Payment plans, installments and pay later: what Renta supports

Short answer: Renta does not run an automatic payment plan. There is no setting that splits a booking into monthly or weekly installments, and customers do not get a "reserve now, pay later" button at online checkout. Several smaller tools get you most of the way there, and they are all set up by you.

What Renta does not have

• No installment schedule that charges a customer every week or month by itself.
• No customer-facing "pay later" or "pay in installments" choice at checkout that Renta controls. Which payment options appear on the customer's card form is decided by Stripe, not by a Renta setting. See Apple Pay, Google Pay, PayPal and other payment methods.

What you can do instead

Take a down payment online. Set Payment Due at Checkout on the item to Percentage down or Fixed down payment. Customers pay only that part when they book, and the rest stays on the booking as a balance due. See Paying in parts.

Stage the balance with scheduled charges. On a booking, open Charge, type the amount for the first piece, and choose when it is collected: Before pickup, On a specific date or At pickup. Renta charges the saved card on that day, or emails the customer a payment link if there is no card or the card is declined. You set up each piece yourself. Nothing repeats on its own, and Renta does not show the pieces as one plan. Each scheduled charge is checked again when it comes due, and it is skipped if the booking was cancelled, nothing is owed, or the amount is more than what is owed. Waiting charges are listed at Bookings → Scheduled.

Send a payment link for any amount. In Charge, choose Send link. The link collects the amount you set, which can be less than the full balance, and the customer pays when they are ready. Nothing is sent until you press Send. See Sending a customer a payment link.

Hold the booking now and collect later. Quotes hold the gear until the customer pays online. See Sending a price quote before booking. For a phone or walk-in customer you can schedule the whole amount At pickup, or record cash when they arrive.

Example

A customer books a $900 trailer rental six weeks out. You set the item to a 25% down payment, so they pay 25% of the rental price (plus any add-ons, fees and tax) online, about $225. On the booking you then schedule $300 for 7 days before pickup and the remaining $375 for pickup day, both on their saved card. Each charge is separate. If a card payment is declined, the customer is emailed a link and you can see the charge on the Scheduled page.

Good to know

• Card payments you take through Renta go through your Stripe account, so a payment can still be declined. When a scheduled card charge is declined, Renta emails the customer a payment link for that amount.
• A scheduled charge that stops by itself and needs a person shows as needs review on the Scheduled page. Check Stripe before charging again. See Upcoming and pending charge attempts.
• Pickup can be blocked while money is still due. See Starting a rental.