"Die Borger" (German for lenders or borrowers) was inspired by the runaway success of global Internet auctions empire eBay, but instead of allowing users to buy and sell products and services, it helps offer them for free.

Andreas Kahnert, 41, and Thomas Pfuetzner, 38, were university friends and later colleagues in the IT industry when they came up with the idea.

"We had set up a DVD trading service for our sports club and then over Christmas we asked ourselves why we couldn't extend the idea to all kinds of products for all kinds of people," Kahnert told AFP in an interview at the CeBIT tech fair in the northern city of Hanover.

In the year since www.DieBorger.de went online, what began as a lark has become something of a phenomenon with sites in Austria and Switzerland and more than 4,000 users who have registered nearly 9,000 objects.

"Borger" are now trading a seemingly endless list of items for limited periods of time including bobsleds, fondue pots, camcorders, electric saws, scuba flippers, digital cameras, gardening tools and Lord of the Rings DVD box sets.

The system allows those seeking an item to search for it based on postal codes and get a proximity ranking. Those in urban areas rarely have far to look.

Based on the principle of give-and-take, the site requires users to sign up at least three items they are willing to lend before they can begin borrowing.

"We were surprised ourselves how well things have gone," Pfuetzner said, insisting that the site had yet to hear a horror story from a customer.

"There may be trouble down the road when we get bigger but for now things are running smoothly."

Although both the entrepreneurs describe themselves as optimists, they have built in three security guarantees to help inspire customer confidence.

Like eBay, lenders, borrowers and the objects are evaluated on a user ratings system so cheats and fussbudgets quickly earn a bad reputation that is publicized on the site.

Die Borger also provides a draft contract that both parties sign outlining their legal obligations. And borrowers leave a deposit based on the lenders' estimate of the new value of their property.

The site charges a nominal fee for borrowing, half of which goes to the lender. But those who lend often win enough "credit" on the site to borrow for free.

Kahnert and Pfuetzner, who are both active "Borger", said that people who had initially just been hunting for a bargain have been surprised to have found a growing community.

"You meet lots of people who share the same interests and are on the same wavelength, sometimes even soul mates," Kahnert said.

Kahnert, who had just lost his job when he started the company, said he and Pfuetzner would like to expand throughout Europe and into the United States and are looking for potential partners.

But Kahnert said they had learned from experience when the Internet bubble burst in 2000 that no online start-up can survive on just a clever idea.

Pfuetzner said that if users begin to clock up an average of five euros (six dollars 70 cents) per year in mediator fees on the site, it would put the company in the black.

"There are 36 million Internet users in Germany, around six million in Austria and about eight million in Switzerland. If we get even a fraction of that number, we'll be doing well," Kahnert said.

"We just need to reach critical mass," Pfuetzner added.

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