We’ve held a wee bit of a working bee and spruced up some of the Open Shed features recently. Our aim is to make your Open Shed experience a member friendly and community orientated one, so we’ve done a lot of work around making things easier to use and more flexible for your needs. Here are the major changes in no particular order.

Makeover Time

Whilst Open Shed is still the collaborative consumption site you know and love, we thought it was a great idea to give her a little bit of a Winter Makeover. As part of her fashionable new look, you can now enjoy:

• No more “choose your own” categories: Open Shed now has a set list of categories you can choose to post a Rental and/or Wanted item in.
• Search Listings is the way to go: Whether you want to check what is listed to rent on Open Shed or are checking out to see if you can help with a Wanted Listing, you choose “Search Listings”. We’ve also given the look a bit of a refresh too to make what you are looking for easier to find and nicer to look at.
• Say bye, bye the “$$$” motif: You still rent your items for cash, however your feedback has told us you would like to see more about community, helping each other out, the environment and sharing so we want to reflect your values in how Open Shed looks. We’ve done some light changes to reflect this, and will have some very spunky new messaging appearing soon so stay tuned!

Wanted: Alive and Revamped

Wanted Listings have undergone a few significant changes, all of which is designed to make it easier for people who want an item connect with someone who can help in the simplest way.

• Wanted Listings are no longer on their own page: We found that a lot of people would list Wanted items that were already on the site or that members who may have something listed in the Wanted area don’t necessarily check what is listed. So we have combined Wanted Listings as part of general listings so you can find them easier. You can spot the difference by seeing a green WANTED next to the items that are Wanted Listings.
• Posting photos is now part of Wanted Listings: We understand with some items a picture really does help someone visualise what you are looking for, so now you can post a photo as a guide to what you are looking for as part of your Wanted Listing.
• Other people’s suggestions are now visible: You can now see any suggestions other members have made in response to a Wanted Listing. This helps avoid doubling up suggestions and to help give further insight into what you might be able to offer in their quest to find the right item.

FAQ is always there for you

In addition to the current FAQ page, when you use a particular feature you will get help about that feature on the same page. For example, if you are Listing an Item, you will see FAQ’s like “What kinds of things can you share on Open Shed?” and “What should I include in my item’s description?” on the right hand side. If you click on the blue question, the info you need will expand out so you can read it and work out what to do next without leaving the page you are on. Nifty, huh?

In this for the long haul

Open Shed is all about making a site that works the best for you- so when we had a member/someone ask about hiring a camera for 7 weeks and the owner keen and looking to offer a discount, we knew we’d found two new features that would really help our members.

• Long Rentals: You can now have a standard rental - which is a maximum of 25 days, and a long term rental- which can be as long as you want! This is ideal for anyone who might be looking to have an item for an extended period of time such as travelling looking for a camera/camping or backpacking gear, training for a specific sporting milestone like a marathon or even owner/builders who might need tools for an extended period of time to get the job done.
• Make an Offer: As an owner, you can also Make an Offer on your items. This feature is super simple to use and is a part of Conversations. You can offer a special rental price for a member in private to encourage long rentals, to offer your item to a friend for a reduced rate or a variety of different reasons. This feature always keeps you in control of setting the rental price, it simply offers more flexibility for different circumstances.

Feel free to let us know what you think of the new changes- this is your community after all! We really learn a lot from your use of Open Shed and your ideas and would love to hear from you. If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to ask. Happy shedding!

This blog was brought to you by Unashamedly Creative Unashamedly Creative is the nom de plume for creative Sydney copywriter and strategic freelance marketer, Rebekah Lambert. Rebekah is passionate about Open Shed- check out her listings!