Going live: turning on real payments

Going live turns on real payments. Until you do, your public booking page is closed to real customers and you can only practice.

Where to find it

Open the Go Live page by clicking the Not live yet badge in the admin top bar (Owners and Managers can click it) or Go Live in the not live yet banner. The page is at /go-live, and it only shows while you are not live yet: once your shop is live, opening /go-live sends you straight to your dashboard.

How it works

1. Quick heads-up — a short explanation. Press Continue. 2. Connect live Stripe — press Connect live Stripe account and finish Stripe's screens. If a live account is already linked and ready, it says so. Press Next when it is. 3. Ready to go live? — a reminder that your fleet, locations, and customers stay exactly as they are, and a warning "This turns on real payments. It can't be undone from here." Press Activate live mode. 4. You're live — real payments are on, with a Go to dashboard button.

You need three things in place: your live Stripe account with charges enabled, at least one published item, and a price on at least one published item. Without a published item Renta says "Cannot go live without at least one published item that isn't demo sample data." (older wording: it means you need to publish one of your own items). Without a price it says "Cannot go live with zero-price items. Set a price on at least one published item."

Example

You have practiced with Practice Customer 1, published your real jet skis with prices, and connected Live Stripe. You press Activate live mode, and the next customer who books on your website is charged for real and paid out to your bank. See Renta's fee vs. your subscription plan for how Renta's fee fits in.

Good to know

• Only the account Owner can press Activate live mode ("Only the account owner can activate live mode").
• Going live removes the free-account limits. If your account was paused, going live unlocks it.
• New accounts start empty, so there is no sample data to clean up. Going live does not copy, delete, or change anything you made.
• Going live is not the last check. Before a new shop's first real charge Renta looks at the account, and if it looks incomplete or inconsistent (for example nothing published, mismatched details, or a disposable email address) that charge can be held for Renta to review. Adding items or publishing a page clears it on the next attempt, or email team@rentalabs.io.
• If your account is already live, /go-live does not show the steps at all: it redirects to your dashboard. (Inside the guided setup tour it redirects to Settings → Stripe instead when Stripe cannot take charges yet, so you can reconnect it.) The only time you see "Already in live mode" is if the account turned live in another browser tab or window while this page was open and you press Activate live mode.
• For more quick answers see Common questions: signing up, the free account, practice customers, and going live.