Moogul Launches Online Sharing Marketplace

Posted on July 9, 2004

Moogul.com, which bills itself as "The Internet Sharing Marketplace", has launched a website where consumers and businesses can borrow and lend items ranging from books, CDs, and DVDs to garden equipment, camping gear, and maternity clothes. Moogul was created by San Francisco entrepreneur Joel Maske. Moogul is Joel's third venture, having launched iSyndicate before being acquired by Yellowbrix in 2001, as well as GALT Technologies which was acquired by Intuit in 1996.

Moogul allows users to make money from items by lending it to someone in the network for a fee. Members can also just share the item with others for free. For the borrower, Moogul claims to deliver a large inventory of items that are free or accessible with savings of up to 90%. Like eBay, Moogul will need to build a network of trust among its users to be successful. If large numbers of people do not return items this will be a big problem for Moogul. Moogul generates profit from every transaction that involves a fee.

"Moogul is a next logical step in the evolution of ecommerce," said Maske. "Tens of millions of consumers and businesses transact with one another confidently online today, using the Web to save money, increase access to products, and grow the bottom line. Now, Moogul provides an additional opportunity, unleashing online sharing for mainstream, commercial use."

The most popular early category for sharing is music, with more than one in three new Moogul members either lending or borrowing CDs from other members. Moogul says it maintains a policy of only sharing original, legally purchased CDs. Music lovers can trade CDs at no cost with other members and view each other's collections. Musicians can circulate their work opening up new markets for listeners. Today, more than 6,000 songs from over 500 artists are in circulation on Moogul.

Books are also popular on Moogul -- an area that could potentially diminish book sales for publishers, booksellers, and used booksellers. A search for Stephen King on Moogul returned over 900 results. Moogul's listings also contain links to Amazon.com where customers can buy the book. Next to the link Moogul says shoppers can purchase the item from Amazon.com, "then Join Moogul to Share." There are currently about 20 copies of The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown available at Moogul. The price to borrow them from Moogul members ranges from free to $2.90. The borrower can then either return the book within thirty days or buy it for a "keep" price.

Brian Blum, of Scarsdale, NY, is already a frequent Moogul user, or "Power Sharer." "Instead of paying retail prices for a book that you may not read, a CD you may not like, or a DVD you may never watch again," said Mr. Blum, "Moogul gives you the opportunity to audit before you buy, so you're not wasting money or cluttering up your closets with junk you're never going to use."