The "Borrowers" or similar

[peterbradford]

A beautiful short story lost in the mists of my aging mind is about how an alien society "borrows" items from us through a "space portal" in order to replicate them. This saves them time and money in research--as well as explaining how we put something down, can't find it, then we find it again just where we left it! Quite amusing.
It has nothing to do with the later kids' story and movie "The Borrowers".
Ideas anybody?

 

[TheDustyZebra]

Ha, how about "Dusty Zebra" by Clifford Simak?

They traded for other things, including a lovely little gadget that removed dust from everywhere and made a great vacuum cleaner ... for a while.

http://www.scribd.com/doc/65379622/Aliens-for-Neighbors-01-Dusty-Zebra-Clifford-D-Simak