I am still a newcomer to Australia (~3 months) and I noticed a good deal of department and chain stores here have their owner's names. In the U.S. we have corporate names brands.

Even Wal-Mart and Kmart carry part of their founder's names.

    Owner's names:   David Jones, Myers, Fletcher Jones,
                     Woolworths (==Safeway), Dick Smith, Ken Bruce
    Corporate names: Just Jeans, Jeans West, Country Road, Safeway
    I'm pretty sure these Australian stores originated in the US:
                     Target, Kmart, Tandy

Woolworth was originally a major retailer in the US, which expanded into the UK in the early 20th century. The Australian Woolworth was so named to capitalize on the brand recognition from the US/UK retailer, which never operated in Australia, so had no trademark there. The last Woolworth stores in the US closed in the 90s.

Tandy was originally a leather goods company in Texas, named after its founder.

For current Owner I can think of Harvey norman, Bing Lee (although it doesn't exist in VIC, Ken Bruce, And Crazy John until he passed away..)

Also: Walmart.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Ilhan

I'm surprised at the number of Aussies in here.

That wouldn't be risky. Let's say he lists 5 Wiis. If no one rents a Wii, you simply don't buy it. If one person rents a Wii, you buy 1 Wii. If 5 people rent Wiis and 50 more express interest, you increase the number of Wiis you list and meanwhile demonstrate to people that there is a market for Wii rental.

Or what if he offered too many of the common items and effectively ended up competing with his own potential users who have something to rent?

You could, essentially, do one-sided-collusion with your users. For example, suppose the site offers 10 Wiis at $100. Later, one person offers a Wii for rent at less than or equal to $100. You simply stop offering one of your Wiis, and either hold it in inventory or sell it used to recoup most of your purchase price. The supply of Wiis stays constant but the portion of economic activity happening between customers increases.

The big two risks: listing more items than he could fulfill (either for lack of capital or lack of sufficient supply among the merchants he used -- you can't rent 30 Wiis if they'll only sell you 5, and your failure to deliver on the contract would only be discoverable after you've taken money for it, which spells "serious egg on face") and theft. If you're renting for 5% of the purchase price per week with a 50% of retail deposit, and the Wiis are not coming back, even if you're getting your Wiis below retail you could start bleeding money very quickly.

The business model is predicated on other people's honesty.

Otherwise known as "a good problem to have" ...

At that point, he's basically become a reseller though. A better way would be not to post as many "fake" ads.

What doctors have done is they induce demand by changing the way they offer their services. For example spending more time with customers or offering better service. This is why in such areas as Beverley Hills where there are hundreds of plastic surgeons they still all charge you a premium price. They all offer the same service, but because they can induce demand by their name and skill and location they make more, all of them.

Also this is one of many factors why the health care in America cost so much. Doctors can pretty much make up their own pricing. The more specialist the more you can charge, so everyone suddenly claims they are specialist doctors so they can charge you $1000 for clipping your nails.

The potential demand only mantifested after he created an imaginary supply.