How it works

Access over ownership.

Gear Envy connects Sydney locals with good gear owned by verified neighbours. Owners put idle gear to work; hirers get the shoot, the trip or the job done with gear they'd never justify buying. Here's both sides of the deal.

Hiring

Three taps to a weekend of kit.

Find & book
Search by gear and dates across Greater Sydney and the Central Coast. Real daily prices, full breakdown before you commit. ⚡ Instant Book confirms immediately; Request to Book gives the owner a set time to respond, from a day to a week. Each listing shows its own, and a request always closes before the hire starts. Book up to 14 days on gear under $500 and extend to 21 in total, and up to 7 days on everything else.
Pick up with a photo check-out
Meet the owner, walk the gear together, snap timestamped condition photos in the app. Two minutes, total clarity.
Use it & return
Do the work. Hand back with a check-in photo set. Both sides review, and the bond hold is released once the 48-hour claim window closes. Need it longer or want to change the return day? Sort it out on the booking page, and nothing changes until you both agree.

Start browsing

Lending

Your cupboard, employed.

List in minutes
Guided photos, pricing suggestions from similar Sydney listings, your calendar, your rules.
Approve every request, or go Instant Book
See the hirer's rating and history before you say yes. Decline anything, no questions asked. Or switch on ⚡ Instant Book per listing and get surfaced to hirers who need gear sooner.
Get paid after the hire
Confirm the check-in photos. You’re paid after the hire, straight to your bank. Gear Envy's 15% commission pays for payments, running the claims process and the platform: you keep 85% of your listed price.

List your gear

Trust badges

Good behaviour shows. It never gates.

Everyone starts at Verified. Hire history and ratings build your badge. Owners see it as a signal when reviewing requests, and it speeds things up. What it never does: lock you out of gear. Access is handled by the bond each owner sets on their own listing, not by a hire-count tier.

Verified

ID + payment verified. The baseline every hirer clears before a first booking.

Trusted

3+ hires at 4.5★ or better. A stronger signal on your profile.

Premium

10+ hires at 4.8★ or better. Owners approve these requests fastest.

Elite

25+ hires at 5.0★. The badge that says "hand it over, no worries."

Fair questions

Straight answers.

What does it cost to hire?

Owners set their own daily rates and you see the full price before you book: the hire price, a 5% service fee (minimum $2) for using Gear Envy, and the refundable bond hold. The bond and claims process is not an insurance product.

What if something gets damaged?

The photo condition check at handover documents everything, and the bond hold stays in place until the claim window closes. Claims are made within 48 hours of the owner confirming the return. If there's a dispute, the claim is reviewed on the platform, and any capture follows that review.

Can I cancel a booking?

Each owner picks a cancellation tier for their listing: Flexible, Moderate or Strict, shown on the listing before you book. What each tier refunds is in the cancellation policy. If the hire before yours is late back and the new pickup time won't work, you can cancel for a full refund.

Is delivery available?

Not yet. Launch is pickup-only. It keeps the handover personal and the condition check face-to-face. Delivery is on the roadmap: coming soon.

Outside Sydney?

Not yet. We're starting with Greater Sydney and the Central Coast: anywhere within about an hour of the CBD, from the Northern Beaches and the North Shore to the Inner West, Parramatta, Penrith and the Sutherland Shire, plus the Central Coast from Woy Woy and Gosford to Terrigal and Wyong. Anyone can join the waitlist from anywhere; booking opens to the launch postcodes first. Melbourne and Brisbane follow once the model is proven.