About 7 years ago, when we had our second, we were gifted one of the best travel cots around – the Baby Bjorn Travel Cot.
But, as most parents would know – travel cots are used only a few times a year – late dinners at friends houses, or the occasional trip away when the AirBnB didn’t have a suitable cot.
The Travel Cot was the inspiration for me to launch Kindershare – wanting to make money from things sitting around the house – while still having them available when I needed them.
7 years later, the travel cot still looked quite new, but with a friend recently having had a baby, I passed on the travel cot to her and sat down to check what had gone so well…
Over the 6 years I had the cot listed, the cot was booked over 30 times, with most bookings being for 1 weekend only. Occasionally, the cot was booked for a 2 week period. I had 4 “regular” renters – people who lived locally and didnt want to buy their own travel cot, because they realised renting it at $20 a pop was much cheaper than buying it new for $550… And that’s before you consider the approx 50kg in carbon emissions to make the cot.
What worked Well?
- Having a high quality cot meant people understood how easy it was to open and pack away. It avoids the horrors of trying to get the cheaper cots to “work”. As a bonus, it is super easy to pull apart and throw in the washing machine between rentals.
- Always having it ready to go – many of my bookings were requested with 1 or 2 days notice. Because it was always washed and packed away after each rental, I could respond immediately and provide the cot.
- Offering free local delivery – I’m always out and about, driving 2 minutes out of my way was no big hassle and meant one less worry for the parents or grandparents who were renting it.
- Including sheets and a mattress protector so that the cot is ready to go. Again, you are removing a hassle from the renter, which makes them more likely to rent again.
- Be reasonable with pricing – I experimented with pricing quite a bit, and found $20 to be the right point for a weekend rental. Longer than that, and people were willing to pay more, but it was unusual that someone would rent it longer than 5 days.
In total I made $1,550 from my Bjorn Travel Cot. Not bad for a gift!!
