How to borrow
All the basic steps, rules, and etiquette for a successful borrowing experience.
The Search
First up is to find what you want. Browse through the Daggle.org site to see what’s available in your area. Or if you know what you want, you can filter by category or search for it directly.
If for some reason you can’t find what you need, that’s okay. You should see a form that lets you say what you’re looking for. Put in as much detail as you can and hit submit. Someone should get back to you soon to let you know if and when the item will be available.
The Item
Once you’ve found the item of your dreams (!) you can check out some details about it by clicking on it. You can then read more about the item, if there are any issues with it, and see more photos.
The item page also tells you what kind of ratings the item and owners have. If people have liked the item, it should have a pretty high star rating of at least 4 and above. If the owner also was a good sport, then they too should have a strong score out of 5.
The item page also displays the price. You’ll see it as a “per hour” amount, but you won’t be paying by the hour so don’t worry. That’s just to give you an idea of how much it would cost to have it for 1 hour.
If you decide to borrow an item, you’ll actually pay by the second! So in the case above, the JBL Flip 3 portable stereo at AED 6 / hour would cost you AED 0.002 /second.
Borrowing: How to Start a Transaction
So you found it and want to borrow it. Great! Make sure you’re all set up and registered with Daggle (find out more about that process here) and then hit the Borrow button. This give you a nice and easy pop up with some short instructions.
You can see here what you need to do.
First contact the owner. You’ll see a phone number, email, or both.
Then let them know you want to borrow something from them and what it is. You can then arrange when to meet and pick it up.
When you’re with the owner, make sure to check out the item thoroughly. We advise you both take photos of it before you initiate the transaction.
Then agree a final price. Don’t be afraid to barter a bit, especially if you will have it for an extended period of time.
Now for the magic: click on the button that says ‘Scan QR code’ and this will bring up your camera. The owner will hit a similar button that produces a QR code. All you do is scan it to start the transaction!
If for some reason you are having difficult scanning the code (sometimes screens have glare and cameras can’t pick up the QR code) then you can use the 3-word code at the bottom instead. Just type it in and that’s it!
Before you go, check with the owner when is best for you both to meet again so you can return the item. It’s always good practice to try and agree a time in advance so that there are no problems later, say for example if the owner is going to travel for a few days right when you want to return the item (more on how to solve this here).
Important Safety Note
Your safety is paramount. For the most part, meeting a lender through Daggle should be safe two main reasons. The first is our on-boarding process that allows us to confirm who our users are by verifying:
- mobile phone numbers
- IDs
- proof of address
The second is our star-rating system. If you see someone has a low star rating, this could be because they previously demonstrated poor behaviour, and you can avoid borrowing from them. You will also have the opportunity to give the lender a low score if they acted inappropriately in any way towards you during the transaction.
Combined, this deters bad actors and allows Daggle to remove those with bad scores, keeping the Daggle experience as high quality as possible.
Above all: Please be considerate of your safety. The safest option when meeting someone for the first time is to agree to meet them in a public place or with a friend. If ever you are concerned that someone using Daggle is a threat or harassment, please email complaints@daggle.org.
Borrowing: Tracking the Transaction
Congrats! You just borrowed something and are now part of the real-time and sharing economies. What a world we live in…
So what happens now? Well, first off, please treat the item with respect, as if it was your own. Do your best to look after it (so it doesn’t get stolen) and take care of it (so it doesn’t get damaged).
With that in mind, now you can go enjoy the item you borrowed for a fraction of the price it would take to buy it, whether it’s a blender for the kitchen, a guitar for your child to practice with, or a scooter to get around town.
While you’re doing that, Daggle will be transferring funds from your account to the owner’s on a real-time, per second basis.
(Read more about real-time payments, or try our post on managing your Daggle account.)
You can track how long you have had the item and how much you have paid so far by clicking on your avatar, which takes you to your account page.
This will show you all your basic account details:
- How much you have in your account (yikes! You should never be this much in debt, kids!)
- What items you have listed to lend out
- What items you have borrowed or are currently borrowing
- How to deposit or withdraw funds
If we select the drop down and then click on Borrowed we can see what we have just borrowed.
At this level you can see just the time you have had it for. In this case, it’s 17 minutes and 49 seconds. Pretty cool!
But it’s about to get cooler.
Click on the item to see more details. Here you can check out how much you’ve spent already on this item. And if you look closely, you’ll see the amount changes live by the second.
If you go to your main account page, you can see that your balance reflects the sum of all the transactions taking place on your account. Maybe you’ve borrowed 3 things but also lent out 4 things. What ever the net result of these transactions are will appear live on your balance. Perhaps it’s going up, or maybe it’s going down. In either case, in just 1 second you’ll be able to see!
Borrowing: How to End a Transaction
Whether you’ve had the item for 5 days or 5 minutes, you can return the item whenever you want. Just make sure to stay in touch with the owner and agree to a time and place where you can meet and close the transaction.
So how do we do that? It’s easy as it’s basically the same way we started the transaction.
First, navigate to your account page and find the item under your Borrowed section. Click on the item to open it up. There you will find a Return button. (For more on the Stop button, click here.)
This will give you a short pop up with some quick steps to follow:
Again, the first thing to do is contact the owner to confirm the drop off time and place you had previously agreed.
If you want to change when and where you will meet, it’s a good idea to give the owner a call in advance out of courtesy to make sure they can make the new arrangement.
Once you meet, return the item, hopefully in the condition you found it. (If there is a disagreement or dispute about the condition of the item at this stage, there are various options — read them here.)
You then click on ‘Create QR code’ which the owner can then scan to close the transaction.
Again, if the camera can’t pick up the code for some reason, you can always give the 3-word code to the owner to enter.
Borrowing: After the Transaction
And that’s it! You’ll be taken to a star-rating page, should you wish to give the item or the owner a score. Hopefully everything was perfect, but if it wasn’t, feel free to reflect that in your ratings (FYI — the owner gets to rate you too!)
The page will also tell you how much you spent on the item during that transaction, so you’ll know what the final cost was.
Back in your account page, under Borrowed, the item will no longer be flagged as an active transaction and will now be part of your borrowing history.
And that brings us to the end of your borrowing journey into the real-time and sharing economies! If you’re interested in how to lend items, you can read our lending guide here.
We hope you have a great experience. Please do let us know if you have any thoughts or suggestions on how to make this an even better experience!
Happy Daggling!
