ShareGrid: Market for Film & Photo Equipment

What is ShareGrid?

ShareGrid is an online marketplace where you can rent out (or rent) high-end photography and film equipment. The site also supports purchases and sales of used gear.

How it works

You sign up and create a profile, as well as listings for any items you want to rent out or sell. Theoretically, you set the price of your rentals. But ShareGrid can change your listing price “in order to maintain reasonable rental prices relative to other listings.” If an owner does not agree with a price change, they can refuse to accept the rental request.

If a renter contacts you, you’ll negotiate where to meet for pick-ups and drop-offs. They’ll pay through the site and the site will take a commission before passing payment onto you.

ShareGrid review

Professional filmmakers and photographers, who have amassed a room full of expensive equipment, can recover a portion of their investment by renting out their goods on ShareGrid. You can also sell — or buy — camera and film equipment here.

Theoretically, the site provides photographers with the ability to rent almost any piece of equipment — expensive or cheap. But the real value of this site is for renting out very expensive, state-of-the-art film and camera equipment that would be too expensive to buy when you don’t use it all the time.

There’s two reasons why: First of all, if the equipment costs just hundreds (not thousands) of dollars, any regular photographer or filmmaker is likely to own it.

Secondly, you can’t ask much for the rental of inexpensive equipment. So, you have to ask yourself if getting say $20 or $50 a day is worth the wear and tear on your equipment, plus the hassle of scheduling pick-ups, drop-offs, equipment inspections and doing all the other prudent things you should do before you hand over property that you want back.

By the same token, you can earn a reasonable return on expensive equipment here. And, the semi-passive rental income you receive can help you buy other items that would enhance your photography or filmmaking business.

ShareGrid is our top choice of where to list photography and film equipment for rent for a lot of reasons.

Risk

For instance, renting out expensive equipment presents a significant risk of theft.

But ShareGrid deals with theft risk in several ways: It has an identification verification process for every renter. Renters are encouraged to connect their professional profiles and are also rated on the platform. (Ignore the poor renter ratings at your peril.) The site has renter verification process aimed at ferreting out fraud. And the site also requires renters to buy insurance and be financially responsible for any loss or damage to the owner’s equipment.

Importantly, where some other peer-to-peer camera rental sites have had copious complaints from owners about losing money and equipment to renters, ShareGrid does not.

The site’s customer support team appears to provide real help when an owner has difficulty getting equipment returned. Independent filmmaker Scott Takai, for instance, explained of what happened to him when a renter failed to return all of his equipment, in this long, but highly informative YouTube video.

Tips: Before you rent

However, you still need to take precautions. Here’s what we suggest:

Be specific in your listing. Film and camera equipment tends to have multiple removable parts. Make sure you list every piece of equipment that comes with your rental, whether that’s lenses or clips. Details matter.

Have an inventory and photographs. Sharegrid offers digital checksheets that are a paperless inventory of what’s being rented. If you don’t want to use the digital version, it’s smart to have a written inventory of what you’re handing to the renter and contemporary photographs of everything to verify its condition when it walked out your door. This inventory also helps you file insurance claims, if equipment isn’t returned or if its returned damaged.

Check your renter’s reputation and ID. Most people on ShareGrid are honest and reliable. But there are a handful of bad actors on every platform. To reduce your chance of getting taken, make sure you check your renter’s professional background and reviews. You can also ask the renter for more information about his experience and how he plans to use your equipment. Follow your gut. If you feel something is amiss, don’t accept the rental.

Give yourself scheduling leeway. If you’re renting out equipment that you use, give yourself plenty of time to get it back before you need it again. Minor delays in returning equipment aren’t rare. And, occasionally, a renter will forget to return some key piece of the package that you need to use your equipment properly.

Instant book

ShareGrid offers an Instant Book feature, which allows the site to automatically approve rentals that fit your schedule and the site’s rules. It’s voluntary. However, if you agree to Instant Bookings, they’re very difficult to cancel. So, we’d advise that you only accept instant booking with equipment you rarely use and that isn’t precious to you or your career.

Commissions and fees

ShareGrid charges a reasonable 15% fee to equipment owners (and another 5% to renters). For that fee, owners get a guarantee that covers 100% of your property to $20,000.

If your equipment is worth more than that amount, ShareGrid recommends that you buy your own “voluntary parting” coverage, which would kick in if the renter failed to return your equipment or severely damaged it.

Details

Importantly, you need to list all of the components of your rental. Anything that could be detached from the camera, such as lenses and eyepieces, for instance, need to be listed — and valued — separately. Anything that’s not listed is not covered by the site’s protection plan.

While most users appear satisfied with the platform and can make good money renting here, complaints usually have to do with an uncovered loss for equipment that failed to qualify for the site’s guarantee.

Recommendations

We like this site and think it’s considerably better than the alternatives when renting out your expensive camera and film equipment. You can find ShareGrid here.

You may also be interested in ArrayCrew and StaffMeUp, which both help below-the-line workers in the film and television industry find work.

What their users say: (from DVXUser)

In late December of 2016 I rented out my FS7 to a production company through ShareGrid. I got the equipment back covered in sand, with parts damaged and missing. I had to pay about $2,000 for the repair of the camera. After 4 months of back and forth with ShareGrid and the renter, I’m $2,000 in the hole. ShareGrid basically told me they are not responsible for the damage even though they facilitated the arrangement and made money off the rental of my equipment. The renter himself has declined to submit my receipts and pictures of the damage to his insurance.

I finally heard back from [ShareGrid] last week and got about about 70% of the damage and losses refunded to me. The renter also lost an eyepiece that I had already replaced twice, from previous renters who lost the same part. The renter refused to acknowledge he lost it, even though I had a sales receipt from immediately before he rented it, and I made sure it was in the case when he picked it up. So I’m still out that $600+

James DeRuvo of DoodleNews says the process worked well for him with multiple rentals. But he stresses that you should keep great records, including the serial numbers of all your equipment.