[mvw2]

Head-Fi is a great world.  We are all a bunch of audio enthusiasts and have a lot of fun sharing our hobby.  I want to bring up the idea of a public share system.  Many of use own several headphones at a time.  We also have a lot of members who are curious about a wide range of products, many of which they are unwilling to purchase just to try.  A member loan setup can offer a lot of members the opportunity to try out various products before buying.  This can not only provide valuable listening experience and being able to try before you buy, but it also promotes more educated discussion on products, more reviews, and just gives opportunities to people who otherwise would never have been able (or willing) to experience a product on their own.
 
I've seen this setup work elsewhere.  On DIYMobileAudio in the past where were several demo drivers transitioning from member to member to give people the opportunity to try out a number of products.  On here, I've had the opportunity to try a few earphones that I questioned or wasn't willing to buy out right.  I was fortunate enough to not only purchase a product from Joker but also share products with each other.  We each had several products that interested the other, and we have gone back and forth with a number of earphones each of us owned. 
 
I like the concept.  I like what it offers.  I see a great opportunity because a lot of us own a slew of headphones.  Most members here seem to have 3, 4, 6, or more headphones that we own at any one time.  We only listen to one or two most of the time, and the rest just sit.  This provides a golden opportunity to share some of these products with others and let them experience some really wondrous headphones that they wouldn't normally experience.
 
The challenge would of course be the system to govern the process.  Some obvious guidelines would exist.  For example, you pay your own shipping, and maybe insurance is mandatory.  If the product is on loan to someone, that person has all liability for damages.  You break, you buy, simple.  If someone is planning to receive a shared product, they have to be willing to cover costs if anything goes wrong.  The loader program may work off a public availability list.  People would offer up what they are willing to share.  People would work off this list to ask to demo that product.  There would be the option to keep a product available for a while and have it floating from person to person or take it off the listen and have the last person mail it back to the original owner instead of a next individual.  A system would need to be in place that says who has what at any time and if there is a queue on the item and were you may be on that queue.  This lets people know what's going on with each item.  The original owner would have full control over his earphone, so if there was a queue of 5 people and he wanted it back now, he would inform the current loan-e to send it back to him and it would be taken off the list.  It should be relatively public.  There may be some limitations associated with eligibility of members like post count, join date, if the member is being active on the site, etc.  This may even include public info like name and address and the product can only be shipped to and from that location.  There may be limits to where only each member can have one earphone in their position at any given time.
 
These are just my thoughts.  I'm sure there are a lot of people on here that are interested in something of this sort.  Comment, share opinions, share thoughts on the idea.

 

[tacomn]

that would be awesome... but how would you govern people so that theft wouldnt be a fear... OO I have an idea. How about it is set up in a separate forum that is locked and you have to apply to get in after so many posts and are evaluated as well. idk how this should actually work but I like the idea of a loaner system

 

[ljokerl]

But if I loan out my spare earphones, what will I use to cover all the holes in my wallpaper?
 
Seriously, though, this is a good idea. I've been thinking about this for months now and just haven't set aside the time to PM jude about it. Seems like you've thought it all through - this is very close to what I came up with. The list of available equipment as well as who currently has what and who is in the queue should clearly be public and centralized. IMO the owner should have the power to not only request immediate return but also strike a name out of the waiting list.
 
Join date, sale/trade (or ebay/audiogon) feedback, and contribution to the knowledge base is what i was thinking in terms of requirements. There's people here with Supremus status who never post anything but laundry lists of earphones in recommendation threads and others who have 100-200 posts of which every single one contributes something useful. Posting names/addresses publicly is probably going too far though.

 

[Uncle Erik]

This has been suggested a number of times. Not to be a wet blanket, but there are issues of theft now and then. I would not feel comfortable loaning out expensive equipment - too many members have been ripped off while doing so.

Also, this is one of the major reasons why we have meets. While I won't loan out equipment (save to a handful I knew personally and have met in person), I have zero problem taking everything I own to a meet and turning it over to the group.

Besides, having meets is a great way to socialize and get to know other members. One of the reasons the community here is strong is because of the personal connections made during meets.

 

[Big Kev]

I have been loaning out my Monster Coppers, but only to people in the UK (sorry tacomn

) and providing they only use fully insured postage and things have gone well so far. 
 
I'm only using members with a decent post count and/or good feedback and I just hope it all works out ok.

 

[ethan961]

I remember seeing this with some Grados before in the full-sized forum, so it is doable, we just need to come up with guidelines. IEMs are cheaper to ship too, so I could see this working out.

 

[cifani090]

I would definitely love a program as of such. I would want some kind of secure, liability on the other part of the loan, because i do know there are scammer's and thieves out there. I think there needs to be so many comments good and neutral on the guy first, such as 20 or so. And there should be $10 or something reasonable going to the guy that is loaning the headphone out. And what about amp loaning???

 

[rawrster]

Quote:

This has been suggested a number of times. Not to be a wet blanket, but there are issues of theft now and then. I would not feel comfortable loaning out expensive equipment - too many members have been ripped off while doing so.

Also, this is one of the major reasons why we have meets. While I won't loan out equipment (save to a handful I knew personally and have met in person), I have zero problem taking everything I own to a meet and turning it over to the group.

 
That's the thing. There are certain members here that I would trust in giving them back to me as well as taking good care of my stuff. I have lent stuff to other members here but the list that I would actually lend out is very limited.
 
I would like to see something like this however as I've had the opportunity to try out a bunch of earphones that I never would have had I not had loaners. The problem is finding a way to limit the risk of the original owner. Feedback here and on other places can only go so far. The best scammers here have been by members who have had great feedback and many many posts but most have been MOT who couldn't handle their workload.