FAQs
If you've got something that you think someone else within one of your chosen communities might like to borrow for a few days – a ladder, say, or a power washer – you simply make a posting on our site to "advertise" that it's available. This will earn you 2 points for every day that one of your items has been lent out.
Or maybe you're after something yourself – perhaps a tent for a camping weekend, a bicycle, or an all-terrain pushchair. Instead of buying it new, or paying hire charges, why not check out our site to see if you can just borrow it from someone in one of your trusted communities for a few days or weeks. When you register as a uShare member, you will receive 25 points, which you can then use to borrow, spending a point per day – nice and simple!
Not only will uShare save you money, but you'll be doing your bit to help reduce wastage, too.
If you just want to take a look at what's available to borrow in your area, just search through the categories on the left of the page, or enter an item in the Search field above. You don't have to register if you're just browsing, but you will need to register if you want to borrow or lend. Registration is FREE and will entitle you to 25 points straightaway, which you can then redeem against any item that you want to borrow! Click here to Register today.
We've all got things lying around at home that we use only occasionally, or even no longer use. Wouldn't it feel great to share them with other like-minded people that you can trust, and earn yourself some points in doing so, so that you can borrow something that YOU need from someone else! Some common examples of items that are often shared among family and friends are: stepladders, wallpaper pasting tables, wallpaper strippers, tents, travel cots, bicycles, camping equipment....
uShare membership is 100% FREE! All you need to do if you want to borrow or lend an item is to register with uShare, which will enable us to put you in touch with other uShare members in your chosen communities. On registration, you will receive 25 points which will provide you with 25 days worth of borrowing. To get extra points to borrow items, you will receive 2 points each day for each item you lend out.
Borrowing an item is simple. You can either browse through one of the categories on the left-hand side of the screen, or you can search for a particular type of item using the Search box at the top of the page. Search results will be displayed for your selected communities, listed by distance from your home, shortest distance first.
Once you have confirmed that you want to borrow an item, an e-mail is sent to the lender and, if the lender accepts, you will then arrange a mutually convenient time to collect the item.
First you will need to register your item by completing a simple online form. As part of this you can upload up to 3 digital images and enter a brief description.
Once your item has been listed, you'll be notified by e-mail when a fellow member in one of your communities wishes to borrow an item. You are not obliged to lend your items and can check the borrowers history or identity before making your decision.
We are committed to making uShare a safe experience, and have put in place a number of safeguards to help protect you and your belongings:
- Lending and borrowing is only open to registered members. Anyone can browse the site, but once someone wants to borrow or lend an item, they will need to register. In doing so, we collect and verify some personal details to ensure its validity.
- If you wish, lending and borrowing can be limited to just within the communities that you signed up to when you registered. This could be your college, workplace, street or any other community. This way, you can be sure that you at least have something in common with the borrower, and, in most cases, you will be able to check their identity and reputation before agreeing to lend an item.
- Member Feedback. This gives each user a uShare reputation score. Each time you lend or borrow, your trading partner will leave you positive, neutral or negative feedback with a comment on how you conducted yourself during the transaction, while you can review your trading partner's feedback to give you a good idea of what to expect in the transaction.
- Borrow History. This is exactly as it sounds: you can check what else someone has already borrowed and check out the comments made by the lender.
- Proof of Identity. We would encourage our lenders to ask to see proof of identity, which can be linked to the shared community for example, your gym membership card, union card, proof of employment, utility bill, etc.
- We promise our members that any abuse of our service will not be tolerated and may result in either permanent exclusion from the site or criminal proceedings.
Whatever the category, each item is worth 2 points per day credit to the lender, and 1 point per day debit to the borrower. When you register, you'll receive 25 points to get you started, and the more you lend your own things the more points you'll have to borrow from others!
Please ensure you consider carefully before requesting a loan and accepting it that you really need the item on the specified dates and are available on those dates.
As a borrower, you can cancel a loan at any time but if you cancel within 24 hours of the agreed start time, the points will be deducted from your account. If you cancel more than 24 hours in advance, your points will be credited back to your account. In either scenario you will need to enter a cancellation reason which will trigger a notification e-mail to the lender.
As a lender, you may also cancel a loan at any time but will receive no points for that transaction. You will also be required to enter a cancellation reason which will trigger a notification e-mail to the borrower.