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Launch HN: Feather (YC S17), painless furniture rental for people who move a lot

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Re: Launch HN: Feather (YC S17), painless furniture rental for people who move a lot

#111

Post by nathan_f77 »

rootsudo wrote: post #107
nathan_f77 wrote: post #37

When I moved to San Francisco a couple of years ago, I was really surprised by how difficult it was to find a fully furnished apartment. I really did not enjoy those trips to IKEA and putting everything together. In contrast, it seems that most apartments in Chiang Mai are fully furnished. We've moved 3 times so far, and it's always just one car ride with a small collection of personal stuff. It's really nice to neve…

I'm heading to Chiang Mai from Manila. How is it? Everyone says it's a dream Fast internet, cheap food and nice markets. Is English only, no Thai really a limiting factor in surviving?

I really like Chiang Mai. I haven't been to Manila, but from what I've read, it sounds like Chiang Mai is a nicer place to live. It's very cheap and has very fast internet. I think it's also very safe, especially late at night. (Apart from the roads, which are very dangerous compared to other countries.)

English is not a problem at all. You can get by with English at many (if not most) restaurants, shops, apartments, lawyers, accountants, hospitals, dentists, etc. etc.

Re: Launch HN: Feather (YC S17), painless furniture rental for people who move a lot

#112

Post by bubblethink »

jayreno wrote: post #65
koolba wrote: post #34

> Delivery costs $99. Pickup cost varies with the size of your order - if you’re just renting a few items, we’ll keep it between $99-$149, but if you’re outfitting a whole apartment on a 4th-floor walkup, pickup is likely to be a bit more. There is a $99 refundable deposit - we charge you on the first day of your lease, and as long as the furniture is in good shape when we pick it up, it’ll be returned after pickup!…

Happy to jump in here to talk about pricing, as it seems to be a big topic of conversation (and rightfully so). - The $338 bed that you linked to is on a massive, one-time sale right now. I've refreshed the page several times and the price keeps changing. The manufacturer must be testing a bunch of things out - take a look. Let's leave that one example there for now. - The Purchase Queen you linked to does look nearl…

The specific price comparisons aside, it would make sense to offer ownership after X months. So you can position yourself as a rental + financing service. If you pay rent for, say 14 months, you own the stuff.

Re: Launch HN: Feather (YC S17), painless furniture rental for people who move a lot

#113

Post by bmelton »

sidlls wrote: post #89
austenallred wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What's wrong with granting loans to people who have bad credit? What are they supposed to do if there's a shortfall or a car breaks down, pawn a wedding ring? I used to work for LendUp. They're the most caring and altruistic people I've ever met. I mean that literally. LendUp uses machine learning & data science to decision people with more granularity than a credit score, and can therefore approve much deeper than b…

What's wrong is the absurd fees they charge. The only difference I can see between them and payday lenders is the shabby facade of credibility they think they have by being a "tech" company. Nobody who has to scrabble for $250 for an emergency is in a position to drop a 25% vig on top of it in repayment.

But if you lend to high-risk creditors, you have to have non-repayment built into the rate. As of the last time I saw an article on it, the rate of default for payday loans was something like 50%. High interest rates are there to absorb the risk.

Re: Launch HN: Feather (YC S17), painless furniture rental for people who move a lot

#114

Post by mslev »

rootsudo wrote: post #106

I just use the Ikea return policy and position myself around Ikeas. Really missing out in the Philippines. Furniture here overall sucks. "Return policy NO-NONSENSE - 365 DAYS TO CHANGE YOUR MIND mattresses purchases may be exchanged for another mattress one time within 365 days if you don’t love it. products that are returned or exchanged must be clean and undamaged. Refunds will be made in the same form of payment o…

This is pretty similar to saying, "I don't rent cars, I just steal them." You're buying things, keeping them for Even if this is allowed/legal, it isn't exactly moral.

Re: Launch HN: Feather (YC S17), painless furniture rental for people who move a lot

#115

Post by zw123456 »

canadian_voter wrote: post #59
ashark wrote: post #23

> Wait a minute, you want me to rent furniture? > We get it. This is kind of new, right? We’re excited about that. But it's... not remotely new, right? [EDIT] seriously, "tiny houses" = mobile homes for well-off millennials, Feather = Rent-a-Center for well-off millennials, Soylent = Ensure for well-off millennials. I guess I should start a payday loans company marketed in such a way that using it doesn't offend the…

I have this great idea for printing out the top news stories for reading offline. You could print them off early morning and have them waiting for people at train stations, coffee shops, hotels, etc. If it really takes off, people might even be willing to pay for them to be delivered each week or even each morning. And of course you could sell advertising to subsidize the cost! We're totally going to disrupt the onli…

I have this great idea for this new service called real time voice messaging, instead of typing out your message you simply say it into a microphone and it is delivered to the other person in real time audio. It also works in real time in the other direction.

Actually, the idea of online furniture rental is not bad really, we are just having fun with it. I recently sold my house and I rented furniture for staging, that could be another aspect of their business model, those staging people charge a ton, I get it some of it is for the "design" but really there could be a few canned designed on a web page and done far cheaper I think.

Re: Launch HN: Feather (YC S17), painless furniture rental for people who move a lot

#116

Post by jayreno »

caust1c wrote: post #17

The economics here doesn't make sense. The cheaper couches hover around $40/month, which over a 12 month period at 7% YOY interest is valued at 473 PV or 508 FV. What's the motivation against just buying new or used and selling once you're done? A marketplace for this sort of thing would make more sense than a service.

Present you is happier to only pay $40/month rather than $500-600 up front.

The hassle of selling used furniture should not be taken lightly, both in it's complexity and its sale price. Items on Craigslist, sold 12 months after purchase, go for 15-20% of retail value.

Re: Launch HN: Feather (YC S17), painless furniture rental for people who move a lot

#117

Post by jdminhbg »

sidlls wrote: post #89
austenallred wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What's wrong with granting loans to people who have bad credit? What are they supposed to do if there's a shortfall or a car breaks down, pawn a wedding ring? I used to work for LendUp. They're the most caring and altruistic people I've ever met. I mean that literally. LendUp uses machine learning & data science to decision people with more granularity than a credit score, and can therefore approve much deeper than b…

What's wrong is the absurd fees they charge. The only difference I can see between them and payday lenders is the shabby facade of credibility they think they have by being a "tech" company. Nobody who has to scrabble for $250 for an emergency is in a position to drop a 25% vig on top of it in repayment.

> Nobody who has to scrabble for $250 for an emergency is in a position to drop a 25% vig on top of it in repayment.

How do you know?

Re: Launch HN: Feather (YC S17), painless furniture rental for people who move a lot

#118

Post by misterbwong »

jayreno wrote: post #77
jonahx wrote: post #13

Just glancing at the home page, I see two sofas for over $100 /mo. At that price, even if you're someplace for only a year, it makes more sense to buy. Especially if you don't mind the effort of reselling, which could be minimal -- even at firesale prices you'd still come out way ahead vs rental fees that high.

The ~$100/month price is our 3 month price. So total cost to you to have either of those sofas is $300 vs the cost to buy them retail at $600, which excludes assembly. Fire sales are easier said than done. Takes time to get real replies via craigslist, and often times you might forget to sell the item till days before you're moving, adding to the headache.

Granted in a 3 month scenario, the total out of pocket cost is $300 but it's a bit disingenuous to directly compare that to the $600 cost of the couch.

No matter how you look at it, the renting option will be more expensive. Just own it and don't try to defend it or make it sound less than it is using shaky comparisons. Doing so just makes you sound shadier than necessary.

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