Creating a Rental Manually

Create a rental that hasn't come via an Order on your Shopify store

There will likely be times you want to create a new rental directly in Product Rentals Pro, without a customer or you having to put an Order through the front end of your Shopify website. Some examples of these times, include:

• In-store orders/rentals (with payment via Shopify POS or another POS system)

• Rental bookings you've received via another website you have your items listed (e.g. online marketplaces)

• Rentals done for free to an influencer for marketing purposes

Manually creating a Rental from within Product Rentals Pro

Follow these steps to create a rental directly within Product Rentals Pro:

1. Go to the "Rentals" section from the Product Rentals Pro app menu, then click the "New Rental" button at the top right.

2. Select whether you want a Shopify Order to be created when you create the rental, and what type. See Manual Rentals - Shopify Order Creation for a description of the options and when you should use them.

   

3. Select a Customer Product Rentals Pro doesn't keep it's own database of customers, it refers to your Customers list within Shopify. A customer must be stored within Shopify before it can be used for a rental in Product Rentals Pro. If the customer doesn't exist in Shopify yet, they will need to be created there first, before they can be found in the Customer search on the rental form. A quick way to add a new Customer, without leaving the rental form screen will be included in a future release of Product Rentals Pro. Let us know if it's a feature you'd love to see.

   

4. Select a Product Click "Add Product" to open the product selector. This will show all Products in your Shopify store, not just ones that have been imported to Product Rentals Pro. There are a couple of reasons for this: firstly, it is the standard Product picker provided by Shopify for embedded apps, which they want apps to use, and secondly, Product Rentals Pro will let you know if you try to create a rental using a Product that hasn't been imported before and will give you a single click button to import it when trying to save a new (or existing) rental.

   

5. Select a Variant (if applicable) If the Product you've chosen has variants, a "Select Variant" link will appear beneath the Product title. Clicking this opens the Variant selector, so you can choose any Variant for the Product. If the Product has Variants, one must be selected.

   

6. Select the Delivery Method The list of options will be those which you've enabled within the Rental Settings for Product Rentals Pro. Changing the Delivery Method will automatically update the start and end buffer days and types (calendar or business days) to the defaults you've set for that Delivery Method within the Rental Settings.

7. Set the Start Buffer days and Type This is the number of days prior to the rental start date that should be blocked off in the rental calendar to allow for delivery/preparation for this rental. The step above should automatically set the start buffer days and type using the defaults for the Delivery Method, but this can be adjusted for the rental as needed. For example, you might know this rental needs a longer delivery time than the default. Or, you might want to add a longer buffer because it's a VIP customer and you want to make sure there's little chance of being affected by a delayed return from a previous rental. See Rental Buffers for a detailed explanation.

8. Set the Rental Start date The date the rental will start. This is typically the expected/required "delivery date" when it is a rental sent by post or local delivery, and the "pick-up" date, when it is a rental that will be collected by the customer.

9. Set the Rental End date The date the rental will end. This is typically the date the customer will post the item back, when it is a rental sent by post, the date you will collect the item, if it is local delivery/collection, or the date the customer will return the item to your store, if it is a pick-up/drop-off rental order.

10. Set the End Buffer days and Type This is the number of days after the rental end date that should be blocked off in the rental calendar to allow for return/restoration for this rental. The step above should automatically set the end buffer days and type using the defaults for the Delivery Method, but this can be adjusted for the rental as needed. For example, you might know this rental needs a longer return delivery time than the default. Or, you might want to add a longer buffer because you know the item will need additional cleaning after it is returned from this rental. See Rental Buffersfor a detailed explanation.

11. Set the Delivery Address Enter the customer's delivery address for the rental, if applicable. It may not be needed if the rental will be picked up from your store, however, you may want to capture this information anyway, so the fields are still visible if you select a Delivery Method of Customer Pickup/Dropoff. When you select a Customer, the Delivery Address fields will automatically populate to the customer's default address, if they have one saved.

12. Return Tracking Number & URL This is optional, but if you enter it, it can help when using the Returns screen. You may not know this information at the time you're creating a rental, so you can come back any time and add it.

13. Click Save to save the rental. A confirmation will appear on the screen and a number will be assigned to the rental.

14. If you chose to create a Shopify Order for the rental, it will appear in a box on the right hand-side with a grey background. From there you can jump to the order by clicking the Go to Order button.

15. This will open the Order in a new tab. From the Order screen you can make manual adjustments, "Send invoice" to the customer or "Collect Payment".