OnlyBorrow

OnlyBorrow: Building Malaysia's Sharing Economy Platform

Our Malaysia-based client envisioned a trusted marketplace where community members could rent or sell items to each other, creating a sustainable sharing economy. The challenge required building trust between strangers, ensuring secure payments, and enabling seamless real-time communication across both web and mobile platforms.

We built OnlyBorrow as a full-stack, cross-platform solution using Angular 9 and Angular Material for the web interface, paired with Node.js and GraphQL for the backend. The Ionic framework enabled us to deliver native-quality mobile experiences on both iOS and Android from a single codebase, reducing development time by 40% while maintaining platform-specific optimizations.

OnlyBorrow creates a complete marketplace ecosystem where users can list items with photos and pricing, browse local listings, and complete secure transactions. We integrated dual payment gateways—Stripe for international transactions and MCB for local Malaysian payments—giving users flexible payment options. Real-time chat powered by Socket.io enables instant communication between renters and owners, building the trust essential for marketplace success.

Push notifications keep both parties informed throughout the rental journey—from booking requests to payment confirmations and return reminders. This transparent communication reduces disputes and creates the community trust that makes a sharing economy platform thrive.