordinary people can discover, buy, or sell unique travel experiences, including tours, activities, and extended trips — from other ordinary people. Why pay extra to listen to a professional tour guide when you could hang out with the locals?
• Where is it offered? Vayable offers unique travel experiences in over 500 cities around the world.
• Who can use it? Anyone. Travelers and guides from all walks of life are welcomed — professionals, experienced, and novice.
• Cost to join? None. However, when explorers book an experience, Vayable charges a 3% service fee which is added to their total at check-out. This fee is only charged if the booking is confirmed. Vayable collects a 15% commission from all guides for all confirmed bookings. This is automatically deducted from the amount they pay out.
• What about safety? All experiences are curated and reviewed by the community and vetted by Vayable. Likewise, all Vayable guides are pre-screened, recommended and reviewed by the Vayable community.
GetYourGuide.com — This company, recently merged with former P2P travel service, Gidsy.com, connects adventurers with professional and semi professional suppliers of local destination services from around the world. Activities include tours, attractions, activities, nightlife, cooking classes, shows and events, city cards, ground transportation, winter sports and shore excursions.
• Where is it offered? Globally. More than 20,000 activities across 140 cities and 40 countries.
• Who can use it? Anyone.
• Cost to join? It’s free to use GetYourGuide. There are no signup or subscription fees. Those who wish to become “guides” must pay a commission fee that is based on company size, frequency of bookings and other variables.
• What about safety? A secure online payment system, a private messaging system, and user-generated reviews help GetYourGuide users choose activities that are safe and appropriate.
Guidehop.com — A peer-to-peer marketplace for group tours and experiences created by independent locals for those seeking authentic experiences. GuideHop is open to whatever you like to do. Hiking, sports, shopping — whatever you’re interested in, there are probably other travelers who are interested too.
• Where is it offered? Globally. Though, as a beta site, the number of listings in each city is somewhat limited. Most listings are in Austin, Texas, as that’s the city where GuideHop was founded.
• Who can use it? Anyone.
• Cost to join? None. It’s free to sign up and post activities. Guides control the cost, scheduling, and cancellation policies for their own activities. For each booked tour, GuideHop charges a 3% processing fee to the guide and a fee of $5 or 15% of the tour price to the consumer.
• What about safety? Peer reviews of activities they’ve experienced appear to be the only way for users to differentiate between trusted and unproven guides.
Sidetour.com — An online marketplace where users can find hand-picked activities, tours, and memorable things to do, all hosted by talented local people.
• Where is it offered? As a fairly new company, Sidetour currently offers experiences only in a few US cities. At the time of this writing, only Chicago, New York City, and Washington, DC, were available.
• Who can use it? Individuals (including those seeking private group tours) and companies are invited to use Sidetour.
• Cost to join? None. Joining and listing an experience on Sidetour is free. For each completed transaction, Sidetour collects a 20% transaction fee before releasing payment to hosts.
• What about safety? Sidetour personally vets all hosts to make sure they’ve got what it takes to lead an awesome experience.
Flat-Club.com — An online service that helps you rent your place or find a place to stay through your own trusted academic, professional, and social networks. Stays can last anywhere from one night to six months.
• Where is it offered? Globally. Most listings are outside of the United States and Canada.
• Who can use it? Anyone can sign up for and browse/book on Flat-Club. However, only those with an active email address or Facebook login can join a “club,” which is an internal network restricted to students, faculty, and alumni of a certain school, or employees of a certain company. Some people choose to display their listings only to their clubs.
• Cost to join? Everyone can join Flat-Club and the clubs of their existing networks for free. Flat-Club charges members a 5–15% commission on each booking, depending on the length of stay.
• What about safety? No personal details are revealed before a booking is complete. Users have the ability to limit visibility of their listings to personal networks of their choosing, and they have complete control over who books their property. Flat-Club does not provide a guest screening service.
Temporary House Swaps
Sometimes trips last longer than a week, or even a month. Rather than booking a room that’s charged by the night, a temporary housing swap might be a way to save money and gain a more immersive experience. With this kind of shared housing arrangement, users who want to travel to a particular location are matched with property owners at the desired destination.
LoveHomeSwap.com — If you’ve ever wished you could just pack your own house in your suitcase, LoveHomeSwap is the perfect solution. List your home and then browse the listings of other members. When a match is found, you can vacation like a local while someone does the same in your house. All for free.
• Where is it offered? LoveHomeSwap has more than 5,000 homes offered by members in over 100 countries. Most listings are in Europe.
• Who can use it? Homeowners only. Swaps do not need to be simultaneous. Members are free to work out scheduling on their own.
• Cost to join? Yes. LoveHomeSwap offers a basic membership starting at $14.58/month. This entitles you to unlimited listings and swaps with no additional fees. The Luxe membership starts at $27.42/month and includes 5-star concierge service, an airport lounge pass, personal key exchange, and a trust authentication service powered by Experian.
• What about safety? Outside of Europe, it’s the responsibility of the homeowner to examine their insurance policy to guarantee that their property is fully covered while it’s occupied by other people. For those who reside within Europe, the company offers a bespoke insurance product for LoveHomeSwap members that deals specifically with the circumstances of a home swap. There is an additional fee to take advantage of this policy.
HomeExchangePlace.com — An alternative to hotels and resorts for those who want to vacation in privacy and comfort. You stay in someone’s home while they stay in yours. In many cases, swapping homes has been the beginning of a new and long friendship. Non-simultaneous exchanges are allowed.
• Where is it offered? Globally.
• Who can use it? Anyone. Both homeowners and renters are welcomed on HomeExchangePlace. However, swapping properties as a renter may be viewed as subletting in some lease agreements, so you should clear that with your landlord before making a swap.
• Cost to join? None. Membership is free, as is listing and swapping accommodations.
• What about safety? As always, good communication is key to a successful home swap. Members are responsible for contacting and asking questions of those with whom they choose to swap. Though HomeExchangePlace doesn’t offer insurance, they point out that most agencies cover exchange partners just like invited guests in your home or “permitted” drivers and offer coverage as such. To avoid unnecessary liability, it’s always a good idea to check with your individual insurance provider before swapping.
Digsville.com — An international vacation home exchange. Expand your horizons and visit new destinations on a shoestring budget by swapping with others who want to visit your hometown.
• Where is it offered? Listings and members are located in hundreds of countries around the world; however, the most popular destinations are in the US, Canada, Australia, the United Kingdom, France, the Netherlands, and Italy.
• Who can use it? Anyone, from homeowners to apartment renters. Second homes and vacation homes are also welcome. Digsville guarantees you will find the home exchange you’re looking for or they will extend your full paid membership (to list your own home and offer) for an entire year until you do.
• Cost to join? There is no cost to search, save, and contact your favorite listings. To post your own listing and access full member benefits, the annual fee is $44.95. There are no hidden charges or transaction fees.
• What about safety? Digsville provides a member-generated rating system called U-Rate that allows members to rate any home in the database that they have swapped with. Potential swappers can read publicly visible, objective feedback from members who have swapped with a particular member and stayed in the very home you are considering.
SabbaticalHomes.com — The leading Internet-based directory for academic home exchanges, home rentals, and house-sitting opportunities, facilitating sabbatical home matches across the globe. Established in 2000 by the spouse of an academic, SabbaticalHomes is still run by its founder and a team of multinationals who find inspiration in members’ extraordinary lives.
• Where is it offered? Internationally. Top countries include Australia, Canada, England, France, Greece, Ireland, and Israel.
• Who can use it? Although it was designed for academics and their families, anyone is welcome to use the service if they prefer to work with scholars, artists, and writers.
• Cost to join? It is free to register as a member of the site. The fee for posting a home offered listing is $45 for academics ($65 for non-academics). It is free for academics to post a home wanted listing, and only $20 for non-academics. Listings remain active for up to 14 months, can be updated at any time, and are renewable.
• What about safety? A private messaging system and user-generated feedback help to ensure you choose the right guest for your property. The site also offers a number of publicly visible testimonials from users.
CommuterSwap.net — Commuter Swap represents a shift in the way people think about getting to and from work. By swapping accommodations with someone who lives closer to your job, it’s possible to create an economically, environmentally, and mentally more efficient way of commuting.
• Where is it offered? CommuterSwap has members in 20 countries, including the US, Canada, France, the United Kingdom, Japan, Norway, and Argentina.
• Who can use it? Anyone who wants a shorter commute. Both property owners and renters are welcome.
• Cost to join? Search and browse the site for free. It normally costs $10 to post a listing, but that fee was being waived at the time of this writing.
• What about safety? CommuterSwap encourages private messaging and interviews before choosing a swap partner. Commuter Swap does not post your name, street address, or email address on your public listing page. A well-documented contract between parties is highly recommended. All users are encouraged to contact their local insurance agent to confirm that their insurance policy completely covers liability when a guest occupies the home.
HomeExchange.com — A vacation home exchange services that allows members to trade their homes, condominiums, or apartments at a time that is convenient to both parties. HomeExchange also facilitates hospitality exchanges. With these, members stay with you as guests and then you go and stay with them as their guests.
• Where is it offered? HomeExchange hosts 41,000 listings in hundreds of countries. The US, Australia, Canada, United Kingdom, France, Denmark, and Spain are some of the most popular destinations.
• Who can use it? Both property owners and renters are welcome.
• Cost to join? There is no cost to browse listings. A $9.95 per month fee for a one-year unlimited membership costs around $119, while a three-month membership costs around $48.
• What about safety? HomeExchange believes that good communication minimizes misplaced expectations. Members are encouraged to ask questions about the home and neighborhood, and should always request to see photos and ask for referrals from prior exchanges. As always, members should verify liability with their insurance company or landlord before swapping.
Permanent Housing Swaps/Relocation
The current housing market, especially in the United States, is rather grim. Homes that used to demand hundreds of thousands of dollars now can’t be sold at any price. Individuals that have found work in other states or countries find themselves facing the prospect of paying two mortgages because they can’t unload their current home. Once again, when we eliminate the need for money to change hands, we find that even the task of moving to a new home can be vastly simplified. So far, I’ve talked about housing swaps in terms of vacations, sabbaticals, or short-term exchanges. But there’s a growing industry of permanent house swapping that can allow you to eliminate the hassle and high cost of traditional real estate sales.
GoSwap.org — Who says using a realtor is the only way to find a new house? GoSwap is a permanent house swapping site, meaning you list your house or land, look for a house you want, and then exchange it with someone who wants your house. It works even if you still owe on your mortgage.
• Where is it offered? GoSwap facilitates housing trades all over the world, although most listings are in the United States.
• Who can use it? Anyone. Trading homes is just another way of selling real estate. The concept is especially beneficial to someone who is moving to a different location and simply wants a similar place to live in. Exchanging properties is also an alternative way for investors or second homeowners to move assets to different locations, thereby spreading and reducing the risk.
• Cost to join? Registration is free. GoSwap’s self-serve basic listing plans are free; prepaid standard listing plans start at $20 for a two-month listing and $60 for a one-year listing. Bank and real estate broker processing fees are the same as one would incur when buying and selling a property because a real estate exchange is simply selling one property and buying another. GoSwap does not charge any commission for exchanging real estate.
• What about safety? As with a traditional home sale, members are encouraged to use a real estate lawyer to handle the transactions. There is little that can go wrong under normal circumstances — assuming both parties are qualified, both properties are appraised at approximately the value of the contract price, and there is an escape clause in the contract stating that each party is relieved in the case that one party isn’t able to go through with the trade for some reason.
BestHouseSwap.com — Post your property on their bulletin board. Include a detailed description of your house and a description of a property that you would consider trading for. Find a match among the houses offered on the site, and organize a simultaneous sale in which no money changes hands.
• Where is it offered? This website currently only accepts properties in the US, Canada, and Mexico.
• Who can use it? Anyone who owns a property.
• Cost to join? There is no cost to browse or list properties.
• What about safety? As with other services listed in this section, it’s recommended that you employ a real estate agent or legal professional when swapping houses. The process is very similar to selling a home on the traditional market, except that no money changes hands.
DomuSwap.com — Billed as the Internet’s first social network for permanent house swapping. Through this forum, wanna-be home swappers can post their properties, communicate safely with other owners, and access other house-swapping sites.
• Where is it offered? Internationally, although most listings are in the US.
• Who can use it? Anyone who owns property of value, including RVs, vacation homes, and boats.
• Cost to join? None.
• What about safety? Think of DomuSwap as the Craigslist of permanent property swapping. It’s a use-at-your-own-risk tool, although the community has posted many helpful topics about value assessment and how to start a successful swap.
EasyHouseExchange.com — This website makes it easy to enter your property or properties, swap with a straight exchange, swap and agree on the difference or swap to rent with another site member and move on. Temporary swaps also welcome.
• Where is it offered? Currently active in 19 countries, including the United States and Virgin Islands, most of Europe, and Australia.
• Who can use it? Property owners, developers, and investors are all welcome.
• Cost to join? Private property owners are invited to join at no charge, and professionals are encouraged to contact the company directly to discuss rates.
• What about safety? The site’s founders advise that swapping your property is a legal transaction just like selling it, so it is vital that both parties take proper legal advice before conducting a swap.
Cohousing/Coliving
If you love the idea of shared housing and want to take full advantage of its economical and sustainable benefits, cohousing or coliving might be concepts to consider.
In cohousing communities (which aren’t communes, like some people think) people live in separate quarters but share common areas, as well as decision-making and maintenance tasks. Social activities are an integral part of cohousing communities, so neighbors know each other very well, and they often create micro-sharing economies amongst themselves. Decisions about major changes to the community are made democratically, and community members often share the burden of their execution.
Coliving (basically a fancy term for having one or more roommates) is a similar concept that’s expanding beyond the ranks of college students in tough economic times. Professional adults and even senior citizens are experimenting with shared living spaces as a way to save money, meet mutual needs, and conserve resources.
Roommates.com — A national roommate search and connection service that boasts almost 50,000 listings in thousands of cities. Photo profiles, two-way matching, and free messaging services make it fun to use and safer than the classifieds.
• Where is it offered? Only in the United States.
• Who can use it? Anyone who’s looking for someone with whom to share living expenses and property maintenance duties.
• Cost to join? Basic membership is free. As a basic member, you can add a profile, browse your matches and send RoomMail messages. In order to read messages received from other members, you must become a Choice Member. Fees for Choice Membership are as follows: $5.99 for a 3-day trial, $19.99 for 30 days, and $29.99 for 60 days.
• What about safety? The sketchy thing about sharing a living space with someone else is that it’s hard to know what type of a person they really are. Roommates complete member profiles, including full photos, comments, and maps can help you form a more comprehensive picture of your potential coliving partner. Always be sure to ask for references; consider conducting a background check before making a decision.
Roomster.com — Billed as the world’s largest social network for roommates, rooms, apartments, flats, rentals, and sublets, it has over 1.5 million profiles and listings and 4 million active users. Roomster helps match roommates with a compatible personality by offering numerous features, including the ability to search for roommates by age, interest, or location.
• Where is it offered? Roomster serves all of the US, Canada and the United Kingdom.
• Who can use it? Anyone interested in shared living arrangements.
• Cost to join? All of Roomster’s basic features are free; anyone can search for listings, enter a profile, or view profile information for potential roommates. While sending messages to other users is free, responding to them requires an account upgrade, which requires a fee.
• What about safety? The website employs a flagging system whereby users can report suspicious or inappropriate activity. There are multiple resources on the site about how to avoid scams and conflict with new roommates. As always, choose roommates at your own risk.
Craigslist.org — Don’t be fooled by this website’s simple appearance. It’s the world’s largest digital classifieds; its forums are divided into local and regional publications. Craigslist is community moderated; in most cases, it’s free to browse and post listings. Every local Craigslist features a housing category with separate subcategories for sublets, roommates, vacation rentals, and housing swaps. The cool thing about using Craigslist to find a roommate (besides the fact that it’s completely free) is that they’re likely already local and familiar with the same places and culture as you. Or, they may be someone who is new in town who could expose you to an entirely different culture.
Cohousing.org — Cohousing is the leading resource for those who want to learn more about this style of shared living. Now, the site also boasts a digital directory of hundreds of cohousing communities in the United States and Canada. There’s also an interactive map that allows you to search for cohousing arrangements in your own community or somewhere you might be considering as a future home.
Ic.org — The Fellowship for Intentional Communities exists to serve the growing communities movement and provide resources for starting a community, finding a community home, living in community, or creating more community in your life. Among the many valuable resources it offers is a Communities Directory, with listings of hundreds of ecovillage, cohousing, commune, co-op, and other cooperative living arrangements available around the world. The US has the most listings with over 1,700, but there are communities from almost every other country included, from Nepal to Germany.
CoHousingPartners.com — A full service cohousing development firm specializing in the unique needs of cohousing groups. If you are interested in starting your own cohousing community and don’t know where to start, CoHousing Partners is available to support you from initial group formation to looking for property to moving in.
Many view ownership of a personal vehicle as a necessity; many see it as a status symbol. Yet most vehicles spend 22 hours a day completely idle. All the while, we’re shelling out thousands of dollars a year on gas, insurance, and repairs, not to mention the environmental price paid just so we can hop in, crank the A/C, and drive ourselves two miles to the grocery store when we’re feeling peckish. According to the US Nationwide Personal Transportation Survey, 25 percent of all trips are made within a mile of the home, 40 percent of all trips are within two miles of the home, and 50 percent of the working population commutes five miles or less to work. Yet more than 82 percent of trips five miles or less are made by personal motor vehicle. Imagine if, instead of bearing the cost and carbon footprint of car ownership all on your own, you could just pay to have access to a car when you really need it? Shared transportation services make this reality possible.
Car-sharing
Futureofcarsharing.org — Provides flexible transportation options for those in urban and some suburban areas. It’s instant-access to a network of cars 24 hours a day; you pay per trip, without commitment or inconvenience. Like most types of collaborative consumption, car-sharing comes in two main varieties: commercial and peer-to-peer. Commercial car-sharing ventures maintain fleets of vehicles, usually highly efficient models — in some cases hybrids or EVs. The company facilitates booking and payment online. You can rent these vehicles by the hour, so that you don’t pay for a single minute of time the car’s not in use. Insurance and gas are typically included in the price, similar to the way a rental car company would work.
Of course, we don’t need big companies to allow us to share a vehicle. Peer-to-peer car sharing can occur between two neighbors or an entire community. There are even some commercial platforms that exist merely to make it easier to rent out your own car when you’re not using it. In some cases, this process can be quite lucrative for the car owner.
Car-sharing successfully reduces the number of vehicles on the road, which means less traffic and reduced carbon emissions.
Zipcar.com — A membership-based car-sharing company that provides automobile rentals to its members, billable on an hourly or daily basis.
• Where is it offered? To be eligible for a Zipcar membership, you must be 21 years of age (those 18 and up can take advantage of Zipcar’s university programs with certain restrictions), and must have had a valid driver’s license for at least one year. Corporate and family memberships are also available.
• Who can use it? Currently, Zipcars are available in the US, Canada, Spain, and the United Kingdom, although more international expansion is expected.
• Cost to join? Zipcar offers multiple membership types so you can choose the plan that best fits your driving needs. All plans involve an application fee, an annual fee, and hourly driving rates. That may sound like a lot, but they’re all much lower than the traditional rental car alternatives.
• What about safety? A Zipcar membership includes insurance coverage, although that coverage varies depending on the state in which the accident occurs and the age of driver. For both third-party and Zipcar vehicle damage claims, the member may be responsible for a damage fee of up to $750.
Igocars.org — Since its inception in 2002, this non-profit has worked to catalyze a set of transportation innovations that make it feasible and desirable for Chicago residents to get around conveniently and economically without having to own a car and, at the same time, reduce vehicle miles traveled and greenhouse gas emissions.
• Where is it offered? Chicago.
• Who can use it? Anyone who lives in or near the Chicago area. Individual, business, and university memberships are available.
• Cost to join? For individuals, it costs $50 to join, plus a $25 non-refundable application fee. A $25 annual renewal fee is charged one month prior to the one-year anniversary date of your membership. There are a total of four different rate plans available to meet individual and corporate needs.
• What about safety? An I-GO membership includes gas, premium insurance, maintenance, and 24-hour assistance. If you or your organization is found to be at fault in an accident, there may be a $500 charge toward the policy’s deductible.
CityCarShare.org — A local non-profit organization on a mission to improve the environment and quality of life in the Bay Area by promoting innovative mobility options. Founded in 2001, CityCarShare now enjoys tens of thousands of members, hundreds of fuel-efficient cars, and programs that give back (every dime) to local communities.
• Where is it offered? The San Francisco Bay Area.
• Who can use it? City Car Share offers a multitude of membership plans, including plans for individuals and households, businesses and organizations, universities and colleges, low-income members, government, and hospitals.
• Cost to join? Individual and household plans start at $10 per month with a $30 application fee and a $5/hour driving charge.
• What about safety? Membership plans include gas/electricity, maintenance, a $1 million insurance policy and roadside assistance.
Enterprise CarShare — Formerly known as Philly CarShare, this Philadelphia-centric service was acquired by Enterprise and expanded nationwide. The service gives you access to cars by the hour, or overnight, whenever you need them. Once you become a member, choose from a fleet that includes hybrids and electric vehicles, parked in convenient locations in dozens of cities.
• Where is it offered? USA, with most pick-up locations on or near college and university campuses.
• Who can use it? Enterprise CarShare offers membership plans for individuals, businesses, government agencies, and students/faculty of various universities and colleges. It also offers eligibility to those who are 18 and up (see individual location pages for more details).
• Cost to join? Fees vary by location. Most locations charge an application fee (between $20 and $40, and in most cases waived for new applicants, an annual membership fee (between $20 and $40) and then offer hourly, daily and overnight rates. Gas included.
• What about safety? Membership includes fuel, damage/liability protection, parking and maintenance.
UCarShare.com — Run by popular moving rental company, U-Haul, this service operates only on college campuses and is designed specifically for use by students and faculty.
• Where is it offered? At about 40 different college and university campuses across the United States.
• Who can use it? Drivers 18 and older who have been licensed for at least two years (Canadian drivers welcome). Memberships are also available for families and businesses. Certain driving record restrictions apply.
• Cost to join? Application fee of $25.00 Rates start at $4.95/hour and $0.49 per mile. Rates are capped at $8.50 in case you need to drive more miles. Daily rates start at $62.00/day with 180 miles included.
• What about safety? As required by law, state minimum financial responsibility is included with every reservation. You are responsible for the first $500 worth of damage done to a U Car Share vehicle in the event of an accident. Every U Car Share member is afforded a collision damage waiver as part of a valid membership.
Car2go.com — Owned and operated by the Daimler auto company, this car-sharing program is specifically designed with the city dweller in mind. It’s all the A-to-B convenience of a taxicab without the high costs and lack of control. Many electric vehicles included.
• Where is it offered? Car2go started in Ulm, Germany in 2008. Today, Car2go operates in Europe and in cities across the United States, including Austin, San Diego, Portland, Washington, DC, Miami, and Portland; in Canada they operate in Vancouver, Calgary and Toronto.
• Who can use it? Licensed drivers. Both individual and business memberships available.
• Cost to join? All memberships require a one-time registration fee of $35. After that, there is a $0.38/minute fee with hourly and daily caps.
• What about safety? Basic memberships include comprehensive insurance with a deductible of $1,000 per occurrence.
LAXCarShare.com — Members sign up for membership and agree to undergo the DMV screening process required to rent the cars. Upon approval, members receive a key fob that will allow them to easily access LAX Car Share locations whenever they have reserved a car.
• Where is it offered? Vehicles are available throughout LA County, downtown Los Angeles and Koreatown.
• Who can use it? Any individual 21 or older, who has been licensed for at least one year, has no major violations, moving violations and/or DUIs within the last five years.
• Cost to join? Membership is currently $25, and there is no application fee. A monthly access fee of $5/month is applied to all accounts. Hourly/daily driving fees also apply.
• What about safety? Gas, insurance, and maintenance are included in membership fees. Deductibles of up to $1,000 apply, although members can reduce their potential deductible by taking a driving test.
TimeCar.com — A membership-based car-sharing service that provides 24/7 access to vehicles on an hourly and daily basis. Members reserve a car on the Web or over an automated phone system. You unlock the car with a smartcard (a swiping device), drive where you want, and return the vehicle to its designated parking spot.
• Where is it offered? Cars are located across Oklahoma and Texas.
• Who can use it? Individuals who are at least 18 years old and able to legally drive in Oklahoma. Driving record restrictions apply.
• Cost to join? TimeCar offers a variety of plans, all of which include a $25 application fee and hourly/daily driving rates. Some value plans also include monthly fees.
• What about safety? All TimeCar plans include gas, insurance, 24/7 roadside assistance, and 24-hour member care services. Damage fees may apply if there’s an accident.
CarShare.org — This regional non-profit provides access to a network of energy-efficient vehicles, allowing members to pay per trip without the commitment of owning a car. Vehicles are conveniently stationed, often near transit and bicycle facilities and are accessible to members with valid reservations 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
• Where is it offered? eGo CarShare serves the Denver-Boulder metro area in Colorado.
• Who can use it? Individuals with two years licensed driving experience. If you are between 18–21 years old you must have a clean driving record. Business and university plans are also available.
• Cost to join? There are several individual plans available, all of which require a one-time $25 application fee. Daily and hourly rates apply, but can be reduced by paying a $10 monthly fee.
• What about safety? All eGo vehicles are fully insured and have a $250 deductible. Higher deductibles may sometimes apply if the driver is found to have violated terms of the coverage.
Communauto.com — By becoming a Communauto subscriber, you gain access to a fleet of cars that you can reserve at low cost for a half-hour, an hour, a day, or longer, according to your needs. Unlike other car-sharing services listed here, this company also offers a peer-to-peer car-sharing platform through which auto owners can safely share their own vehicles.
• Where is it offered? Communauto vehicles are available in Montreal, Quebec City, Sherbrooke, and Gattineau/Ottawa, Canada.
• Who can use it? Drivers over 21. Communauto offers membership plans for individuals, families, and businesses. Teen drivers can be included in family plans.
• Cost to join? Membership requires a refundable membership fee of $500. This gives you access to all plans, benefits, and vehicles. The non-member Le Lièvre package starts at $39 a year, and there are several plans in between, depending on your driving habits.
• What about safety? In the case of an accident, your liability is limited to the deductible you select upon signing the contract, i.e., $0, $250 or $500 per accident. Usually, no deductible is billed if you are not at fault for the accident.
P2P Car-sharing
RelayRides.com — RelayRides, launched in June 2010, is the world’s first, and leading, peer-to-peer car-sharing marketplace. RelayRides connects people who need a car with vehicle owners whose rides would otherwise be sitting idle.
• Where is it offered? RelayRides has members and car rentals available in every major city (and some non-major ones) across the US.
• Who can use it? Renters must be 21 years of age, possess a current valid driver’s license, and a mobile phone. If you are under 25, you must demonstrate two years of current satisfactory driving history. Those who wish to rent their vehicle must own a car currently registered in the United States that is model year 1990 or newer and has a fair market value of up to $50,000.
• Cost to join? There is no cost to become a RelayRides member; however, there is a charge for each rental; the rate is decided solely by the owner. There are many cars available for as little as $5/ hour, $25/day, and $125 per week. Keep in mind that since this is P2P car-sharing, renters are responsible for gas.
• What about safety? Liability is a big concern, especially for those who will be lending their vehicles to strangers. RelayRides provides owners with a $1 million insurance policy to protect against all damages, up to the full value of the car. For renters, RelayRides provides up to $300,000 in protection against physical damage and liability. Additionally, the company screens each renter against strict eligibility criteria, and vehicle owners always have the final decision about who gets to rent their car.
Getaround.com — This company provides a peer-to-peer car-sharing marketplace that enables car owners to rent their cars — from Priuses to Teslas — to a community of trusted drivers by the hour, day, or week, using only a smartphone.
• Where is it offered? Currently, Getaround is active in five US cities: San Francisco, Austin, Portland, San Diego and Chicago.
• Who can use it? In order to rent a vehicle through Getaround, you must be at least 19 and have a Facebook account. If you are younger than 21, you must have a clean record. You must also have more than two years of driving experience. Additionally, if you have a US driver’s license, you are required to pass an instant driver record check the first time you rent. If you’d like to list your car on Getaround, it must be 1995 or newer, have less than 150,000 miles, and have an actual cash value of less than $50,000, among other restrictions.
• Cost to join? There are no membership fees to join Getaround. However, there are hourly/daily rates to rent a car, which are set by and paid to the vehicle owner.
• What about safety? Getaround’s $1 million policy provides coverage for liability, collision, and theft for any incidents that occur during the rental. The Getaround insurance policy carries a $500 deductible per incident, for which the renter of the car is responsible.
Modo.coop — Modo is a not-for-profit car-sharing cooperative incorporated in 1997 to foster car-sharing and raise awareness about the benefits of sharing cars over individual ownership. Today it enjoys over 8,000 members and has vehicles at over 200 locations in Metro Vancouver. Members have access to an annual transit pass — encouraging more walking and cycling along the way.
• Where is it offered? Vancouver.
• Who can use it? Modo offers a variety of membership plans for both individuals and businesses.
• Cost to join? The most minimal individual plan requires a $50 annual fee and $20 registration fee with $7.50/hr driving rates.
• What about safety? A Modo membership includes the price of gas, parking, maintenance, cleaning, and up to $5 million in insurance.
AutoShare.com — Toronto’s first (and most popular) car-sharing network. This 100 percent Canadian, locally owned company wants to have a shared vehicle within a five-minute walk of anywhere in the city. AutoShare was launched in 1998 by a group of 16 pioneering members who shared three cars in Riverdale, the Annex and St. Lawrence neighbourhoods. It now boasts more than 12,000 members.
• Where is it offered? Toronto, Canada.
• Who can use it? AutoShare offers memberships for individuals (21 and up), families, and businesses.
• Cost to join? AutoShare’s “Simple Plan” requires a $45 annual fee (waived for the first year) and $10.25/hour. Other rate plans are available based on how much you drive.
• What about safety? Members are covered by $2 million in third-party liability coverage and can pay an extra annual fee so that the deductible is $0. Gas, maintenance, and parking are also included. This is just a small sampling of the car-sharing services, both P2P and B2C that exist throughout North America. For a more complete idea of just how many car-sharing opportunities are in your area, visit Carsharing.net and Carsharing.ca.
Ridesharing
Maybe you’re not looking for a car to help you do errands around town. Maybe you just need a ride to the airport or a way to get home for the holidays, but don’t have the money for a plane ticket. Maybe you’ve got tickets to a great music festival in the next state, but don’t want to waste all that gas driving solo. Ridesharing, also known as carpooling, is an easy way to make use of all the seats in a car. Ridesharing can be done on a very local scale, such as organizing a carpool among coworkers or students at your child’s school, or it can be used to save money on trips of hundreds of miles or more. Regardless of how you use it, ridesharing makes it easier and cheaper to get where you’re going, while reducing the number of cars putting harmful emissions into the atmosphere. Of course, it may mean that you have to take a trip with people you’ve never met before, but that’s why there are vetted ridesharing services to help keep you and your passengers safe.
Zimride.com — A new spin on ridesharing that uses social networks to enable real connections. In seconds, you can set up a profile, see and book a ride in your area, or post a ride of your own. With over 350,000 Zimride profiles, you can view photos and even music and radio preferences to ensure an enjoyable ride.
• Where is it offered? The Zimride platform currently serves San Francisco, Los Angeles, Lake Tahoe, New York, and Washington, DC. However, members have the ability to post a ride going just about anywhere in North America.
• Who can use it? Anyone with a Facebook account and a desire to meet new people while traveling for less. Zimride has also partnered with over 100 large universities, companies, and event companies. Clients include Stanford, Harvard, all 10 University of Californias, Intuit, Facebook, PricewaterhouseCoopers, and LiveNation. It’s possible that your school or company is already a member!
• Cost to join? There is no registration fee for individual riders or drivers. However, corporate or university partners are charged a fee to join the network.
• What about safety? Members’ personal contact information is kept private until a booking has been accepted. When a booking is accepted, passengers are charged but payment is held until 24 hours after the ride is complete. (This also eliminates the awkwardness of asking for payment in the car.) If the ride doesn’t happen or something goes wrong, Zimride support is available. Zimride also strongly encourages users to leave feedback for each other after a ride.
Ridejoy.com — A community-driven marketplace for sharing rides. If you’re going on a trip, you can list extra seat space in your car; if you need to get somewhere, you can find a ride. Friendships included at no extra charge!
• Where is it offered? In the United States. Ridejoy is based in San Francisco, and most of its users reside on the West Coast. However, tens of thousands of real people have used Ridejoy to find rides between 3,832 cities.
• Who can use it? Adult drivers or passengers looking to fill or occupy empty seats for trips of 50 miles or more. In the future, Ridejoy hopes to build out its platform to connect drivers and passengers for short distances and commutes as well. Also, Ridejoy is perfect for transporting things other than people! Members have been known to deliver moving boxes, pets, and other things that need to move more than 50 miles.
• Cost to join? Most rides on Ridejoy involve the driver and passenger sharing the costs of the ride — gas, maintenance, etc. Usually, the driver will set the terms of the rideshare, but everyone should feel comfortable negotiating the terms. Passengers pay the driver in cash before the ride is over.
• What about safety? Ridejoy offers a detailed safety checklist of tips and tricks that will help both drivers and passengers have a positive experience. Users are encouraged to register using their Facebook account to help verify that they are a real person with friends. Reviews and references allow users to make informed decisions about who they share a ride with.
eRideShare.com — Founded in 1999, this simple Web platform puts the power of the Internet to work, connecting commuters or cross-country travelers going the same way. Soon to be available in a mobile app, as well. It boasted over 17,000 users as of 2008.
• Where is it offered? All over the world, including Australia, Canada, Germany, India, Ireland, Israel, Malaysia, Scandinavia, South Africa, United Kingdom, and every state in the United States.
• Who can use it? Anyone (including those who don’t own a car, groups, and companies).
• Cost to join? None. Contributions toward gas etc. are worked out between users.
• What about safety? eRideShare offers anonymous messaging so that users can interact without sharing personal contact information. Community guidelines encourage users to ask for personal references and meet each other in a private place prior to the trip.
Carpooling.co.uk — Carpooling.com wants to make carpooling easy, safe and accessible to all. With just a few clicks, drivers can offer available seats, and passengers can book a ride. People choose who they want to ride with, how much space and comfort they need, where they want to meet, and what they are willing to pay. The service can be accessed from a mobile phone (iPhone, Android), or Facebook. People can also choose to travel by car, train, bus or plane.
• Where is it offered? Carpooling.com connects people in over 40 countries. The website is available in seven languages.
• Who can use it? Individuals, companies, and communities. Register with your email address or through Facebook.
• Cost to join? The basic website features for finding and offering lifts on carpooling.co.uk are completely free. If a driver decides to use Paypal for online payment, there is a small commission charged per booking. Drivers decide what each passenger should contribute, based on Carpooling’s cost calculator.
• What about safety? All members must provide a copy of their passport/drivers license/other official identification that Carpooling uses to verify identity and authenticate an account. All document copies and information is handled extremely carefully. Drivers or passengers who fail to live up to their end of the bargain are put on the “Black List” to warn other users.
Avego.com — This company has developed a mobile app (for iPhone or Android) that enables private cars to become part of the public transport network by providing a marketplace for drivers to offer their unused seats to other people in real time. Avego automatically matches drivers with riders, calculates the maximum fee to be charged to the rider, and offers the ride to both users.
• Where is it offered? Internationally. Avego is used by thousands of individual consumers and private transport operators in 80 countries.
• Who can use it? Anyone with a smartphone.
• Cost to join? Registration is free. Avego automatically charges the passenger a fair and predetermined price for the journey (based on a per-mile default rate). Avego manages the payment to the driver.
• What about safety? Avego comes with many built-in safety features including a mutual rating system for drivers and passengers, the requirement that drivers authenticate riders by entering their auto-generated PIN and GPS logging of all trips.
Amovens.com — Amovens is a free service that makes carpooling fun, cheap and easy, whether you’re looking for traveling companions for your daily commute or for a longer road trip. It’s a great way for drivers to offset the cost of travel, or even make a few bucks on the side.
• Where is it offered? Internationally, including all of the United States and Canada.
• Who can use it? Any adult who wishes to save money on car trips, short or long. Corporate services also offered.
• Cost to join? Free to register. Drivers decide individual passenger fees for each trip.
• What about safety? Amovens has developed several tools to make finding rideshare partners as safe as possible. They keep the vehicle license plate numbers of all drivers on record. Users are able to rate and recommend fellow drivers and passengers, which helps make the Amovens community as transparent and open as possible.
Lyft.me — An on-demand ridesharing service owned and operated by Zimride. Using the Lyft iPhone app, passengers can instantly request a pickup from a safe, friendly driver who arrives within minutes.
• Where is it offered? San Francisco, expanding to new cities in 2013.
• Who can use it? Local community members who own a smartphone and are interested in giving or getting a fun, safe, and affordable ride.
• Cost to join? None. However, rides are provided in exchange for suggested donations. Drivers receive 80% of the amount donated by passengers.
• What about safety? Lyft staff carefully selects pre-vetted, trustworthy drivers from the community who swiftly get passengers to their destinations.
CarpoolWorld.com — Carpoolworld.com is a website that matches commuters or other travelers based on their transportation needs. Users enter their origin (home) and destination (place of work) and the system automatically shows them a list of similar trips from other users. The users contact each other by phone, email, or SMS to make ridesharing arrangements.
• Where is it offered? CarpoolWorld matches trips everywhere on Earth, using the best available geocoding data.
• Who can use it? Individuals, businesses, municipalities, schools, or other institutions.
• Cost to join? CarpoolWorld is free for individuals, while groups must pay monthly or annual fees of $25/month per 1,000 users, or $5,000/year per 100,000 users, whichever is less.
• What about safety? Members are able to view full profiles of riders and drivers before booking. Private messaging available. No one is ever obligated to accept a passenger just because they have been matched. Private groups ensure trips with those you know.
FareShareNYC.com — Fare/Share is a mobile application that helps New Yorkers find cabmates for similar routes. Empty seats are always a waste, even when the car isn’t yours! Fare/Share users will be able to quickly enter their destination, while a server will find nearby riders whose routes converge.
• Where is it offered? New York City.
• Who can use it? Any adult with access to a smartphone.
• Cost to join? None. However, when you have successfully met up with your riders and you’re ready to leave the cab, the app will tell you roughly how much you owe the other rider. At that point, you can either pay with cash, or pay via Paypal and have the payment routed through Fare/Share, which takes a 5 percent “convenience fee,” and guarantees the transfer of the rest to the other rider.
• What about safety? Common sense is key. Never get into a cab with a shady passenger.
Bikes are making a comeback all over the world as people tire of the smog, traffic, and parking difficulties that come along with driving. Many surveys show that most people would like to travel by bike, but they list access to a bike as the major barrier. Not everyone owns or has the place to store their own bike. Still others use public transportation to commute from the suburbs to a bigger city, and then find themselves dependent on walking or taxis to get around during the day.
Sharing makes it easy to use bicycles without the burden of ownership or maintenance. Most bike-sharing programs are designed for short commutes and errands. Users borrow a bike, ride to their destination, and then return the bike to a nearby kiosk. Bike-sharing programs can be executed on a very small scale or can involve city-wide fleets of hundreds of bikes. Some are free, operating more like bike libraries, while others charge hourly or daily rental fees to offset the cost of (often, sophisticated) bike tracking, locking, and booking systems. Some provide safety equipment like helmets, lights and mirrors, but unless required by law, this is usually the responsibility of the individual biker.
Traditional bike-sharing programs in which bikes are lent, either by a company or an individual, for a limited period of time aren’t the only option for accessing affordable bikes or supporting a bike-friendly culture. Bike libraries are highly localized, often volunteer-run endeavors that seek to provide their communities with access to affordable bikes. In addition to lending, selling, and donating bikes, organizations often run informal bike shops where community members can learn to repair and build their own bicycle, get educated about bike laws and safe riding practices, and become involved in promoting bike lanes, cycling awareness, and bike-friendly development in their area. You can find an impressive collection of bike co-ops and lending libraries across the United States and Canada at CommunityCycles.org.
CapitalBikeshare.com — North America’s first regional bike-sharing system. Multiple membership levels make it possible to access more than 1,670 bikes located at over 175 stations. Use the bike for 30 minutes or the entire day, and return it to any station near your final destination.
• Where is it offered? The Capital Bikeshare system spans Washington, DC, Arlington, VA, and Alexandria, VA.
• Who can use it? Anyone with a credit card who wants to bike instead of driving.
• Cost to join? Several membership levels are available, from 24-hour to annual. Single-day memberships start at $7. You can take as many trips as you’d like during your membership period, and the first 30 minutes of each trip are free. After the first 30 minutes, you get charged a fee based on current Capital Bikeshare hourly rates.
BikeNationUSA.com — A bike-share company based in Southern California that’s dedicated to giving everyone access to affordable, safe transportation alternatives.
• Where is it offered? California, specifically the City of Anaheim, Long Beach, Westwood, Hollywood, Venice, and downtown Los Angeles.
• Who can use it? Anyone with a credit card and an email address.
• Cost to join? There are five membership options to choose from: 24-hour, 72-hour, 7-day, 30-day and 1-year, which range from $6 to $75. Trips under 30 minutes are free, and longer trips incur a charge for every additional 30 minutes.
TheHubway.com — A bike-sharing system providing over 100 stations and 1,000 bikes available for trips from 30 minutes to 3 days.
• Where is it offered? Hubway bike stations are located throughout Boston, Brookline, Cambridge, and Somerville, Massachusetts.
• Who can use it? Anyone.
• Cost to join? To ride Hubway bicycles, you must first purchase access to the system. There are three options: Annual Membership ($85), 24-Hour Access Pass ($5), or 3-Day Access Pass ($12). Each access option provides unlimited rides under 30 minutes at no additional cost. Rides that last longer than 30 minutes incur usage fees.
BCycle.com — A bike-sharing program that adapts to any size city, corporation or campus. Thousands of bikes available for short commutes that can be picked up and returned to any kiosk in the area. Integrated data tracking automatically captures information such as your distance traveled, equivalent calories burned, and carbon offset after each ride. It will then upload this data to your personal user profile on BCycle.
• Where is it offered? Over 12 cities across the US.
• Who can use it? Anyone with a credit card.
• Cost to join? The cost to use a BCycle is divided into two components: a membership fee and a usage fee. Different B-cycle systems (cities, campuses, etc.) charge different amounts, and each system’s website provides all the details.
Decobike.com — A Miami-based company that provides and operates world-class public bike-sharing programs to forward-thinking cities and campuses. They offer not only customized bicycles, but also solar-powered automated bike stations.
• Where is it offered? Miami Beach and Surfside, Florida, and Long Beach, New York.
• Who can use it? Experienced and knowledgeable bicycle riders only, ages 18+, who possess a credit card.
• Cost to join? Monthly, unlimited BikePass memberships starting at $15 are available for residents of Decobike cities only. Visitors can access hourly or monthly memberships starting at $4 for 30 minutes.
NiceRideMN.org — A non-profit organization that provides public bike-sharing in the hopes of showing that the benefits of alternative transportation are many and lasting.
• Where is it offered? Nice Ride currently operates 145 stations in Minneapolis and Saint Paul.
• Who can use it? Anyone with a credit card.
• Cost to join? Occasional users can purchase a 24-hour subscription for $6 plus trip fees after the first 30 minutes. Monthly subscriptions are $30, while yearly memberships are $65.
Bixi.com — Bixi Velo is a public bicycle-sharing system developed by the Public Bike System Company (PBSC) (which itself was set up by the parking authority of Montreal) to create a modular bicycle-sharing system for the city. The company has now expanded across North America.
• Where is it offered? Boston, London, Melbourne, Minneapolis, Montreal, Ottawa/Gatineau, Toronto and Washington, DC/ Arlington, as well as at the campuses of Washington State University and Research In Motion.
• Who can use it? You have to be at least 14 years of age and measure at least 1.24 meters (4’1”) in height to use BIXI.
• Cost to join? Like most bike sharing programs, there is a subscription fee plus an hourly usage fee. Memberships range from 24-hour to annual. A credit card is required, and a $250 refundable security deposit is held until the bike is safely returned to a BIXI station.
BikeChattanooga.com — A project of the City of Chattanooga and managed by Outdoor Chattanooga, which is a division of Chattanooga Parks & Recreation. With 300 bikes and 30 docking stations, you can conveniently ride around and about downtown Chattanooga, from the North Shore to the Southside, and the University in the east to the Convention Center in the west.
• Where is it offered? Chattanooga, Tennessee.
• Who can use it? Anyone with a credit card.
• Cost to join? Membership levels vary from 24-hour ($6 plus usage fees) to annual ($75). The first 60 minutes of every ride are free.
P2P Bike Sharing
Velogistics.net — A global platform that allows people to share their cargo bikes with friends, neighbors, and strangers. Built on a straightforward mapping system, the site allows people who want to rent or share their cargo bikes to post photos and short descriptions of their bikes on the Velogistics website. Bikes can be shared for free or rented at a set price.
• Where is it offered? Most of the current listings are in Europe (the company is based in Germany), but it uses the Google maps platform, so bikes can be listed anywhere in the world.
• Who can use it? Anyone with a cargo bike to share.
• Cost to join? None.
Spinlister.com — A marketplace that lets you find the best bikes to rent online, whether from individuals or existing bike rental shops.
• Where is it offered? Spinlister rentals are available across the US with plans to expand to other countries soon. They will accept rental listings from anywhere in the world.
• Who can use it? Anyone, 18 years of age and up.
• Cost to join? Listing your bike is free on Spinlister. When someone rents your bike, a 17.5% service fee is deducted from the rental price. The average rental price on Spinlister is $20 a day.
• What about safety? If your bike is damaged or stolen during a rental period and the renter is unable to reimburse you for the fair value of your bike, Spinlister will cover the cost up to $5,000.
Sharing food doesn’t only mean giving and receiving food stuffs from other people, although that is certainly the most obvious method. When it comes to food, sharing can happen at many different stages of the process, from growing all the way to consumption. Sharing food means distributing the cost and work that it takes to produce, transport, and prepare it. It means investing time and money into foodstuffs produced locally, instead of thousands of miles away, and therefore sharing in both the economic and environmental benefits of a hyper-local diet. Seed swaps and libraries, community gardens, food cooperatives, Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) programs, potlucks, stranger dinners, yard sharing, and co-lunching are all ways food can be used to reconnect with and build community.
Yardsharing
Yardsharing is an arrangement between people to share skills and gardening resources, like space, time, strength, tools, or skills, in order to grow food as locally as possible. People who have yards make them available to people who have the time, energy, and expertise to grow food. Everyone shares in the harvest. Yardsharing makes particularly good sense in urban areas where land suitable for cultivating is at a premium. Yardsharing is also a great way for businesses and organizations to encourage community involvement and positive productivity in their area.
HyperLocavore.com — An online social network that facilitates peer-to-peer agriculture. Hyperlocavore helps people form yardsharing groups with like-minded people, neighbors, friends, restaurants, or faith communities. Members share gardens, seeds, tools, yard space and good times while growing delicious food.
• Where is it offered? Currently, HyperLocavore hosts member groups across the US and Canada, but anyone around the world is welcome to start a group.
• Who can use it? Anyone who wants to participate in growing local food.
• Cost to join? None.
SharingBackyards.com — An online platform that encourages urban gardening by connecting those who have the space to garden with those who would like to garden but don’t have the yard space.
• Where is it offered? Internationally, with most listings in Canada, the United States, and New Zealand.
• Who can use it? Anyone with yard space they’d like to turn into a garden — or time, energy, or other resources to contribute to the cultivation of a shared garden in their area.
• Cost to join? None.
Landshare.net — An online community that brings together people who have a passion for homegrown food, connecting those who have land to share with those who need land for cultivating food. Since its launch in 2009, it has grown into a thriving community of more than 70,000 growers, sharers, and helpers.
• Where is it offered? The United Kingdom.
• Who can use it? Those who have land available for gardening or those who want to garden but don’t have the land. Alternatively, you can get involved with Landshare as a helper, offering advice, for example, or helping with the digging. Groups, organizations, and communities are welcome as well. The website offers handy agreements that can be used to avoid confusion and conflict between yard sharers.
• Cost to join? None.
MyCityGardens.com — An interactive website that links landholders with little time or interest in working their outdoor spaces with neighbors who want to roll up their sleeves and start planting.
• Where is it offered? The Boston area, including Cambridge, Brookline, Somerville, Dorchester, Jamaica Plain, and Medford.
• Who can use it? Landowners and those who are looking for land on which to create a shared garden.
• Cost to join? None.
GrowFriend.org — A hybrid community gardening and social networking site with the goal of bringing people together to create gardens by focusing on building the relationships that will support robust gardens. GrowFriend has a lot of helpful resources for those with questions about garden sharing, including a downloadable garden sharing agreement and a list of topics to discuss before starting your eco-neighborly venture.
• Where is it offered? Anywhere, although most listings are in the United States.
• Who can use it? Anyone with land, time, or resources to share in the pursuit of building a community garden.
• Cost to join? None. GrowFriend is a free public service of Windowbox.com.
BackyardBarter.org — An online community where neighbors barter skills, tools and homegrown/homemade food. The website allows individuals to learn from each other, list what they have to share, and arrange bartering relationships with their neighbors. Monthly events (usually, with food involved!) facilitate learning and sharing among members.
• Where is it offered? Seattle.
• Who can use it? Anyone who has food, skills, or tools to share with other local food producers.
• Cost to join? None.
If you like the idea of eating locally grown food but don’t have a yard and don’t want to get your hands dirty, consider joining a CSA or purchasing your food from a farmer’s market. Doing so helps support local farmers and food artisans, and generates money for the local economy. LocalHarvest.org maintains a massive directory that can help you find farmers markets, CSAs, and other sources of sustainably grown food in your area.
Meal-sharing services make it easy to share the produce of your garden, a meal, or recipes with those in your community. Maybe your garden delivered a bumper crop of zucchini this year, or maybe you’re new to the area and would really love to meet new friends over a delicious meal. The following services and networks are great ways to expand your social network, as well as your cooking knowledge, all while enjoying scrumptious food with delightful people.
Grubwithus.com — A social dining network that’s perfect for people who are new in town or those that want to expand their social or culinary horizons. Operating very much like an online dinner party, you simply browse the site for a meal you’d like to attend at a local restaurant, and then reserve your seat.
• Where is it offered? International. Most groups are currently located in the United States, Canada, and the UK.
• Who can use it? Any adult interested in eating good food and meeting new people.
• Cost to join? Sign-up is free using Facebook or an email address. Once you find a meal that whets your appetite, grab a seat and pay an all-inclusive price (including food, tax, and gratuity). Then, just show up and mingle! You can also create your own meal (helpful, if you live in a city where Grubwithus has not officially launched yet) that takes place in any location.
MealShare.org — A free website geared around making it ridiculously easy for existing groups of friends (called “MealShare circles”) to eat together.
• Where is it offered? Anywhere.
• Who can use it? A MealShare circle can take on a variety of shapes and sizes depending on whether the network consists of members of a church or local club, neighbors, or perhaps friends and families. Invitations to join a circle can only come from members of the circle. MealShare is about tapping into your existing circles of friends.
• Cost to join? None.
EatWithMe.net — A social networking site where you can plan cool food events, post them online, and invite other foodies to join in. It’s a creative space for fashioning your own pop-up kitchen, cooking class, or restaurant adventure.
• Where is it offered? Internationally.
• Who can use it? Anyone over the age of 18.
• Cost to join? None. However, some EatWithMe event hosts may ask for a donation to cover the costs of the meal. Such information will be displayed on the event profile.
EatFeastly.com — An online marketplace connecting passionate cooks with hungry eaters to offer homemade meals prepared and served in a cook’s home.
• Where is it offered? Washington, DC, and New York City.
• Who can use it? Anyone who loves to cook or eat good food. Feastly is still in private Beta. To join, just request an invitation. Once you join, you will start to receive access to meals in your city.
• Cost to join? None. However, chefs/hosts determine the price for each meal to cover the cost of ingredients and their time.
MamaBake.com — A movement of big-batch baking mothers. Mothers come together regularly in their local neighborhoods and cook one big batch meal each. At the end of the session, the big-batch meal is divided up amongst the cooks, who then go home with a range of freshly cooked meals for the week.
• Where is it offered? There are over 100 MamaBake communities spread all over the world.
• Who can use it? Any mother who loves time off from making dinner every night, deep friendships that last, a sense of kinship and community, and a place to share kitchen wisdom and recipes.
• Cost to join? None.
NeighborhoodFruit.com — An online service and mobile app that helps people find and share the fruits, nuts, and vegetables growing within their communities. The site features interactive maps of backyard bounty and abundance growing on public land.
• Where is it offered? Neighborhood Fruit currently operates only in the United States.
• Who can use it? Anyone interested in making use of the abundant fruit growing in urban neighborhoods.
• Cost to join? None.
Foodshare.co.uk — A national not-for-profit, 100% volunteer-powered charity that connects growers with local charities. Why should surplus harvest go to waste when there are so many people in need of healthy, local food?
• Where is it offered? Based in the UK, but available worldwide.
• Who can use it? Food growers, schools, and charitable organizations.
• Cost to join? None.
COlunching.com — Forget eating lunch by yourself in a lonely break room. What if there were a way to share meals with new and exciting people every day? COlunching makes it possible to share meals and good conversation with others. And don’t be fooled by the name, any meal, including cocktail hours or brunch, is up for grabs.
• Where is it offered? Internationally.
• Who can use it? Anyone who likes meeting new people while sharing a meal.
• Cost to join? COlunches take place in restaurants; you only pay for your share of the meal. There is no fee to participate in a COlunch.
Sharing space is a beautiful example of how we can enrich the community and reduce our collective impact on the environment without swapping a single thing.
Studies have shown that proximity, that is, literally how close we are to one another, is proportional to our productivity, satisfaction, profitability, and even the likelihood that we will collaborate with one another. The problem is that traditional work spaces are designed to keep us separate. Think about the stereotypical corner office, the hierarchical corporate office building, or the cubical mazes in which many of us have worked. It’s all segregated, with walls and doors meant to keep out distractions (and indicate standing). We’re conditioned to believe that this is how it has to be in order to be taken seriously as a business or to make it as a professional, but the sharing economy disrupts all these assumptions.
Space can be shared in all manner of different ways, from entire buildings to a single room or even just a couch. Most entrepreneurs or organizations can’t afford to buy or lease the space that they need, but coworking can provide an alternative. Solo entrepreneurs and freelancers can utilize coworking spaces not only to have a more professional space in which to work and meet with clients, but also to connect and collaborate with their peers in a hyper-local manner.
Organizations and community groups need places to meet, educate, and plan, but often have extremely limited budgets. Libraries, churches, and large businesses often have empty rooms that they’d love to see used or rented.
Startups, hobbyists, amateur chefs, artists, and hackers need places to dream, brainstorm, tinker, create, and make messes. Garages and basements can only serve that need for so long, but not every weekend warrior has the means to secure the space or equipment needed to test their ideas in a larger pool. Hackerspaces, makerspaces, shared studios, and communal kitchens can provide the launch pad where ideas can begin to take shape. An idea should never wither and die for lack of a big enough plot of land in which to grow. The shared space resources listed below can be greenhouses for entrepreneurship, knowledge, and community.
Coworking is a term used to describe a flexible and community-oriented workspace that welcomes business travelers, independent workers, and entrepreneurs of all shapes and sizes. Since 2005, coworking has become a global movement, made up of thousands of different groups, spaces, people, and communities in hundreds of countries.
Sometimes coworkers gather informally in homes or public spaces as part of a jelly (a casual work event that can take place in a person’s home, a coffee shop, or an office) while most of the time they purchase (or barter for) memberships in dedicated spaces. Coworking spaces range from the massive to the very small, from franchises to member-owned cooperatives. They are located in large cities and rural towns. Some cater to a specific type of person or business, while others welcome any independent professional looking to escape the coffee shop. You can even cowork when you’re far from home. The international Coworking Visa program is a way for those who are a member of a participating coworking space to work temporarily in any coworking space around the world without additional charge.
Use wiki.coworking.com, Liquidspace.com, DesksNear.Me, Co Loco.com, OpenDesks.com, DeskSurfing.net, or DeskWanted.com to find a friendly place to work no matter where in the world you live or may be traveling. Likewise, if you have space to share you can list your amenities and prices on these sites as well. For more information about nearly every aspect of the coworking industry, from how to start a space to the impact it’s having on employment, please see the resources listed at Coworking.com or check out the annual “Global Coworking Survey” published by Deskmag.com.
Hacker- and Makerspaces
Love tinkering with new technologies, taking things apart, or working on the next revolutionary invention? Hacker- and makerspaces are community operated physical spaces where people with common interests — often in computers, technology, science, digital art or electronic art — can meet, access shared equipment, socialize, and/or collaborate on projects.
Hackerspaces.org is a rich resource with information about nearly every aspect of this rising global community, including a comprehensive, user-maintained list of all active hackerspaces throughout the world. Perhaps your particular interests don’t skew technical. Makerspaces are similar spaces available for those with a wide variety of talents and interests. A growing directory of makerspaces is maintained by Makerspace.com. There is also an extensive listing of hacker and makerspace groups around the world on Meetup.com.
Miscellaneous Space-sharing Opportunities
Some more examples of creative space sharing, just to give you an idea of what’s possible.
laCocinasf.org — Commercial kitchen space, industry-specific technical assistance and access to market and capital opportunities for low-income, mostly female food entrepreneurs in the San Francisco area. ChefsKitchens.com in Los Angeles, KitchenCru.biz in Oregon, CropCircleKitchen.org in Boston, and CookingSpace.com.au in Australia are all similar concepts meant to support the endeavors of food entrepreneurs. Check out the hundreds of shared space food incubators listed at CulinaryIncubator.com.
ShareMyStorage.com — A social marketplace that brings together those who have spare space and those who need spare space for storage. StorPod.com provides similar services.
ChezJJ.com — A community of kindred spirits who believe in paying it forward by helping each other with advice, introductions, and opportunities (e.g., internships, jobs, funding). Chez JJ’s three locations in California act as hostels and coworking spaces for hackers, scientists, entrepreneurs, and future digital innovators.
WrenchSF.com — A cooperative motorcycle and scooter garage in San Francisco where members can work on their two-wheeled machines. The shop has basic tools and equipment, power, security, and storage.
ShareYourOffice.com — An international service for professionals looking to share their office space. ShareYourOffice matches small teams and startups that are expanding with larger companies with extra office space available.
Most of us work hard for the money we have, whether it be a little or a lot. The idea of sharing money doesn’t come naturally to us, and some are downright against it. After all, why should you share your liquid assets with someone who didn’t help you earn it? Contrary to popular belief, sharing money doesn’t mean giving it away for nothing. Instead, as with all the other things we’ve discussed sharing, it means distributing it among a community so that mutual benefits can be obtained. Yes, in some cases it means making a donation to a worthy organization or cause without getting anything back. But the rise of the sharing economy has created lots of diverse ways to use even just $5 extra to make a big difference in the world, and possibly change someone’s life forever.
Crowdfunding
Crowdfunding platforms have dramatically changed the way individuals and entrepreneurs gather funding in the early phases of a project. In the past, recording a demo, making a documentary, creating a prototype gadget or taking a research trip required money from banks or other wealthy beneficiaries, if they would even take the time to meet with you. Having a promising idea wasn’t enough, however, you also had to have a business plan, collateral, and in some cases, sign away partial ownership to your investors. And that’s if you’re lucky enough to be granted the loan, which is less likely now than ever. According to Forbes, in 2012 the total number of loans and money distributed in the United States via the Small Business Administration has dropped as much as 20 percent! Also, nearly 98 percent of the business plans received by accredited investors and VCs are rejected. Think of how many potentially revolutionary ideas have been abandoned because an unproven entrepreneur simply couldn’t get funded. Now, crowdfunding services like Kickstarter and Fundable have made it possible to “pass the hat” on a global scale, tapping into social networks and sympathetic communities who are willing to pitch in a few dollars to help bring a good idea to fruition. Through these online platforms, entrepreneurs and artists alike can find the funds they need to continue their work without debt or lack of control over the finished product.
Kickstarter.com — A crowdfunding site powered by a unique all-or-nothing funding method where projects must be fully funded or no money changes hands.
Indiegogo.com — A crowdfunding platform where people who want to raise money can create fundraising campaigns to tell their story and get the word out.
StartSomeGood.com — Connects social entrepreneurs, change-makers and non-profits with people who want to contribute knowledge, facilities, or capital.
LuckyAnt.com — Lucky Ant helps local businesses get funds to grow by turning to you, their customers, for help.
CommunityFunded.com — Focused on finding and spotlighting projects in the community that might otherwise be swept under the carpet.
Small Knot.com — A way for you to fund independent businesses in your neighborhood looking to expand, grow or open up shop.
Petridish.org — Crowdfund exciting new science projects and research.
Pozible.com — A crowdfunding platform and community-building tool for creative projects and ideas.
Crowdcube.com — A new way to fund startups and business expansion by crowdfunding for equity, giving entrepreneurs a platform to connect with ordinary people and raise venture capital.
WhenYouWish.com — A new form of investment where ordinary people — instead of entrenched capital — have the opportunity to invest in the ideas and causes that will propel tomorrow.
GoFundMe.com — A do-it-yourself online fundraising service that has helped thousands of people raise millions of dollars in online donations for the fundraising ideas that matter to them most.
Fundable.org — A funding platform for startups that provides entrepreneurs with the tools they need to showcase their deal to potential customers and accredited investors.
Crowdfunder.com — A social network and business crowdfunding platform for entrepreneurs and investors to connect, crowdfund and grow.
Watsi.org — An online peer-to-peer crowdfunding platform that allows users to fund life-changing medical treatments for underserved people in developing countries.
Peerbackers.com — An online funding platform that allows business owners to raise capital from their peers in exchange for tangible rewards to those who contribute.
Rockethub.com — A grassroots crowdfunding community for “creatives and fuelers.”
Microlending
Also known as microfinance or peer-to-peer lending, microlending describes the extension of small loans to borrowers who typically lack collateral, steady employment or a verifiable credit history. Business loans, often under $1,000, are the most common type of financial service offered by microfinance institutions.
Microfinance, while purely an investment vehicle, is also a compassionate venture, often used to support entrepreneurship and alleviate poverty. Although many microlending services are aimed at the developing world, some acknowledge that there are plenty of people in wealthy nations who could use a boost as well. In most of these microlending schemes, the lender has the opportunity to browse through a number of different projects looking for funding. Whether it’s $5,000 for a new car, or $300 for a rural farmer to buy new chickens, the parties agree to the amount of payments, payment scheduling, and sometimes an interest rate. Rates are guaranteed to be more competitive than those available from traditional financial institutions, and instead of funding the bonus of another corporate CEO, the interest earned (if any) goes right back into the pocket of a regular individual.
UK.Zopa.com — Where people get together to lend and borrow money directly with each other, sidestepping the banks for a better deal.
Prosper.com — A peer-to-peer lending site that allows people to invest in each other in a way that is financially and socially rewarding.
Kiva.org — A non-profit organization with a mission to connect people through lending to alleviate poverty. Leveraging the Internet and a worldwide network of microfinance institutions, Kiva lets individuals lend as little as $25 to help create opportunity around the world.
LendingClub.com — An online financial community that brings together creditworthy borrowers and savvy investors so that both can benefit financially.
Zidisha.org — The only international peer-to-peer lending service that allows lenders to interact with borrowers directly, without intermediaries.
Zafèn.org — A funding source for growing Haitian businesses and social projects that do not qualify for traditional bank loans and otherwise would not have access to capital.
Milaap.org — The only online microlending platform that enables non-Indians and non-resident Indians (NRIs) to make a loan to India.
Vittana.org — A microlending platform that facilitates low-interest student loans for those seeking higher education without a lifelong burden of debt.
Although we often envision private individuals when we talk about peer-to-peer bike rentals or swapping, corporate entities aren’t excluded from the sharing economy. Even if you run or work for a traditional company, with cubicles and 401ks, collaborative consumption can still be used to increase efficiency, profitability, and most importantly, strengthen strategic relationships with both customers and competitors. Collaboration and diversity make solo entrepreneurs and small businesses stronger, but they aren’t the only ones who can benefit from a free exchange of ideas and resources. “The way we work is changing dramatically,” writes James P. Ware in The Future of Business Collaboration. “The workforce has become far more mobile. And new technologies have made it both easier and much cheaper to connect with friends, family, and business colleagues on a global basis … At the same time, those interactions have become far more critical to organizational success. Collaboration — getting work done with other people — is increasingly seen as the key to success.”
Dog-eat-dog competition, the idea that every detail about a company must be kept under lock and key, lest someone else be inspired by or improve upon them, is dying. And not a moment too soon. Rather than a hierarchy, the business world is slowly becoming more like a spectrum, a plateau, a sandbox. Playing together nicely means the generation of more high-quality ideas, and putting them in the hands of consumers who want them even faster. An openness to B2B sharing also means throwing off the limitations of financing — knowledge, physical assets, space, and experience all become currencies with which companies can trade before (and even long after) they’re in the black.
FLOOW2.com — An online marketplace that facilitates the sharing/renting of personnel and equipment between companies.
BizX.com — Members of the B2B exchange network called BizXChange use the BizX dollar as an additional form of currency, providing companies a strategy to increase sales and save cash.
GreenAmericaExchange.org — A unique online marketplace where members can make trades using a complementary currency instead of cash. By turning unsold goods, unbooked appointments and under-utilized space into transferable digital “Trade Dollars,” the exchange combines the benefits of direct barter with the flexibility of money.
e-Xmerce (thinkbarter.com) — A leading provider of barter exchange services for Western Canadian businesses, eXmerce identifies trade needs, efficiently matches buyers with suppliers, and consistently ensures a robust and growth-oriented barter exchange environment.
U-Exchange.com — A swap site that specializes in every type of trade. No barter currencies or commissions taken on trades. Contact, post and swap with other members (allows businesses to register.).
Barter Business Unlimited (bbubarter.com) — A membership lets you barter for products direct from other businesses, as well as obtaining media advertising, travel and entertainment services, healthcare, fitness opportunities and more, all without exchanging cash.
MaestroMarket.com — A unique and first-of-its-kind platform that connects people with their ideal experts, or even their heroes. Apply to be an expert or use it to get valuable business advice.