Rentby help and guide

Rent out your products by the day, by the night or for fixed periods, with a refundable deposit, in Shopify’s own checkout.

What Rentby does

Rentby adds a rental calendar to the product pages of the items you rent out. A shopper picks a start date and a return date, sees the price and any deposit before adding to cart, and pays in Shopify’s normal checkout. Rentby only offers dates when a unit is free, counting the units you own, the rentals already booked, your buffer days, open days and blackout dates. Every rental is checked again at checkout, so a unit can’t be double booked.

Getting started

1. Install Rentby and open it from Apps in your Shopify admin.
2. Add a rental item. Under Rental items, click Add rental item, pick the product variant (its store price and stock count fill in when the product tracks quantity in Shopify), then set any discounts and a deposit.
3. Check your settings. Under Schedule, choose days or nights, your open days, notice and buffer days, and make sure Show rental dates on my storefront is on.
4. Add closed days (optional) under Blackout dates.
5. Add the block to your product page. Click Open my theme editor, open your product template, then Add block → Apps → Rentby rental dates.
6. Move it under Add to cart and click Save. Shopify drops new blocks at the bottom of the section, where most shoppers never scroll.
7. Place a test rental. Book some dates on your storefront and check out. It shows up on the Dashboard, under Rentals and on the Calendar.

Are rental dates on my store?

The home page shows a status line. A green pulsing dot and Online mean rental dates have loaded on your store in the last two weeks, with when it last happened. Red means they have shown before but not lately, so check the Rentby block is still in your theme. Grey means rentals are switched off.

Rental items

Each rental item is one product variant. Open Rental items and click Add rental item, or click an item to change it. The What shoppers pay table shows the rental as you type for every length you enter (shortest, longest, each discount or fixed period) plus common lengths in between (up to 30, 90, 180 and 365 days when the item allows them), and what the shopper pays. Type any number in Check a length to add that length to the table at checkout with the deposit included. The deposit is charged once per rental, whatever the length, and refunded when the item comes back.

• Units you own: how many of this variant you can rent out at the same time. A set or a kit counts as one unit, however many pieces are in it (a “Set of 10 chairs” you own ten of is 10 units). When you pick the product, Rentby fills this in from Shopify’s stock count if the product tracks quantity: on the product in Shopify, Inventory, turn on Track quantity and set Available. Leave Sell when out of stock on; Rentby manages availability by dates, not by stock. The store price fills in Price per day the same way, and you can change either. Each rental holds one unit for every one in the quantity. With two or more locations renting, you enter the units at each location and the total is worked out for you.
• Rented by: Day, Night or Hour. See Days, nights or hours.
• Days it can go out and come back: every day starts selected. Click a day to turn it off, and rentals of this item can’t start or end on that day.
• Per day: one price for each day (or night). Add Longer rental discounts to charge less per day for longer rentals, for example $40 a day, or $30 a day from 3 days. The lowest rate a rental qualifies for applies to every day of it.
• Fixed periods: set lengths with a price each, such as 4 nights for $60 and 8 nights for $90. A rental uses the shortest period that covers it, so a 5 night rental is priced as the 8.
• Flat fee per rental (optional): added once to each rental, on top of the day or period price. Shoppers see it as “Booking fee”.
• Refundable deposit (optional): added at checkout as its own line. See Deposits.
• Shortest and longest rental: set for each item. Left blank, the longest rental is 60 days. Renting for months, for example equipment to a business? Type the longest you allow, such as 180 or 365 days, and add a discount for long rentals (say 30 days and up) or a fixed period such as 30 days for a monthly price.
• Buffer before and after: time a unit is held before each rental, for prep or shipping, and after each return, for cleaning or checks. Days for day and night items, minutes for hourly items.

Rentby counts your units itself, so it sets each rental variant to keep selling when Shopify’s stock count reaches zero. If the product tracks quantity, Shopify’s stock follows the rentals: an order sets its units aside as Committed, Check out takes them off On hand, and Check in puts them back. Removing a rental item stops new bookings; existing bookings stay on their orders.

Days, nights or hours

Each rental item is Rented by the day, the night or the hour. With days, Oct 1 to Oct 3 is 3 days. With nights, Oct 1 to Oct 3 is 2 nights, like a hotel. Either way, the unit is held on every date from the start date to the return date, plus any buffer days.

Hourly items are booked on one date, from a start time to an end time, for example 10:00 to 13:00. Set your opening time, closing time and 30 or 60 minute steps under Schedule → Hourly rentals. Prices, longer rental discounts, fixed periods and shortest and longest bookings all count in hours, and buffers in minutes. Checkout stops two bookings that overlap.

Schedule

• Show rental dates on my storefront: the main switch. Off hides the rental calendar everywhere.
• Open days: rentals can only start and end on these days, for example no pickups or returns on Sunday.
• Notice needed (days) and Same-day cutoff time: how soon a rental can start. After the cutoff, today counts as a day of notice used.
• Book up to this many days from today: how far ahead shoppers can book.
• Same dates for every rental in the cart: shoppers pick dates once, and every other rental product they open starts with the same dates while a rental is in their cart. Empty the cart, or place the order, and the calendar starts clean again.
• Hourly rentals: opening time, closing time and time steps for items rented by the hour.
• Time zone: all dates, times, notice and cutoffs use your store’s time zone.
• Local delivery (Starter and up): offer store pickup, local delivery or both, with delivery zones by postal code. See Local delivery.
• Locations: rent from more than one Shopify location, with units and availability kept per location. See Locations.
• How shoppers pick the dates: Dropdown lists (the default) show a Start list and a Return list with only the dates that work. Calendar, always open shows the month on the page. Calendar, opens on click shows two date boxes that open the month when clicked. Hourly items show one date, then From and To times, in every style. The preview on the right shows your choice.
• Storefront text: change any wording on the rental calendar, translate it, and pick your own colors if you don’t want the theme’s, with the color picker or by typing a hex code next to each swatch. A color set on the Rentby block in the theme editor still wins. On a store in Spanish, French, German, Italian or Portuguese, the calendar shows in that language by itself for any wording you leave blank; your own wording always wins.

Blackout dates

Add the days you’re closed under Blackout dates: holidays, vacations, event days. Rentals can’t start or end on them, so shoppers can’t pick them. Closed for more than one day? Set a last day closed and the whole stretch is one entry. Tick Every year for holidays like Christmas so you never enter them again, then press Save in the bar at the top. Click Edit on an entry to change it and Save the same way. Shoppers see the Reason, so keep it short and customer friendly, for example “Thanksgiving”. It also shows on the Calendar page. Blackout dates close the whole store; for a day only one of several locations is closed, use that location’s closed dates (see Locations).

Local delivery

For businesses that drop equipment off at the customer’s home and collect it again. Local delivery is a Starter feature: you can set it up on Free, but shoppers only see it once you subscribe, and it stops showing if you move back to Free. Turn on Offer local delivery under Schedule → Local delivery. Leave Offer store pickup on to let shoppers choose, or turn it off if every rental is delivered.

Shoppers then choose pickup or delivery above the dates, with the first choice already picked. Delivery asks for their postal code. Add a zone for each area you deliver to, with its postal codes (one per line, or a wildcard like 325*) and an optional fee. A shopper inside a zone sees “We deliver here.” and that zone’s fee; outside every zone they see “We don’t deliver to that postal code yet” and can only continue with pickup. Add to cart waits until a delivery shopper enters a postal code you deliver to. A zone with no postal codes covers everywhere not matched by another zone, so with one of those (or no zones at all) you deliver anywhere and no postal code is needed.

With two or more rental locations, each zone has a Delivers from choice. Leave it on Any location (shopper chooses) and the shopper picks the location as usual. Set it to a location and a shopper who chooses delivery to that zone gets that location picked for them, with the location list locked, so the dates and units are the ones of the shop that actually delivers. If the same postal code sits in zones for two different locations, the settings page warns you: the first matching zone wins, so keep each code under one location.

The fee is shown, not charged. Rentby can’t add money to a Shopify cart, and Shopify doesn’t let any app read your local delivery rates, so set the real charge under Settings → Shipping and delivery → Local delivery and keep the two the same. Leave a fee blank and shoppers see the price at checkout, which is always safe. You can rename both choices with the Pickup label and Delivery label, and change every message under Storefront text.

Shopify asks for the delivery method again at checkout. That is normal and no app can remove it, Shopify does not let apps preselect the checkout delivery method, so the picker says “You’ll confirm this again at checkout.” Asking early means a shopper outside your area finds out before checkout, not after.

Delivery rentals are marked on the Dashboard (Deliver on the way out, Collect on the way back), on the Calendar day list, on receipt slips and in your calendar link, and the order gets a delivery tag. Rentby keeps no customer addresses: click the order number to see where to go.

Locations

For stores that rent the same items from more than one place. Rentby lists your Shopify locations under Schedule → Locations, one Rent out from here switch each. With one location there is nothing to set and everything works as before. Rentby asks Shopify for permission to read your locations the next time you open it. A cart can hold rentals from two shops: if a shopper picks a different location for another item, the picker shows a heads-up that the cart now has rentals at two shops, and each rental keeps its own location (and is held there). Shopify’s checkout still asks for one pickup point for the whole order, so check the item locations on these orders. Shopify asks for a pickup location again at checkout; if the shopper picks a different one of your rental locations there, checkout asks them to choose the location their rental is booked at. A cart still pointing at a location you have switched off is stopped at checkout too, and the picker asks the shopper to remove that rental from their cart and add it again.

• Turn on two or more locations and each rental item gets a Units you own table with a count per location. Availability is kept per location, so a kayak booked downtown is still free at the airport.
• Shoppers see a Pick up at choice above the dates (below the pickup or delivery choice when you offer delivery; it reads Delivers from when they choose delivery). Each location shows its city and state, like Downtown (Austin, TX). Nothing is chosen for them: the dates stay greyed out with the line Choose a pickup location first to see its dates. (or Choose the location it delivers from first to see its dates. for a delivery) until they pick one. The dates and fully booked days follow the location they choose, and the choice carries over to the other rental products they open. The location is saved on the order line as Pickup location, or Delivers from for a delivery.
• Each location that rents has its own closed dates on the Locations card: add a first day, an optional last day (blank closes just the one day) and a reason. Rentals at that location can’t start or end on them; the picker greys them out with your reason (“Closed: Staff training”), and checkout refuses an older cart that lands on one. The other locations stay open.
• Checkout checks the units at that location. A rental line that somehow reaches an order without a location is marked Over capacity with the note No location on the order, so you can sort it out from the Dashboard.
• The Dashboard and Rentals page show the location on each rental, the Rentals page has a location filter, the Calendar has a location drop-down that shows that location’s units and bookings, and the order card, receipt slips and calendar link name the location too.
• Rename, add, switch on or off, or close a location in Shopify and Rentby picks it up straight away, on the product page and at checkout. Stores with more than 50 locations are read in full.
• Turn locations off again (or down to one) and Rentby goes back to one store-wide count.

Rename Pick up at, Delivers from and the other location wording under Storefront text.

What shoppers see

• If you offer local delivery, a choice of pickup or delivery above the dates, and a postal code box for delivery. See Local delivery.
• If you rent from more than one location, a Pick up at choice above the dates. See Locations.
• A Start and a Return date on the product page, picked from dropdown lists or a month calendar, whichever you choose in Schedule. On the calendar they click a start date, then a return date, and the range lights up as they move across it. Return stays greyed out until a start is picked, then Start and the days before it are greyed out while they pick the return. Clear dates starts over.
• Dates with no free unit, closed days and days outside your notice or booking window are greyed out on the calendar (greyed and crossed out if you choose, which also puts an ✕ in front of them in the dropdown lists). Tapping or hovering a greyed day says why: “Closed: Thanksgiving” with your blackout reason (or the chosen location’s own closed-date reason), “Closed” on a day you’re closed, “Fully booked”, “Needs more notice” inside your notice time, or “Not available on this day” when the item has its own days. The dropdown lists leave those days out by default. To list them greyed out with the same words, set Days that can’t be picked, in the dropdown lists to Show them greyed out under Schedule, Storefront text, then tick which kinds to list: blackout dates, days you’re closed, an item’s own days off, fully booked days and notice days.
• The shortest and longest rental, the total for their dates, any booking fee, the refundable deposit and the Total today. When a longer rental is cheaper per day, they see a hint such as “Rent 7+ days for $30/day”.
• Add to cart and Buy it now are greyed out until they have chosen dates, and, when they choose delivery, a postal code you deliver to. Hovering the button says what is missing, and clicking it points them to the dates. A product that isn’t a rental item sells as normal.
• In the cart and at checkout the item shows its dates, and the deposit shows as its own “Refundable rental deposit” line. Checkout prints one total for the pair, so each part says what it costs underneath: “Rental: $60.00 for 3 days” and “Refundable deposit: $30.00”. The order line carries Rental dates, for example “Oct 1 to Oct 3”.

On the Free plan a small “Powered by Rentby” link sits under the calendar.

Checkout protection

Rentby checks every rental again when the shopper checks out. If the dates were taken by someone else in the meantime, or the cart is old (for example from an abandoned cart email), checkout stops with a plain message naming the product, and the shopper picks new dates. The same check covers shortest and longest rentals, notice, open days and blackout dates. The price comes from your rental item, never from the cart, so it can’t be changed by the shopper. When the order arrives, Rentby checks once more. If two orders ever claim the last unit, the second shows as Over capacity on the Dashboard so you can sort it out.

Dashboard

Open the Dashboard for the day at a glance. The tiles show the count for Going out today, Coming back today, Overdue, Out right now, Deposits held, how much of your units’ time is Booked next 7 days, Rentals this month and Upcoming 30 days, with a chart of units going out each day for the next two weeks, labeled with the weekday and date.

Below them is one list box that scrolls, with a chip for each list and its count: Today (going out and coming back today, shown first), Overdue, Over capacity, Not picked up (the start date has passed and it never went out) and Returned, deposit held. Each rental is one line: order number, item, dates, status, deposit and its buttons. All rentals on the right opens the Rentals page. With local delivery, a rental the customer chose delivery for shows Deliver on the way out and Collect on the way back, and the tiles count how many to deliver and collect. On each rental:

• Check out when it leaves. Rentby also marks the rental line and its deposit line fulfilled in Shopify, with no email to the customer, so the order reads Fulfilled once the item is out. If Shopify refuses (an order already edited, say), the check-out still goes through and Rentby tells you to mark the order fulfilled yourself. It works the other way too: if you or your staff prefer to fulfil or Mark as picked up from the order in Shopify, Rentby sees that, checks the rental out for you and fulfils the deposit line as well, so both ways end the same.
• Check in when it comes back, with an optional condition note. If a deposit is still held, Rentby asks Refund the deposit? Yes checks the item in and refunds the whole deposit in one go. No, keep it needs a reason (damage, late return, missing parts), which is saved on the rental; you can still refund part of it later with Refund deposit. For a product that tracks quantity, check in also puts the units back into Shopify’s stock at the location they went out from. The unit stays held for its buffer days, then frees up. If it came back broken, tick Came back damaged, say how many (for a rental of more than one) and what is wrong: those units go to Repairs and can’t be booked until they are fixed.
• Not returned appears on a rental once it is overdue. Use it when the item is not coming back: it closes the rental, keeps the deposit, and takes the units off that item’s count so Rentby stops booking them. You can add a note, and you can still refund the deposit later. An overdue rental keeps holding its unit, day after day, until you check it in or mark it not returned, so nothing gets double booked in the meantime.
• Refund deposit: the full deposit is filled in. Type a smaller amount to keep part of it. There is a reason box too; it is optional, except when the deposit was kept at check-in, when you must say why it is being refunded now (a review, an agreement with the customer, a dispute). The history on the line then reads in order: kept and why, then refunded and why.

Each line also keeps its history: when it went out and came back, your check-in note, a deposit kept and why, and each refund with its date (“Deposit 30.00 refunded Oct 25”, or “refunded in Shopify” when it was done from the order). A rental that is late keeps its unit held until you check it in. Click an order number to open the order in Shopify.

Repairs

Units checked in as damaged are listed under Repairs in the app menu, with the order they came from, the date and your note. While a unit is there it is taken off the item’s count, so shoppers can’t book it, and Shopify holds it as Damaged instead of Available. The item’s page shows how many are not being counted.

• Repaired puts the units back on the item and moves them back to Available in Shopify, ready to rent.
• Write off is for a unit that can’t be fixed. It stays off the item for good and Shopify’s Damaged count drops.

Closed repairs from the last 60 days are kept at the bottom of the page under Closed. Print gives you a clean list for whoever does the fixing, closed ones included, and Download CSV saves the same list as a spreadsheet (status, item, units, order, date checked in, date closed and your note), handy for your books or an insurance claim on a write-off.

Rentals

Rentals in the menu lists every rental in your store on one page, grouped by start date (today is marked Today), each with the same Check out, Check in and Refund deposit buttons as the Dashboard. Active shows what is booked, out or over capacity; Booked, Out, Returned and Cancelled narrow it down, and All shows everything. Type an order number or item name in the search box to find one rental. A day with a late or over capacity rental is outlined in red. Use the Dashboard for today at a glance and Rentals when you want the whole list.

On the order page in Shopify

You don’t have to open Rentby to handle a rental. Open any rental order under Orders in Shopify and the Rentby card on it shows each rental: its status (Booked, Out, Returned), the dates, Delivery when the customer chose delivery, how many days late it is, and the deposit held or refunded. The same buttons as the Dashboard are there: Check out, Check in with an optional condition note and the Refund the deposit? question, and Refund deposit, with the full deposit filled in and a smaller amount keeping part of it. The first time, scroll to Blocks at the bottom of any order, click + Block, choose Rentby, then click the pin icon on the card. Once pinned it is on every order page in your store; nobody has to add it again.

Prefer fulfilling from the order itself? That works too: fulfilling or marking a rental line picked up in Shopify checks it out in Rentby, and checking it out in Rentby fulfils it in Shopify. Check in and deposits stay in Rentby.

Tip: in Orders, filter by the tag rental (every rental order gets it) and click Save as to keep it as a Rentals view at the top of Orders. A delivery tag marks delivery rentals.

Calendar

Calendar shows how many of each item are booked on each day, buffer days included, with one row per rental item. Use 7 days to move back or forward. Click a day to see the rentals holding it, and click an order number to open it in Shopify.

See your rentals in your calendar

Click Create calendar link for a private link that shows every rental in Google Calendar, Apple Calendar or Outlook, one all-day entry from its start date to its return date, marked “(Delivery)” when the customer chose delivery. In Google Calendar choose Other calendars → From URL and paste the link. Calendar apps refresh it on their own schedule, usually every few hours, so use the Calendar page for up-to-the-minute numbers. No customer details are in the feed. Anyone with the link can see your rentals, so if it was shared by mistake, click Reset link and add the new one. Turn off removes it. Both wait for Save.

Deposits

Set a deposit on any rental item. Shoppers see it on the product page before they add to cart. At checkout it is added as its own line, “Refundable rental deposit”, with the item it is for. It is not taxed and needs no shipping. Rentby creates that hidden deposit product for you, so please don’t delete it while Rentby is installed.

Rentby never refunds a deposit without you. Checking an item in asks Refund the deposit?: Yes refunds it there and then, No keeps it and records your reason. When the item is back, click Refund deposit on the Dashboard, on the Rentals page or on the order page in Shopify. The refund goes through Shopify to the original payment, and Shopify emails the customer as usual. To keep part of it, for damage or a late return, refund a smaller amount. The Deposits held tile shows what you still hold.

Plans and limits

• Free ($0): up to 10 rentals a month, with a small “Powered by Rentby” link under the calendar.
• Starter ($19/mo): up to 75 rentals a month, local delivery with postal-code zones, receipt printer slips, no badge. Includes a 7-day free trial.
• Pro ($49/mo): up to 300 rentals a month. Includes a 7-day free trial.
• Scale ($99/mo): unlimited rentals. Includes a 7-day free trial.

Every rental feature is on every plan: deposits, buffer days, fixed periods, the Dashboard and the calendar. Local delivery and the receipt printer are part of Starter and up. Beyond that, plans count one thing only: rentals per calendar month, one for each rental line on a new order, reset on the 1st in your store’s time zone. The home screen shows where you stand. Once you reach your plan’s figure, rental dates stop showing on your storefront and online rentals pause until the 1st, or until you upgrade. Rentals already booked carry on as normal. Billing runs through Shopify and you can cancel anytime.

Email updates (optional)

At the bottom of Rentby’s home screen there is an Email updates box. Add an email to get a note when your store has used 80% of its monthly rentals, another if it reaches the limit, and, at most once a month, a short note about any major update. Leave it empty and Rentby never emails you. Every email has an unsubscribe link, and Unsubscribe under the box removes your address straight away.

Receipt printer

On Starter and up, Rentby can print a slip for every new rental order on a Star receipt printer at your counter, by itself, with no computer or app open. Each slip says PICKUP or LOCAL DELIVERY across the top to match the rental (RETURN for a rental coming back), then shows the order number, the rental dates, the items with quantities and any deposit paid, with lines to fill in who checked it out and its condition. No customer details are printed. What a slip looks like on the Receipt printer page shows a sample pickup, local delivery and return slip.

Which printers work

Any Star Micronics printer that supports CloudPRNT and is on your network by cable or Wi-Fi, such as the Star TSP143IV and Star mC-Print3 from Shopify's list of POS receipt printers. Older TSP143III models, Star mPOP, Bluetooth-only printers and Epson printers can’t fetch slips over the internet on their own.

Setting it up

• Create your printer link under Receipt printer. Keep it to yourself: anyone with it can print your slips.
• Open the printer’s settings. Print its settings sheet to find its IP address, type that into a browser on the same network and log in.
• Paste the link in. In the CloudPRNT settings, turn CloudPRNT on and paste the link into Server URL.
• Save and restart the printer. On many Star printers that is Save → Restart device; Submit alone does not apply it.
• Check and test. Give it up to 5 minutes to show Connected, print a test slip, then tick Print a slip for each new rental order.

If the printer is off or out of paper, slips wait and print when it is back. Slips history at the bottom of the page lists slips waiting, failed and printed in the last 7 days, with a Print button on each slip to print it again. To do several at once, tick slips and press Print selected or Delete selected. The page has more fixes for printers that won’t connect.

A printer at each location

With two or more rental locations, the Receipt printer page has A printer at each location (optional). Create a printer link for a location and paste it into the printer at that shop the same way as above: slips for rentals at that location print there. Everything else, and locations without their own printer, print on your main printer. Remove a location’s printer and its waiting slips move to the main printer. A printer at a location that no longer rents (switched off, or closed in Shopify) stays listed as No longer renting with only Remove, so you can move its waiting slips to the main printer. Slips meant for the main printer are only queued while a main printer is connected.

One printer for several Dropfeed apps

A Star printer holds one link. If you use more than one of our apps on the same printer (for example Readyby slips and Printby tickets), open the printer section in one app, choose Using this printer for another Dropfeed app too? and paste the other app’s printer link. You get one combined link: paste that into the printer as its CloudPRNT Server URL and restart it. Every app keeps printing to it and shows the printer as connected. If you replace a link in any of the apps later, make the combined link again. Epson printers keep one app each. Each app still prints its own slips, so if Readyby (or Rentby) and Printby both print new orders automatically, each order comes out twice: the app’s kitchen or pick slip and Printby’s order ticket. For one per order, turn off automatic printing in one of them; the combined-link box offers a button to stop the app you’re in from printing new orders.

Done-for-you setup

Rather not set it up yourself? Open Done-for-you setup in the app menu. For $149 one time, charged on your Shopify bill, we add your rental items with how many you own, their prices, discounts and deposits, set your open days, notice, buffer days and blackout dates, place the Rentby rental dates block on your product page, and email you a summary of what we set. You approve a collaborator request from Dropfeed under Settings, Users, and you can remove our access any time. We never place orders on your store or touch your customers, and if we can’t get it working, we refund you.

Frequently asked questions

Need more help?

Email support@dropfeed.io. We typically reply within 1 to 2 business days. See what’s new in Rentby.