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Every day we're happy to welcome new members in our community adding hundreds of new objects and renting more things. We would like to thank you for your trust.

We prepared the following list of tips and advice to make sure you experience the safest rental transactions. Please take a minute to read it through, it's very useful whether a renter or an owner.

• Check your account often, so you don't miss a rental transaction and so your contact and profile information is up-to-date.
• Attach identification documents to your account profile to boost trust from other members.
• Contact directly the owner or the renter as quickly as possible after the rental transaction is confirmed.
• Don't forget to sign the rental contract when you make the transaction- either the standard one we provide you or, if you think you can beat our lawyer, another of your preference.
• Ask for a copy of an official document (copy and original) if you want to check the identity of your renter.
• If you're the owner of the object, make sure you explain the renter exactly how to use your item!
• If requested, don't forget the deposit, either in cash or check; this is your first guarantee.
• Try as much as possible to avoid corporate checks.
• If you're planning on using checks for payment, make sure the name on the check is the same than on the person's official documents.
• Also, we recommend you check the photo on the document resembles the person standing in front of you!
• Always ask for your renter's telephone number and verify it.
• Please evaluate the rental after you're done, to help making our community a better place.

We like to believe that we live in the best of worlds, but as we all know some come to spoil our ideals. So don't forget to follow these guidelines and your rentals on Zilok will go untroubled. Have fun, and remember money doesn't grow on trees, it grows on Zilok!

Sean Adams' mission is to find the best bargains and money savers for people of the New York Tri-State area. The show airs on WCBS every week, and last week the focus was Zilok and how you can make money AND save money with it.

With the economy in its current state, every penny counts, and Zilok can help you save and make more than pennies, lots of dollars.

Sean Adams spotted and contacted us for an interview. Welcome listeners from New York, New Jersey and Connecticut!

You can find the show and more bargains in the Tri-State area on WCBS website

Today's Daily Candy is Zilok. We hope you find it sweet and delicio.us! The quickest ones to list rental items will be rewarded with a free feature on the home page!

It's time we make a change about the way we consume. Do we really need to buy and accumulate all this new stuff? Seriously, how often do you use this fancy purse, this ice-cream maker, this bike... well most of your things really? Some things we use all the time, some we just occasionally need to have access to. That's where Zilok can help, connecting you with other people in the community to support a green lifestyle with peer-to-peer renting.

And if you don't do it for the environment, do it for the money! Zilok is a great and easy way to make an extra buck using what you already have. In return people will save money when they'll find out they can rent your things instead of buying them new.

So if you like this candy, please help jumpstart a Zilok community around you by listing some of your things online and telling neighbors and friends about it. Creating an account and listing rental items is free!

Who's going to be first? If you are the first one to post an item (with a picture) in your city and in a category, send us a message and we'll feature your item on the home page for free!

Special thanks to Jasmine and Lauren at Daily Candy for discovering and featuring us in this post.

This morning Zilok made news in "Today in LA" on KNBC. Welcome Los Angeles people to our community of happy renters! To get started, create your free account, and start listing your objects online, people around will need them soon!

And don't forget to tell your friends about it, the more we are and the more objects we can rent, the more money you'll be able to make and save while supporting a green and community-driven lifestyle.

We would like to send warm thanks to Kestrin who kindly volunteered for the story, to the KNBC team in Los Angeles and to the KNTV team in San Francisco. You guys made an amazing job!

Hopefully we'll soon be able to show you the video, so stay tuned on this one.

Update:
Here is the video, enjoy!

We were honored six months ago to be awarded Site of the Week by PC Magazine. PC Mag takes a closer look at our new version and features. It's official now, to rent on the net, Zilok is the way to go!

A few good quotes from the PCMag article, that was also published on Appscout.com

"Zilok, the world's largest peer-to-peer renting platform, might be exactly what you need to make money from the things you have and save money on the things you need only temporarily."

"The cool thing about Zilok is that it lets you rent all sorts of items you might not easily find otherwise, whether you need a digital SLR camera for the weekend, are looking for an inflatable fun-house for a birthday party, or just want to borrow someone else's MacBook Air to try before you buy your own."

Welcome back PC Magazine readers, thanks Errol for the insightful coverage.

Here is also the orginial Site of the Week review.

When Zilok launched its public beta in the US six months ago, Mashable! was among the first give us a review and to get excited about peer-to-peer renting. For our US official launch, Mashable! covers the green benefits of renting stuff to other people.

Along with the article, you can see a video interview of our General Manager, Jeff Boudier, that was recorded during the web 2.0 expo in San Francisco a month ago.

Kristen Nicole pinpointed the definite benefits of using Zilok: "create an additional stream of income by offering up items for rental to others" and "pushing a green lifestyle", thanks again!

After being elected online by people as one of the finalist of the Startup 2.0 European competition, Zilok took the first prize yesterday in Barcelona!

We're very honored to have been chosen by people and the jury as the best web 2.0 startup in Europe.

Zilok is very active in Europe where people from 4 countries are already renting their stuff from one another: France, UK, the Netherlands and Belgium.

The final of the Startup 2.0 contest was held in Barcelona, Spain, which is a perfect place to celebrate!

The jury included outstanding personalities from the entrepreneur, VC and media world, including Loic Le Meur, founder of Seesmic, Martín Varsavsky, founder of Fon, Mike Butcher and Ouriel Ohayon, editors of TechCrunch in Europe, and many others.

Thanks to all the jury members for believing in us, thanks to all our users to have made it possible, we'll make sure we're up to your expectations!

It was a pleasure and a lot of fun being live on air for "Talk of the Town" on WVLY today. Thank you Scott Shalaway for inviting me on the show. And a warm welcome to listeners who are stepping by our site.

So, now, friends from West Virginia and Ohio, you know what to do: create a free account and start listing your vacation rentals, digital cameras, strollers, projectors and all you have that can be helpful to people around. Believe me, someone will need it at some point! And for all this to work, don't forget to tell your friends, families and neighbors about it, so they know where to look for stuff to rent.

Best regards, and I hope you'll enjoy Zilok,

Jeff Boudier

Do you have a tent you’ve used twice or a digital camera gathering dust in a drawer? Do you need a power drill for just one project?

In a world where a drill is only used for an average of 12 minutes over its whole lifetime it has become clear that even though we often feel we have too much stuff, we always seem to want and need more. After six months in live beta, Zilok, already the World’s largest peer-to-peer renting platform, today announced its full US service launch, and with it a proven green way to make money from the things you have and save money on the things you want and need.

Make money, save money
The bicycles, camping gear, strollers and electronics that gather dust in our cluttered closets and garages are needed right now by people in your area who would love to rent an item for a few days rather than spend much more to buy it themselves.

Keep it local and be a green hero
By simply renting things you aren’t using to people in your area, you cut down on conspicuous consumption and encourage the reuse of everyday household items and electronics. With Zilok you help save on the natural resources needed to produce more stuff.

“Inspired by conservation and green movements in Europe, Zilok is the fun way to tackle over-consumption while expanding everyone’s access to the things they want and need—whether that is a scooter or Wii, a ratchet set or a tuxedo” offered Gary Cige, Cofounder and CEO of Zilok.

How to rent out just about anything on Zilok.com
Posting an item just takes a minute: Type in what it is, where it is and when it is available, upload a picture, set your price and choose payment methods. Before you know it you may receive your first text message or email notifying you that “Someone requested your item.” Not someone from out of state, someone from your actual area.

How to rent just about anything on Zilok.com
Just type in what you are looking for and where you live. Find the item, set the time frame of the rental and confirm the request with the retainer system. Next pickup the item locally and pay the owner directly. It is that easy.

What Zilok Users are Saying
Lionel from New York City: “I needed a twin jog stroller for a weekend, and found one on Zilok in my neighborhood. I saved time and about $200, for something I wouldn’t even know where to store.”
Brianna from Seattle: “We have a scooter we don’t use much but pay insurance for. I listed it on Zilok and told neighbors. The word spread and it became an alternative transportation mode for some people in the community. I made more than $150 over this last couple of months, I’m glad we kept that scooter!”
Tony from San Francisco: “My kayak doesn’t get out of the garage very often. I hate seeing things not being used, and I’m glad other people can enjoy it now it’s on Zilok. The extra money is nice, and I really like the community and the green aspects of it.”

About Zilok.com
Zilok is the online rental marketplace, where anyone can offer just about anything for rent to the community. Zilok’s mission is to support and develop peer-to-peer renting as a new, sustainable and community-driven way of consuming.
Zilok went live in public beta in November 2007 in the United States, France and Belgium, and in Spring 2008 in the Netherlands and in the UK. US offices are based in San Francisco, CA. Zilok.com was awarded Site of the Week by PC Magazine, and elected the best European Startup by the audience of the Plugg Startup Rally 2008. Zilok is a member of the American Rental Association.

We are happy to announce that Zilok has been selected as one of the 10 finalists that will be present in Barcelona, Spain for the last step of the Startup 2.0 contest.

Over 300 Internet startups have been submitted from all over Europe and Zilok is one of the 10 remaining ones, ready to pitch next week for the title.

Startup 2.0 is a European web startup competition, with an outstanding jury including Loic Le Meur (Seesmic's founder), Martín Varsavsky (Fon's founder), Ouriel Ohayon and Mike Butcher (TechCrunch editors)

You can learn more about the competition on the Startup 2.0 site