A 23-Year-Old in the US Makes R163,000 ($10,000) a Month Renting Out Ugly Old Washers on Facebook. Would It Work in SA?

Kyler rents secondhand washer-and-dryer sets to renters via Facebook Marketplace, no contracts, no credit checks, no employees. He started with zero appliances and now runs 120+ rented sets working 5-10 hours a week.

The idea

Kyler posts a photo of a washer and dryer for rent on Facebook Marketplace before he even owns one, tests demand first, buys only once someone messages wanting it. His "post, rent, buy" order removes almost all the risk. He now sources appliances for near-free: scanning Marketplace for "free appliances" and "broken appliances" posts (turnover is constant, people move or upgrade constantly), doing deliveries for secondhand appliance shops in exchange for the broken half of trade-ins, and buying direct from truck drivers dropping off new appliances at people's homes. Customers pay a flat monthly fee (R975-R1,380 / $60-85) by card via Stripe, with free delivery, install, and maintenance included, no lease, no ownership transfer. Churn is under 2% a month, most renters keep the set for a full year lease term.

Business fit breakdown

• Skills required: Operations/Logistics dominates, sourcing appliances, scheduling installs, and tracking which sets are out with which renter is the actual daily work. Trade/Technical Skill covers basic appliance handling (installing, minor repairs like clearing a lint-clogged vent), nothing that needs a qualification. Sales is lightweight, mostly just responding fast to Marketplace messages.
• Time commitment: Part-time, because once a set is installed it runs itself, the only recurring time cost is new installs and the occasional service call (roughly 3% of the fleet per month in the source example). Scales in hours only when actively growing the fleet.
• Execution difficulty: Sourcing free or cheap secondhand sets is the main skill to build, everything else (install, basic fixes, card payment via a Stripe-equivalent) is straightforward. The learning curve is knowing which appliance turnover sources to check daily.
• Go-to-market: Facebook Marketplace is arguably even more central to informal buying and selling in SA than in the US, so this channel translates directly and cheaply. The obstacle isn't finding customers, it's standing out against established, better-funded formal competitors already advertising the same pitch (no credit check, easy monthly payment).
• Revenue potential: At an estimated R350-R550/month per secondhand set (undercutting Teljoy's ~R719/month new-appliance price), reaching the fleet size demonstrated in the source video (100+ sets) lands in the R50k-R200k/month tier, achievable part-time given how little ongoing time each installed set requires.

Would it work in SA?

This isn't an open gap, it's a genuinely crowded space. Teljoy, Nomettco, Epic Rentals, RentalPlus, House Buddy, Rentoza, and Astra Furnishers all already run appliance rent-to-own in South Africa, several explicitly marketed as "no credit check," which was the exact edge the US version of this business relies on. Teljoy alone rents a brand-new washing machine for around R719/month with insurance and maintenance bundled. Where there's still room: none of the formal players run the scrappy, zero-paperwork, Facebook Marketplace-native version of this, sourcing free or near-free secondhand sets and renting them fast with nothing but a cash-based payment and a handshake. Given SA's own Facebook Marketplace culture and constant appliance turnover, the mechanics translate directly, but expect to compete on speed and informality against well-funded formal players, not fill a truly open gap.

Source: A 23-Year-Old in the US Makes R163,000 ($10,000) a Month Renting Out Ugly Old Washers on Facebook. Would It Work in SA? — Chris Koerner, The Koerner Office Podcast