Add-Ons - Deposits

Automatically add products to Cart to enable refundable deposits or allowance for later charges

Deposits allow you to automate the inclusion of an additional product (the "Deposit Product") to the customer's Cart whenever a rental product is added via the PRP Rental Widget.

The Deposit Product can't be removed from the Cart unless the rental product that it was added with is removed first. Removing the rental product will also remove the Deposit Product, automatically.

To prevent removal of Deposit Products from the Cart, and automate it's removal when it's associated rental product is removed, you must have both the cart-quantity-validation checkout function enabled, and the PRP Cart Manager App Embed enabled.

What is it used for?

Deposits are typically used as a method to protect the value of your rental products in some way. There are a couple of options for doing this.

1. Taking a refundable security deposit

The most certain way to ensure you have cover in the event that your rental products are stolen, damaged or returned late, is to capture funds for this up front. This is done by requiring a "security deposit" (or "security bond").

You may want to do this on all rental products, or just some, and PRP's Deposits feature provides you flexibility.

For example, you may be renting a bicycle, with an RRP of $1000, whereas the rental fee may only be $200 for the week. To help ensure that the bicycle is eventually returned, or to ensure that any damages will be paid for upon return, you might require the customer to pay a $500-$1000 security deposit as part of their rental. You might not require the full $1000, as that may hurt your conversions and reduce the number of customers that are able to rent.

If the bike comes back in time and in expected condition, you can then refund the customer the full amount of their security deposit.

If the customer goes MIA, is unreachable and appears to have stolen your product, then at least you have already received the amount of their security deposit (plus their rental fee), so your business isn't hurt, or isn't hurt as much.

If you'd rather really just have your product back, then it gives you some leverage in attempted communications, as you can remind them that the security deposit they've already paid for, won't be refunded.

A similar concept applies if your products are returned damaged, and you can no longer get in touch with the customer, or they refuse to accept blame. Depending on the amount of damage you could choose to refund only a portion of the security deposit (or none at all).

Ensure your rental terms & conditions are very clear regarding security deposits, damage and late/non-returns. Product Rentals Pro does not provide advice on rental terms or their legality for any jurisdiction. This is your responsibility.

Failure to clearly communicate terms could result in suspension from Product Rentals Pro, should customer complaints make their way to Shopify and/or PRP.

2. Capturing an "allowance" for future charges

Refundable security deposits may turn away too many customers, as they may not have the funds available to pay for it at the time of booking their rental.

An alternative is to capture an "allowance" for future charges, such that attempts to charge the customer's card can be made after the initial order is placed.

This can be done through our partnership with Downpay, which is a separate Shopify app that we've worked with to enable this capability for rental businesses. Downpay is installed and billed separately, but our teams have worked together not only to make the set-up easy, but also to provide special Downpay pricing plans specific to PRP customers.

In a nutshell, this is how it works:

The customer selects their rental dates in the PRP Rental Widget. Before clicking the Rent Now (aka Add To Cart) button, they are informed that a security authorisation product will be automatically added to Cart, to allow for x, y or z (the message is customizable).
When arriving at the Cart page, the customer sees the rental product they added, along with a Security Authorisation product as a line-item in the Cart. This can't be removed by the customer.
The totals on the Cart page show the rental fee as the price that will be paid today, and the amount of the Security Authorisation product as the amount that could be charged in the event of non-return, damages or late return.
The customer enters Checkout and they are only required to pay for the rental fee.
Once the Order is placed, your Shopify Order screen displays the amount of the security authorisation as a "hold". It shows that there's a balance on the order that's unpaid for and a button allowing you to attempt a charge on the card for the balance, to the customer's original payment method. You can also make edits to the order, add/remove products and add custom line items, to ensure the balance matches the amount you want to charge, before you attempt to charge it. If you need to make further charges, the order can be edited again.

This could also be used for refundable security deposits that aren't charged until a time closer to the rental dates. For example, if you're renting silk flower arrangements for weddings, you might want to take a deposit against damages/non-return, but not actually charge for this until 1 week prior to the wedding. A security authorisation, set up through Downpay will allow you to do this using a similar process to the one described above. You'll just need to remember to capture the deposit at the right time (or automate it using Shopify Flow).

MORE ON DEPOSITS TO COME VERY SOON.

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What is it used for?

Deposits are typically used as a method to protect the value of your rental products in some way. There are a couple of options for doing this.

1. Taking a refundable security deposit

You may want to do this on all rental products, or just some, and PRP's Deposits feature provides you flexibility.

If the bike comes back in time and in expected condition, you can then refund the customer the full amount of their security deposit.

Failure to clearly communicate terms could result in suspension from Product Rentals Pro, should customer complaints make their way to Shopify and/or PRP.

2. Capturing an "allowance" for future charges

Refundable security deposits may turn away too many customers, as they may not have the funds available to pay for it at the time of booking their rental.

An alternative is to capture an "allowance" for future charges, such that attempts to charge the customer's card can be made after the initial order is placed.

In a nutshell, this is how it works:

The customer selects their rental dates in the PRP Rental Widget. Before clicking the Rent Now (aka Add To Cart) button, they are informed that a security authorisation product will be automatically added to Cart, to allow for x, y or z (the message is customizable).

When arriving at the Cart page, the customer sees the rental product they added, along with a Security Authorisation product as a line-item in the Cart. This can't be removed by the customer.

The totals on the Cart page show the rental fee as the price that will be paid today, and the amount of the Security Authorisation product as the amount that could be charged in the event of non-return, damages or late return.

The customer enters Checkout and they are only required to pay for the rental fee.

Once the Order is placed, your Shopify Order screen displays the amount of the security authorisation as a "hold". It shows that there's a balance on the order that's unpaid for and a button allowing you to attempt a charge on the card for the balance, to the customer's original payment method. You can also make edits to the order, add/remove products and add custom line items, to ensure the balance matches the amount you want to charge, before you attempt to charge it. If you need to make further charges, the order can be edited again.