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Show HN: StowShare – The Airbnb of Storage

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Re: Show HN: StowShare – The Airbnb of Storage

#51

Post by TristanMB »

willyg123 wrote: post #11

Out of college I worked on the finance side of a self storage investment company (thank god I left after 4 years), so I know the ins and outs of the business. The number one deciding factor for customers is location. Coming in a close second is security . In a far distant third is price. Self storage employees can only access your unit in the event of an emergency, eviction, or a warrant from law enforcement. For sel…

Hey man! thanks so much for the feedback. Eventually, I will have coverage for your stuff included in our services, for free. I would really appreciate if you had any ideas on how I could increase security - maybe with something like a security seal on all boxes?

Re: Show HN: StowShare – The Airbnb of Storage

#53

Post by TristanMB »

wnd_pn wrote: post #17
lordgrenville wrote: post #15

When I read the headline I thought this would be a sort of P2P Dropbox. Now maybe that's an idea... Regardless, best of luck!

We are doing exactly that ;) Have a look, it might be interesting --> https://business.cubbit.io

this looks great. good luck to you guys

Re: Show HN: StowShare – The Airbnb of Storage

#54

Post by TristanMB »

curryst wrote: post #14
tjchear wrote: post #9

Would I be liable for illegal things I store for others that I know nothing about?

That's a fantastic question, I would love to know that as well. My worrying suspicion is that yes, you are. I've never heard of prosecutors needing to prove knowledge for drug posession charges. Even if storers aren't liable, there's a very high chance you would be arrested and potentially charged, and the charges would later be dropped. Assuming we're talking about a big illegal thing here like child pornography or…

yes and this is a fantastic point. I will have to think of something to prevent or minimize this.

Re: Show HN: StowShare – The Airbnb of Storage

#55

Post by TristanMB »

hackerman123469 wrote: post #7

Storage units are fairly cheap and common pretty much everywhere (At least where I live) - so what is the advantage of using this?

- you can become a host and make money storing peoples stuff - the money would be going back into the community instead of a traditional storage facility - those who don't have storage units near them can now have access to affordable storage - no contracts, hidden fees, or BS.

Re: Show HN: StowShare – The Airbnb of Storage

#57

Post by whammywon »

TristanMB wrote: post #52
whammywon wrote: post #44

Really nice looking site and an interesting concept. Unfortunately I wouldn't be able to trust a stranger with my stuff. Good luck though!

thank you! eventually, we will have the host have their ID verified, much like airbnb does.

I think that would definitely go towards helping build consumer confidence in the service.

Re: Show HN: StowShare – The Airbnb of Storage

#58

Post by sails »

TristanMB wrote: post #47
sails wrote: post #29

Did you make this with bubble.io? Asking because I get the same cloudflare notice when using Firefox tracking protection. > Your browser was unable to load some necessary resources If so, what was the experience like building something a bit more involved? (though I guess this would be possible using one of their templates).

I am by no means a coder, but I can use adobe applications with no problem, and this was very fun to use. highly recommend it

Cool, that is interesting. Nice to see it being used. I've been playing around with it and it seems very useful.

Re: Show HN: StowShare – The Airbnb of Storage

#60

Post by byteshock »

Seems like a great idea but there seems to be no sense or idea of security at all.

How are you ensuring my items will be available at the same spot in the next x months? Do you have contracts in place that mandates the host stay at a certain location for the next year or length of my storage?

You should require hosts to provide lease and income statements to verify that they will be able to pay for their storage space. You should also require hosts to have basic security such as proper locks and cameras. It would also be a good idea to require pictures of the storage boxes with dates every month or so.

As for preventing illegal items from being stored, you shouldn’t look or inspect your customer’s items. You should have them sign a contract stating they didn’t store anything illegal and that you are not responsible for any such items as they do at self storage companies. You should definitely consult a lawyer before doing all this. Having no security measures in place is a great way to get sued in the future for damages.

Finally as someone stated already you need insurance. People will never store anything with you unless you have insurance and security. It doesn’t matter if they’re giving back to the community. People want their valuables to be safe.

Sorry for the rant but I just wanted to suggest a few things as a current customer of self storage.

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