iRent2u Blog

“What We Rent – Cars”

This is our third installment in our “What We Rent” series, and today’s topic is cars and automobiles. Of course vehicles are nothing new to rent, and most people have rented previously for a variety of reasons. Often people rent vehicles when they fly somewhere and need a way to get around. Other times they’re making a long driving trip and don’t want to put the extra miles on their car. Some people will rent a bigger car for when family is visiting, or if they need to move something large that their present vehicle won’t handle. Finally, some people will rent luxury cars for a special occasion, like a wedding or an anniversary.

Whatever the reason you want to rent a vehicle, rest assured you can find one on iRent2u.

How to Rent with iRent2u
The first place to go the next time you need a vehicle rental is iRent2u. Here is the direct link. http://irent2u.com/Browse/cat/4/Cars-Trucks This takes you to the Cars & Trucks rental category. You will see a number of different options, including any vehicles that private owners in your area are offering for rent. One of the first options you will see is the “Worldwide Car Rental Service” http://irent2u.com/Item/view/206890/Worldwide-Car-Rental-Service. This is a booking engine that allows you to rent a car from one of 22 major car rental companies. That includes such big names as Enterprise, Hertz, and Alamo, plus some smaller ones that aren’t as widely known where you can find some real savings! These cars are all in great condition, with many of them less than one year old. Click on “Rent it Now”, enter the details of your request, and compare the different options. You will be impressed with the prices. I have quite often found better prices here than on Expedia!

Why iRent2u for Cars
The first thing you may notice after performing a search for a vehicle in your area is the added benefit of being able to choose between professional car rental companies, and private citizens. Rental companies have good cars, but it is hard to compete with the prices that you will find from private citizens. Additionally, in busy vacation or holiday seasons the big rental companies will either sell out or jack up their rates considerably. Avoid their price gouging maneuvers by renting from the guy down the street who is happy to get the extra money for Christmas.

Rent Your Car To Others
Do you have an extra vehicle that you hardly use? Put it online and start getting something back out of it. Instead of it just sitting there and rusting, let someone use it by renting it to them. You make a bit of money, your vehicle stops gathering dust for at least a couple of days, and you save someone else money at the same time. It’s a virtual Karma jackpot!

Popularity: 8% [?]

What We Rent – Party Supplies

This is our second installment in our “What We Rent” series. Considering what time of year it is, it is very appropriate. New listings continue to pour in to iRent2u. It is great to see so much happening so quickly – and look for even more soon. It looks like we may be adding construction equipment, those big inflatable jumpers that kids love so much, and other great stuff such as pinball machines and antique jukeboxes. Who ever knew there was so much cool stuff to rent?

Party Supplies
Today’s topic is party supplies, something that you see a lot of over the holidays. Party Supplies is a pretty broad category, and includes some of the most commonly rented items in the country. You’ll find everything from tables and chairs, to disco balls and lighting equipment, to dunk tanks! Apparently, people all around the US like to party, and when they do they like to do it in style.

Throwing parties is fun, but can require a lot of equipment to do it right. There sure is no reason to go out and buy 20 tables and 100 chairs - when renting is so easy. Most of the party rental companies will deliver everything to your location, and even set it up for you. If you can think of it, there is a company that will rent it to you. Plan on having a lot of people and don’t want them all walking through your house to use the bathroom? Rent out portable toilets! Planning a party in the winter and don’t want to get all your guests sick from the cold? Rent out some propane heaters! Want to make the party a real treat? Get costumes and party props - to fit any theme. You can have an Egyptian party right where you live - and think of how much money you just saved on plane tickets!

Wedding Supplies
For those of you in the Inland Empire, we already have over 1,300 items in our “Events & Parties” category, with much more on the way. You can rent plates, glasses & tableware. You can find barbecues, generators, and all sorts of lighting equipment. Planning a winter wedding? Make sure to get one or two of the nice tents or canopies in case the weather isn’t perfect. Our providers will not only take care of the equipment rentals, but they also provide access to all sorts of services to make the occasion easier and more successful.

Party Planning
Planning a big event can be quite challenging, so when you look through the inventory don’t get overloaded. Probably you don’t really know what you need, but there is help! Submit a request to one of the rental providers and they will get back to you and help you through it. Often times working with a professional will give you a lot of ideas and save you money at the same time, as they will assist you with planning your event.

Have Something to Rent Out?
While we already have a large number of items, there is a lot more that we are looking for. Do you have some neat things that you think others would enjoy having at a party? List them on the site, you could really make someone’s day! I know I plan on listing my karaoke machine – but then again maybe that is just my way of trying to get it out of the house so no one makes me sing. =^)

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Popularity: 11% [?]

What We Rent – Audiobooks

iRent2u has now launched and is in full swing. We have successfully added a very large inventory, and new items keep pouring in every day. We hope that very soon you will come to rely on iRent2u as your single source for all rentals, and list your own items as well. Remember, by helping others you help yourself – as they save money by renting you earn money – a win win situation!

Today we begin a series we are calling “What We Rent”. This will be an ongoing series where we highlight items listed on our site, which ones are new, and which situations rentals are the best solution.

Our first category we will cover is “Audiobooks”. One reason we are covering them first is that we have a lot of audiobooks to choose from. Presently we are hosting an inventory of over 9,000 different titles. Audiobooks are great for people who commute, people who exercise with a personal listening device like and iPod, and for people who are vision impaired but still love the joy of a good book.

I personally love audiobooks, and have listened to many. This is originally because I commuted for two to four hours a day for the last couple of years. After a couple of weeks I got bored listening to the radio and knew I had to find something different. My father who has had a long commute for almost 20 years recommended that I try listening to audiobooks. He gave me a few of his, and I immediately fell in love with the concept. Now instead of dreading the long commute to and from school, I actually looked forward to it! Sometimes I even found myself sitting in the car after I had arrived at my destination waiting anxiously to hear some conclusion or pivotal point in the story.

After a while I discovered that there is much more to audiobooks than just exciting stories. Think of all the incredible non-fiction books there are in the world, that hold incredibly valuable knowledge on anything from how to succeed in work to how to be happy in life. I found days where I learned more in my commute back and forth to school than I did in the classroom!

Beyond the commute I found audiobooks to make exercising more enjoyable. Instead of focusing on the treadmill, I could become engrossed in some story or concept. The time would fly by and before I knew it my exercise was over. And when my grandparents began to lose their vision, they turned to audiobooks so that they could continue to enjoy reading. This has been a great solution for everyone!

There is one problem with audiobooks though, once you listen to them you don’t have much need to listen to them again. That is why my father was able to send me two boxes full of audiobooks, with over 50 titles. Obviously he was spending a lot of money to buy these books, yet listen to them only once. That sounds like a perfect situation for iRent2u, and now we are happy to help audiobook lovers all over the US.

Do you have audiobooks that you have already listened to?
If so, great! List them on our site and let others borrow them – share the joy of a good book and recover some of your investment. My father has already listed 5 of his books and is ready to list a bunch more.
Click here to list your items on a site, and make a free account if you haven’t already.

Do you want to find and listen to good audiobooks?
Well you are in the right place then also! We have thousands of books to choose from, with new listings coming every day. Try either renting individual books one at a time. Or sign up with one of the services listed and get a subscription – keeping the books coming on a regular basis.
Click here to browse our thousands of audiobooks that are available right now!

Do you know someone with a long commute, who likes to exercise, or is vision impaired?
If so, consider giving them this Christmas a subscription to a service like Jiggerbug – one of our premier partners – so that they can share in the joy of audiobooks for a long time.
Click here to learn more about JiggerBug, see or leave a user review, or see which titles they list

Either way iRent2u is the place for audiobooks.

Know of other ways that audiobooks are better than regular books?
If so, click “comment” and let us hear about it. We are always interested to hear good ideas from our readers.

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Popularity: 13% [?]

Expert Opinion – Pete Krainik
CMO of QD Technology
Chairman of the CMO Club

We were really lucky to have someone with such considerable experience in the marketing and sales industry take the next look at our site. Pete Krainik, current CMO & CSO (Chief Marketing & Chief Sales Officer) for QD Technology, has been in technology, marketing & sales for over 25 years, and definitely knows what he is talking about.

As you will soon learn from the number of impressive titles Pete has held, he is an industry veteran. As early as 1999 he was the VP of Sales for Mars, moving quickly to Chief Business Officer. From there he moved to up to the role of General Manager for i2 Technologies, and it just kept getting better. Next he was the Executive Vice President and GM of Siebel Systems, the CMO of Doubleclick, and then the Global VP of Marketing for Avaya. You may remember DoubleClick, they just were acquired by Google for over $3 Billion! Wow, we are sure that is all due to Pete’s influence. =^)

On top of all this, he has now started an organization of CMO’s from across the country, which has experienced over 300% growth in the last six months. If you are a CMO and you want to finally connect with a group of your peers in a setting where no one is trying to sell to you, check out the CMO Club (www.theCMOClub.Blogspot.com).

We have just have one question for you Pete, is there anything you can’t do? =^)

Here is a summary of Pete’s response to iRent2u.com:

“My first impressions of the site were that it has a simple and clean look. Overall it is very good. I liked the ease of registration, which has a great look and feel with reminders to complete the different components of the registration. In fact, I don’t see anything that stands out as needing improvement.”

Thanks Pete, coming from you that means a lot!

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Popularity: 8% [?]

iRent2u on SoCalTech (www.SoCalTech.com)

http://www.socaltech.com/irent_u_takes_on_online_rentals/s-0012333.html>

Today iRent2u got featured on SoCalTech news, Southern California’s single most accurate and current source for all information regarding to technology and startup companies. Here is the text from the story.

Friday, November 16, 2007
iRent2u Takes On Online Rentals

Los Angeles-based iRent2u, a small startup created by winners of the 2007 Pepperdine Business Plan Competition, said this morning that it has launched an online marketplace for anyone to lend anything they own. The new service allows people to list anything they own for rental, handles inventory management, contracts, and reservations. Among the small number of listings currently on the firm’s web site are golf clubs, electronics, and private jet charters.

posted on Friday, November 16, 2007

Thanks for the coverage SoCalTech - but I wouldn’t consider access to over 1 million items, with 22 major car rental companies, to be that limited! There is more to come though, and soon.

Plus we have all sorts of people making postings onto the site. We will be featuring some in the days to come. So stay tuned!

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Popularity: 10% [?]

Here is the text from the press release we posted this morning.

You can view it on the wire here.

iRent2u Launches Online Rental Marketplace in the $85 billion Rental Industry

Launching with over 1 million items in over 10 categories, iRent2u is the preeminent destination for all online rentals

LOS ANGELES–(BUSINESS WIRE)–iRent2u, LLC, the online rental marketplace, today launches www.iRent2u.com where you can rent anything from anyone. iRent2u is where everyone can get more from what they already have. Users can either lend their assets to make money, or borrow from others to save money. The company provides 24/7 online access to goods, clear inventory lists, easy comparison shopping and a built in reservations system. iRent2u facilitates the entire process by building a community of people who enjoy helping each other.

According to First Research, the current rental marketplace in the U.S. is in excess of $85 billion and is trending towards consolidation with about 65,000 small companies, each with one to three small stores. Rentals are the most efficient way to fill temporary needs, yet until iRent2u renters faced many obstacles. Items have been hard to find, over priced and inconveniently located. A highly fragmented industry, many rentals are handled by small stores. Often these small rental companies don’t have the expertise or desire to manage a website. In fact most stores do not list the items they lend, show their availability, or accept reservations online. Up until now, the industry has been lagging and inefficient.

iRent2u was founded by three entrepreneurs as they studied for their MBA’s: Roy Bacharach, Tim McCormack and Nils von Bothmer, who then went on to win the 2007 Pepperdine Business Plan Competition. Von Bothmer conceived the idea when he moved to Los Angeles, California and needed a drill to assemble his new furniture. Not wanting to purchase one for single use when there had to be ten within a one mile radius, he knew there had to be a better way.

The company bridges problems like this with a simple, innovative solution, the website www.iRent2u.com, where everyone can get more from what they already have. With 24/7 online access to goods, clear inventory lists, easy comparison shopping, and a built in reservations system. iRent2u makes renting accessible. People can choose to spend less money and buy fewer products, thus reducing environmental waste. iRent2u is eco-friendly, helps prevent over consumption and facilitates the entire process by building a community of people who enjoy helping each other.

“Ours is a simple solution that resolves serious problems. iRent2u is where everyone can get more from what they already have,” said von Bothmer, the company’s chief operations officer. “Users can either lend their assets to make money or borrow from others to save money. We make renting accessible. People can choose to spend less money and buy fewer products, thus reducing environmental waste and making the world more efficient.”

Product Benefits, Features and Pricing

iRent2u provides easy 24/7 access for customers to go to the site, browse or search for what they want and view user’s rental listings. Users can stay in control of the entire process — publish prices, or keep them secret; allow discounts for frequent customers or charge everyone the same rate; deliver to them, or have them pick it up.

Users can make reservations, read and approve rental contracts, leave their deposits, and even refer friends from within iRent2u. With a rapidly growing customer list of lenders, iRent2u is a no risk, online listing of rental items including the following features:

• • Inventory management and scheduling – provides an easy system to control assets online which is accessible virtually anywhere.
  • Customer comments and ratings – offers advice from other customers.
  • Reservations – provide an easy way to reserve an item for a future date.
  • Online contract system – allows users to reduce work and save time by managing contracts online.
  • Built in directions and mapping – helps people find each other quickly and easily.
  • Free to try, and no upfront listing fees – users are free to create an account and list items for rent. Once a customer completes a transaction, iRent2u keeps a small percentage of each customer’s transaction fee.

The iRent2u service is absolutely free to create an account and list items for rent. Once a customer completes a transaction, iRent2u keeps only 10 percent (10%) of each customer’s transaction fee plus a $1.00 service fee. Lenders can even reduce their transaction fees to five percent (5%) by referring their friends to the site. Transaction fees drop one percentage point (up to five) for every referral that creates an iRent2u account.

Benefit to Rental Companies

As an online aggregator for rentals, iRent2u provides rental outlets with a way to succeed in a fast changing market, giving small businesses the same tools as larger companies. By gaining more exposure on iRent2u, these companies can increase both rentals and revenues with no additional risk. Rental companies simply pay a small transaction fee once a sale is complete.

iRent2u envisions existing rental companies as resellers, partners or advertisers. Early inventory for the company has been provided by a broad range of companies including BookRenter (textbook rentals for students), Ridester (ride sharing), Amadeus (20+ major car rental companies), and Stratos Jets (private jet charter service).

About iRent2u LLC (www.iRent2u.com)

The online rental marketplace where you can rent anything from anyone. iRent2u offers 24/7 online access to goods, clear inventory lists, easy comparison shopping and a built in reservation system, making renting accessible. People can choose to spend less money and buy fewer products, thus reducing environmental waste and making the world more efficient. iRent2u facilitates the entire process by building a community of people who enjoy helping each other.

Contacts

iRent2u, LLC
805-617-4654
info@iRent2u.com
or
Media Contact:
pr@iRent2u.com

Popularity: 100% [?]

Expert Opinion – Harish Keshwani
Strategic Business Blog Consultant and Coach,
iSeries Software Developer, Blogger, Entrepreneur

We got some great feedback from Harish Keshwani, an experienced new media strategist who is especially renowned for his expertise in business blogging.

Originally from India, Harish first made a name for himself in the states as a developer with such companies as Hewlett Packard, Vertrue and IDS. It soon become clear to him though that many businesses were missing a huge opportunity by not capitalizing on one of his specialties, blogging. Since then he has been very successful helping small to medium size businesses realize the power of social media with his company Ideologic LLC. Harish asserts that business blogging has numerous benefits such as bolstering search engine rankings, giving companies a direct unfiltered communication channel with their customers, and helping to put a human face on a corporation. Harish has now proven that the pen is mightier than the balance sheet.

Here was Harish’s response to iRent2u.com (shortened for publication):

“When I saw the site I thought it was very clean and fast loading with an Intuitive interface and an easy registration. A first time visitor can be up and running in 10 minutes using wizards to rent or lending wizards. I like wizards for renters and lenders. I also like the site’s color scheme a lot!”

Then Harish added to our delight,

“You are doing all the right things to launch this site.”

We sure hope so. Thanks again Harish!

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Popularity: 9% [?]

Expert Opinion – Mike Miller
CEO of Gagas (www.Gagas.com)

Our expert opinions keep rolling in, and they just keep getting better. One of our first customers added his voice to our group of experts, and quite some advice it was! Mike Miller, CEO of Gagas (www.Gagas.com), a service that lets you rent children’s clothing for special events, gave us all sorts of great insights into our site. We can’t wait to implement some of your ideas Mike!

An eager early adopter for the internet, Mike has been building websites for about as long as websites have existed. Mike actually built Notre Dame’s first website, pretty cool. As Mike spent a long time doing usability testing for websites at major corporations like Whirlpool, GE, John Deer, Castrol, and many others, he turned out to be a gold mine of input. We sure are glad we asked!

Here is a brief section of Mike’s response to iRent2u.com (shortened for publication):

“Clean design, good limited palette. It has a strong “Web 2.0″ look (the bouncy, oversized, rounded edges, contoured gradients look). If you have to err in a direction with the design, it’s not a bad direction to go with. The site seems professional, legitimate, and established at first glance.”

We will stop there, because otherwise it would turn into a small book. Mike went so far as to include screen shots with graphically edited suggestions. Now that’s the spirit Mike!

Thanks again Mike, and we look forward to working together helping the world realize the value and great advantage of rentals.

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Popularity: 8% [?]

iRent2u is Now Live!!!

Well, the moment you have all been waiting for us upon us. iRent2u is live and ready to tear up the rental industry!

Ok, thats a bit of an exaggeration, but its understandable that we are excited. And from now on you can share in that excitement as you help us build the worlds largest “People Helping People” lending network.

Now instead of screen shots, you can actually go to the site! Create an account, list some items you use infrequently, and get busy borrowing and saving money. Or, if you just like screen shots I put some new ones up here http://blog.irent2u.com/how

Need something you won’t use very often? Rent it and Forget it! Get what you need, get it done, and get on with your life.

For our launch we have a lot of great stuff on the site, with much more to come soon. Turns out its a tough job listing over 1 million items, so we haven’t gotten it all on yet, but that means that you get to see new stuff pop in for the next few weeks.

Have you been waiting anxiously for this day so that you can rent out something you own? Well dive in! List whatever you want. I am sure there is somebody out there who needs what you have as much as you are sick of storing it.

For those who have been enjoying reading the responses from the industry experts, don’t you worry. We got a bunch more where that came from, and you will be seeing more pop up most every day over the next couple of weeks. All sorts of interesting people have weighed in with their thoughts, and it has been great to hear.

Well thats good for now. We will be posting all sorts of fun stuff for you throughout the day, but for now go check out the site. I mean Jeez - what are you still doing here?

Go to www.iRent2u.com Now!

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Popularity: 10% [?]

Expert Opinion - Kimbul Musk
CEO of Me.Dium.com, Renowned Chef, Angel Investor

Our next ecommerce expert and rising star is Kimbal Musk, the CEO of an exciting new startup and application called Me.Dium (http://me.dium.com). A lifetime entrepreneur, Kimbal is also a renowned chef with his own restaurant in Boulder, and a successful angel investor having funded successes like PayPal and X.com.

Kimbal’s current venture, Me.Dium.com, promises to change the way you browse the web. It’s a browser add-on that gives you a continual overview of what websites your friends are using, allowing you to spot popular sites and events with your friends. It is a bold new way to use the internet, and has incredible potential. We wish Kimbal the best of luck with his new service.

Here was Kimbal’s response to iRent2u.com (shortened for publication):

“My first impression of the site is that the home page is nice, and it has a clear message. It’s easy to navigate, and the UI is good and simple.”

Thanks again Kimbal!

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Popularity: 8% [?]