Thanks for your kind response.

Perhaps we humans have an innate (or acquired) sense for fairness in sharing with the balance of give and take this involves. Hence, repeatedly asking for something does not feel fair as would be repeatedly being asked for something. That has to be taken into account for any sharing platform.

With respect to reluctantly lending something that is lower quality, you might be onto something. A cheap item is simply more like to break, with all the hassle and embarrassment that comes with such an event. Conversely, lending an expensive item is at times tricky, too; while it is less likely to break, the embarrassment is even bigger. However, if there is some kind of agreement in place, conveniently offered by a platform, matters should not become too awkward.

For instance, as neighbours let's buy a robust garden waste shredder together. Things need to be specified how the purchase price is split, where it is kept, what happens in case of damage, theft, etc, or somebody moving away and leaving, or joining, perhaps another neighbour ... You would not go through a legal process for a £10 shovel, but a £1k shredder. Maybe https://www.libraryofthings.co.uk/ software could help with an easy way to create an "instance" of a community per street with template agreements.