Cycling lending library proposal

[MacB]

Been thinking about this a bit more and thought a general, cycling only stuff, lending library could be good. Pretty much as described before but a small fee payable, over and above postage, for each item. This fee goes directly to the owner of the item, if the owner is Admin then it goes to the running of CC. Also ownership transfers to Admin once the original item owner has received enough lending fees to cover the desired sale price. For example, I list a stem that I want £5.00 for. 6 people borrow it, the first 5 pay a £1 fee to me, after that point ownership transfers to admin and the 6th fee, onwards, are contributions to running CC. The cumulated lending fees would have no impact on the purchase price, that remains the same. But the proceeds are shared by original owner and admin/CC. Example - I want £5 for stem, it is borrowed 3 times and 3rd person wants to buy for £5. I've already received £3 in lending fees so I get £2 and CC get £2 from purchaser, as purchaser gets to deduct their £1 lending fee from cost. Sounds complicated but the spreadsheet works it all out automatically. This is the spreadsheet layout, I'll also e-mail a copy to admin as I don't know how to upload to here. The sheet itself would be jazzed up with a drop down selection for the item type. People could then search/filter by each column to see what's available:-

column A - item type, ie saddle, seatpost, stem, book etc
column B - item name, ie Specialised Alias, Ritchey Adjustable, Bike Hut, The Hour etc
column C - colour of item, relevant for stems, saddles etc
column D - material, ie synthetic, leather, steel, carbon etc
column E - price you paid new
column F - current owner, ie MacB, Admin etc
column G - available from date, when item is next expected to be available from
column H - current location, where it is right now
column I - the price if someone wants to buy it, this to be reviewed as item ages, or accumulates wear.
column J - amount payable to current owner if you wish to buy item
column K - amount payable to Admin/CC if you wish to buy item
column L - standard postage fee for item, obviously foreign postage to be sorted on adhoc basis. This to be paid to current owner before item is dispatched.
column M - lending fee - this is what you pay over and above the postage and should be sent to the current owner as listed in column G. If that is Admin then it's a donation to the running of CC.
column N - a count of the times the item has been lent out
column O - a cumulative of the lending fee, ie No of times lent * lending fee value in column M. When the value in this column reaches the sale price in column F then the ownership changes from original owner to Admin and any future fees, lend or sale, go to the running of the site. If the item is donated to Admin/CC then all fees, at all points go to the site.
column P - dimensions of item and useful info, ie stem clamp size, whether saddle accepts standard saddle pack fixings etc
column Q - condition of item, ie used, new, well worn, indication of any damage

As said I've e-mailed this sheet to Admin, hopefully it can be put up on CC for people to have a look at. I've populated it with some stuff, these are examples not actually for sale or loan yet I've not prettified the sheet or added in dropdowns etc yet, no point until I know if it will be useful and what people want to see....Al

 

[marinyork]

What MacB said. Only other thing would be that you could end up with different stabilities for the saddle library.

(a) It could end up being a runaway success and everybody sells their saddles and a small amount of money is made. No saddles and no library.
( Runaway rental scheme. This would again lead to profits but the system may grind to a halt.
(c) localised (a) or ( with lots of other stock just sitting there. What would you do if the spare stock took up a lot of space?

So you'd have to see how it goes and if any unstable scenarios would have to be dealt with e.g. buying an additional saddle through profits etc. I think it would work with a few things other than saddles.

P.S. I could rent your gloves out MacB

 

[MacB]

So you'd have to see how it goes and if any unstable scenarios would have to be dealt with e.g. buying an additional saddle through profits etc. I think it would work with a few things other than saddles.

yep, I envisaged the likes of stems, bars, seatposts, maybe bags, sorts of things you can buy easily buy several of trying to get the right option.

 

[marinyork]

yep, I envisaged the likes of stems, bars, seatposts, maybe bags, sorts of things you can buy easily buy several of trying to get the right option.

I'm interested in renting out people's old saddle bags, certainly. And the endless discussions about lights makes me wonder on that particular one too.

 

[marinyork]

I think (2) tends to come about because although people do have spare clobber they'd rather not see it disappear forever, even if after a while they change their minds and think that is silly they aren't exactly getting much use out of it at the moment!

 

[Baggy]

Just bumping this up...

 

[marinyork]

You don't have to, I don't know what we were on about, I like suggestion (1) btw Baggy.

 

[Mr Pig]

What if someone borrows an item for £1 and just keeps it?

 

[CopperBrompton]

If you use google docs to create the spreadsheet, there'd be no need to email spreadsheets around.

 

[MacB]

What if someone borrows an item for £1 and just keeps it?

That's where the trust aspect of the whole scenario comes in, and people can specify a deposit required if they wish. There would need to be a, no second chance, name and shame policy.

 

[rich p]

Can I borow your lovely butterfly bars, MacB, they look so coooolllll?





Just kidding

 

[MacB]

Can I borow your lovely butterfly bars, MacB, they look so coooolllll?





Just kidding

not sure you'd be worthy anyway

 

[Mr Pig]

So I borrow a stem for £1, three years later I still have it, is that ok?

I'm not trying to be a spoilsport but I know what people are like. I can see this being a nightmare.

If you've got something that someone else needs either sell it to them or give them it. Simple, clear and easy. What's wrong with that?

 

[MacB]

So I borrow a stem for £1, three years later I still have it, is that ok?

I'm not trying to be a spoilsport but I know what people are like. I can see this being a nightmare.

If you've got something that someone else needs either sell it to them or give them it. Simple, clear and easy. What's wrong with that?

nothing at all, this is merely an idea and stands or falls on a support basis. If you trialled a stem, paid the £1 fee and postage, then you can use it for a set time, maybe 2 weeks, as a trial. Then you either pay for it or you notify the list co-ordinator to let them know it is available for rent/trial again. Once relisted you should not be using it, if you continue to do so then you need it and should pay.

Would the system be abused? - of course it would
Would the system be abused so much as to make it a non-starter? - that's open for discussion

Don't forget that the owner also has the option to request a deposit to stop the above or to guard against loss/damage to more valuable items.

I was seeing this more as a cheap, and easy, way for people to trial things, that a lot of us have lying around, without committing to a purchase. It could also raise funds to support CC, again it's all up for debate and if not enough interest won't happen. Another way of looking at it is that it's the classifieds section all on one spreadsheet, with options to trial some stuff before buying.

 

[Mr Pig]

I understand what you're trying to do and it's a noble idea. My experience is though that these things are always more hassle that they're worth. I used to use a car forum where a guy said he could get a bulk deal on brakedisks and pads from a leading supplier. Loads of people thought it was a great idea and said they'd take him up on it. He went ahead and started taking names and asking for deposits. Guess what? All that enthusiasm evaporated and the whole thing fell flat. Which is what usually happens.