Would you consider renting baby equipment (e.g. prams/ feeding tables)?

[livmp1001]

Hi Parents,

I'm interesting in finding out how many mums would be interested in renting baby furniture, e.g. prams/ cots/ feeding tables?

If a company delivered and collected the furniture once you/ your baby have outgrown it, is this something that would interest you?

If so, what sort of price per month would you be willing to spend?

Are there any items you would or would not be willing to rent?

Thanks,
Liv

Why would people do this rather than buying second hand?
This is a genuine question, I've never quite understood why people want to rent stuff, except maybe very short term such as weeks.

Probably not to be honest. You can buy cheap second hand items and lots of people pass round equipment anyway. If I did then I would pay less than buying second hand from marketplace, as I couldn’t sell them on again after, so maybe something like £50 total (not per month) for a pram system, £20 for a cot.

No, expect it would be cheaper to buy second hand then sell on again.

You can probably buy it second hand cheaper.

There’s loads of companies that do this already
for example https://baboodle.co.uk/products/babyzen-yoyo-stroller?variant=44060051112106

i looked into it locally for us to rent pram and kids bikes. It doesn’t make sense financially unless I only want something for a super short time.

Ie babyzen yoyo - £35 a month is high. I bought ours for £380. So more than 10 months use and it’s cheaper to buy. I can then keep for 3+ years and resell and probably get at least 50% back.

It only makes sense on something like a double pram if your eldest is 2.5-3.5 years and you will only use a few months, or for travel if your there a month and wand to hire larger items

Stuff like cots, I have bought next to me for £160 and sold for £120 6 months use later. Cot bed was £190, used 3 years l, sold for £150. So £40 for 3 years use

I wouldn’t rent/buy second hand mattresses, any bedding or car seats for safety reasons.

No.

No I wouldn't personally. I never got anything I felt was unnecessary like a changing table, and both cot and pram were second hand (purchased new matress/pram bassinet matress) costing very little.
I doubt renting would be cheaper than second hand, especially if you use for more than one child.

Maybe people with lower budgets who want fancy luxury baby items might be more interested?

People might for the convenience if it was something expensive that would only be used for a short time - maybe a good quality bedside crib that would be unsuitable after 6 months (but I'd want a new mattress) or the baby bassinet part of an expensive travel system. But it would probably still be cheaper to buy second hand and then sell on again. Or I might rent something for temporary visiting babies - highchairs, car seats etc. You'd want to be paying less in total than if you actually owned the item though - unless your target market is people who want expensive items but don't have enough money to buy them upfront. Things like cots are not very expensive (for a basic one) and might be used for a few years, so I don't really see the incentive to rent them.

Fascinated to know what a feeding table is? I’m imagining a bird table :)

But no, I wouldn’t, I’d be too concerned about damaging the things or getting them dirty and having to pay a hefty fee.

Would be cheaper to buy second hand and sell again.

If I wanted something that had been used previously I'd buy second hand and then sell it on.
There's risks with renting in terms of it it gets damaged and you have to pay an extra fee, and everything my kids used got damaged a little bit.
Only time I would consider it is when going on holiday and needed to use stuff for a week or 2.

Re the damage/wear and tear, I always wonder this about the baby clothes subscription services too. I wouldn't want to receive stuff that was damaged or tatty, but it would inevitably get that way while I had it, so then the next person might not want it.

Only if it was something that was used for a really short time. Most big items get used for several months and so will generate wear and tear and also would need to be incredibly cheap per month to make it stack up.

I do buy everything second hand though and sell on / donate what is still in usable condition.

There are companies doing this already; and it works out way more expensive than buying second hand. I’d only do it for something specific like a holiday where I needed a different pushchair.

No I would only consider renting a breast pump. But I got one to use got from my local breastfeeding support team

I did this when I lived overseas and had visitors with babies/children so rented cot and bedding, car seat.

In a popular expat area so there was a good market for it.

About to be FTM and planning to buy a lot of stuff second hand and then sell or donate - would need to work out cheaper in the long run for me to rent, or offer stuff at better quality than I could buy 2nd hand which I imagine would be impossible to sustain.

No, like everyone else I either buy new and factor in the second hand price or buy second hand / get free because people tend to be keen to get baby stuff out of their house! I can maybe see renting something like the babyzen yo-yo for a holiday, but that's about it.

No. When you're deep in the baby stage you don't need the hassle of working to someone else's timeline e.g. for packing up/ form filling/ returning. Just easier to buy (either new or 2nd hand).

No - but somewhere like London where living space/storage is often limited might be a market.

Did hire a wheelchair for DH for a few months - had young kids and no car -but it was very easy all online pick up and drop off was really easy. Have hired pushchair while on holiday. Did also use reading chest - private postal library -for phonic reading books. So I'm not adverse to hiring equipment.

Baby equipment - did expect to reused as knew we'd have more than one child and would have been worried about damage and wear and tear.

No, how do I know it is guaranteed smoke free environment, safe, no damage etc? I bought everything new or from trusted friends, I would not take chance with babies and toddlers.

A friend set a business like this years ago at airports - car seats/strollers etc - the maintenance and safety checks costs meant it became unviable after a while.