Calling itself, "The Internet Sharing Marketplace," a new site called Moogul launched last week. San Francisco entrepreneur Joel Maske created the site to "empower consumers to extend the value of their items by sharing." Members can lend items to others in the network for a fee. For the borrower, Moogul delivers an inventory of items that are free or accessible with savings of up to 90%.

The site has individuals and small-business as members. Early Moogul small-business members include retailer Cole Hardware, part of the 4800 store Ace Hardware cooperative, the DayOne Center for new and expectant parents and Promethean Software, a developer of legal software.

"Partnering early with Moogul was a natural choice for us," said Rick Karp, CEO of Cole Hardware. "An increasing amount of our business comes from renting items no one wants to store in the city, but everyone needs from time-to-time including rakes, saws, leaf blowers and electric drills. With Moogul, we are reaching a whole new market of consumers who want temporary access to our materials."

According to the company, 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's policy of only sharing original, legally purchased CDs creates a legitimate online platform for exchanging music.

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. For music studios, Moogul is a powerful distribution platform and a means to promote and package music in entirely new ways. Currently more than 6,000 songs from over 500 artists are in circulation on Moogul.

Moogul is free to join, with members posting shareable items for borrowers to review. Lenders set the sharing price and duration, and Moogul earns a commission from each successful, fee-based sharing cycle. Individual and business lenders can choose to share only within their geographic area or among the entire Moogul community.

Founder Joel Maske successfully launched iSyndicate before being acquired by Yellowbrix in 2001, as well as GALT Technologies, which was acquired by Intuit in 1996.

http://www.moogul.com