A place where sharing replaces selling & borrowing replaces buying.
A Share Economy works on the principles of lending and borrowing, and in this case, doing this with people from your local community. The idea is that when you are part of a Share Economy, instead of buying something new (especially if it’s for a one off use) – you can find someone to borrow it from instead.
This could be ‘Stuff’, like a ladder or a phone charger, or it could be a ‘Service’ or ‘Skill’, like teaching someone how to sew or doing some gardening. This helps to reduces landfill, strengthens a sense of community and also saves you money!
Stuff
Freebies
Skills & Services
Needs
Search for Something
Search for Skills, Services & Stuff across a large range of categories. Choose to view items with a list, grid or map view.
Find Something
After searching you may find a few things that match what you need. You can add these things to your 'compare' or 'favourites' list.
Contact the Lender
You can send a message directly to the lender, to request the Service, Skill or Stuff they are sharing or to ask more questions.
Connect with the Lender
Make a time to with the lender to pick up the Stuff or, if it's a Skill or Service they're sharing, a time & place to meet.
After Connecting
Make sure Stuff is returned on time. A thank you message is always nice for Services or Skills that have been shared with you.
Some common questions about the Share Economy:
1) How does the Share Economy work?
Members list Stuff or Services & Skills which they would like to share with other Members for a nominated time period. When a Member wants to borrow something they send a message to the lender to organise a time to borrow or use the Stuff, Service or Skill.
Sharing and borrowing is unlimited between Members, which means that as a Member you can access free Stuff, Skills and Services all year round.
2) What's the difference between a Skill & a Service?
The two are pretty similar, but the difference between them is that a Skill is something you share with someone, while a Service is something you do for someone. For example, if you offer gardening as a Skill, you could teach someone how to plant veggies and if you offer it as a Service, you could offer to do 2 hours of gardening per month for someone.
3) I'd like to join, but I'm not sure I have anything to share?
We all have something to share! It could be something as simple as a spare phone charger that someone needs in a jam or an act of kindness like helping someone less mobile with their garden. If you are still unsure, you can ask one of our friendly team for a short phone call to help work it out or you could become a volunteer and donate some hours of your time directly to The Village Project.
4) Who are the people I will be sharing my things with?
The only people who have access to our Share Economy are other Members of The Village Project. Non-members can still view our platform and can see the pages that show all listings but can not open up the pages that have single listings. So, you can be rest assured that everyone you connect with have been reviewed by our Admin Team and have signed our Terms and Conditions.
5) How much of the Share Economy can Members and non-members access?
Our Share Economy section includes:
- About Share Economy: info about what a Share Economy is and how ours works
- View Skills & Services: a place to view all the Skills & Services that Members are sharing
- View Stuff: a place to view all the Stuff that Members are sharing
- View Needs: a place to view all the Needs that Members may have
- View Freebies: A place to view all the items that Members are giving away for free.
- Submit Listing: a form to fill out for each thing you would like to share
If you are a Member you can:
- View all of the above pages
- Click on and view individual listings
- Submit listings to the Share Economy
- Borrow Stuff and receive Skills and Services
If you are a non-member you:
- Can view the About page
- Can view the listings pages, but not click on or view individual listings
- Can not submit listings
- Can not borrow Stuff or receive Skills and Services
"I see the future as collaborative and want to enable any project that works towards that goal. My vision of a sharing economy is exactly what this project encapsulates and I want to actively support it to be successful."
Ready to be part of the Share Economy?
Or learn more about membership first!
