MyNeighbor™, A New Mobile Borrowing & Lending Service, Now Available Across Seattle
Seattle, WA (PRWEB) June 01, 2015 -- MyNeighbor, a new mobile application designed to facilitate the borrowing and lending of goods and services between neighbors, launched today in neighborhoods across Seattle. MyNeighbor prioritizes access over ownership by providing a simple platform to facilitate borrowing and lending based on geography, saving borrowers time and money while making money for the lender or their preferred charity or organization.
In today’s material-driven society, consumers are all too quick to purchase items without getting the most use out of them. In addition, existing rental options are often inconvenient and costly. While neighbors consistently report the desire to share goods and services and to get to know their neighbors better, they don’t often take action. According to research done by Nielsen, 68% of consumers are willing to share or rent their personal assets for financial gain¹. Additionally, MyNeighbor found that the primary reason people don’t borrow or lend is because they don’t know what their neighbors need or would be willing to lend. The MyNeighbor app was specifically designed to facilitate these connections by simultaneously aggregating supply and demand and allowing neighbors to set their prices and bridge new neighborhood relationships.
Seattle tech veterans Brendan Benzing and Sebastien Martel have joined forces to bring this new app to consumers and are challenging Seattleites to consider borrowing as a viable alternative to buying. Brendan Benzing, co-founder and CEO, said, “We’re seeing tremendous interest in the concept of access of ownership especially with Millennials in urban areas who are choosing car and bicycle shares over ownership and home rentals over hotels. This exciting and disruptive trend is not just about saving time & money but also about sustainability and community.” He added, “We encourage all Seattleites to consider borrowing before buying – it’s good for their wallet, their neighborhood and the environment.”
The MyNeighbor app capitalizes on mobility, a pivotal component to the immediacy and on-demand nature of consumers’ needs. Co-founder and CTO, Sebastian Martel, commented that, “With technology being one of the key drivers of sharing, it was critical for us to develop a seamless mobile-first experience that allows users to instantly post their goods and services to the app, browse their neighborhood’s library, and most importantly borrow and lend on the go.”
Members of MyNeighbor will be able to post their own goods and services making them available to their neighbors. They will be able to set the price (for a fee or free) and details for the item or service and provide a brief description. Users can opt to have a portion or all of the proceeds donated to a charity or non-profit organization² of their choice, providing a new channel for neighbors to put money directly back into their community. Members can also request items or services they may need or browse their neighborhood’s library of available goods and services and opt to “borrow/hire” them directly from a neighbor over renting or buying. Additionally, neighbors can now choose to post their offers in their own neighborhoods or in nearby neighborhoods as well.
The MyNeighbor app is currently available on iOS and Android and can be found in the iOS App Store or Android’s Google Play Store with Windows and Web-based versions to follow. My Neighbor is a neighbor-powered service, so neighbors outside of Seattle can help accelerate their launch by downloading the app at http://www.get.myneighbor.com and inviting other neighbors to join. More neighbors mean a greater variety of goods and services being offered as well as more borrowing and lending.
MyNeighbor launched select pilot neighborhoods prior to the Seattle wide launch and saw strong interest throughout the city in borrowing and lending as well as in donating proceeds to charity. Goods and services posted during those trials included a wide variety of both common and unusual goods and services including; power washers, dog walking, slot machines for parties, cooking services, custom art commissions, a luxury Hawaiian vacation rental, tennis lessons and more.
About MyNeighbor
Founded in April of 2014, MyNeighbor is a mobile-based service designed to facilitate the borrowing and lending of goods and services between neighbors. Users of MyNeighbor will find goods and services ranging from the everyday; power drills, ladders, dog walking and tutoring to the unusual; slot machines, luxury Hawaii vacation rentals, yard brigades and art commissions. MyNeighbor is based in the Madrona neighborhood of Seattle, WA. For more information go to http://www.myneighbor.com. To download the app, enter get.myneighbor.com in your mobile browser.
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1 Nielsen,“Is Sharing The New Buying?”, May 2014, http://www.nielsen.com/us/en/insights/reports/2014/is-sharing-the-new-buying1.html
2 At launch donations to charities will be on the honor system with future versions of the MyNeighbor app allowing for direct payment.
Cindy Harvey, Mood Ring Media, +1 703.405.2389, [email protected]
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