Trust & safety
Boring is the goal.
Handing a stranger a $4,000 camera — or handing your weekend to a stranger's gear — should feel uneventful. Every hire runs through the same layered system. No exceptions, no shortcuts.
ID verification
Every renter verifies their identity before a first booking can be approved, through Stripe Identity.
Payment screening
Stripe Radar machine-learning screening plus 3D Secure on every transaction: the baseline layer against stolen-card fraud.
Bond holds
Each owner sets a bond on their own listing, scaled to the gear's value. It's a temporary pre-authorisation, released after the gear comes back in good condition and captured only for a documented damage or non-return claim. It is the main lever against loss, and it is not insurance: a loss can exceed the bond.
Photo handovers
Timestamped condition photos at check-out and check-in, taken by both parties and stored on the booking. Disputes start from evidence, not memory.
Damage handling
Every booking carries a refundable bond hold you set, and any damage claim is reviewed on the platform with the photo evidence both sides take at handover. It's a described feature of the platform, not an insurance product, and we never call it one.
Double-blind reviews
Reviews publish only once both sides submit — the Airbnb model. No retaliation, no review-for-review, honest signal for the next person.
Keeping it on-platform
Why we moderate messages.
Once two parties meet, the temptation to deal directly next time is real — and it's how protection, bonds and reviews all fall away. Messages are screened for contact details and off-platform payment hints, and flagged messages surface to both sides with a reminder of what's lost outside the system.
It's not about reading your mail. It's about keeping the safety net under every hire.
When it goes wrong
The dispute ladder.
Resolve together
Gear Envy review
Bond adjudication