Consumables and services for your rental business

Sometimes it’s the little things that add a silver lining to your day. Like hitting a string of green lights when you’re running late, not having to stand in line for your first cup of coffee, or realizing there’s a new feature in Booqable.

While we can’t make the first two happen, we’re excited to share that we’ve recently added new functionalities so you can create consumables and services along with rentable products in Booqable.

Generate more revenue with consumables

For rental companies, consumables are an excellent way of generating additional income. Most companies already pick this low-hanging fruit by selling accessories like gaffer tape, clapper boards, and water bottles. Now, you can use Booqable to charge and keep track of these items and list them in your online store, too.

💡 Tip: You don’t necessarily need to charge for consumables. Why not give away free confetti to spark someone’s day?

You can manually add consumables to the reservations you take from walk-in customers, by phone or email. And by showing them in your online store, people can add them to bookings at their convenience.

From transport to setup costs

So, what else is new? Well, the update also supports services. Perfect for companies that charge transportation, setup, or maintenance costs. Depending on your type of business and the products you rent out, you can create a service for almost anything you provide.

Online, your customers can opt-in for services after they’ve selected a rental period in the shopping cart. And for walk-in customers, they work similar to any other inventory type in Booqable.

In the product screen, you now have the option to choose a rental, service, or consumable when you’re creating a new product. Go ahead. Give it a try!

To keep up with the latest developments, see our full blog here.

What we shipped: freedom and flexibility in your online rental store

At Booqable, we know how challenging online bookings can be. You want to give visitors the opportunity to choose a rental period, but you don’t want to give away control of your schedule.

That’s why we are continuously updating our rental software in ways that help you to grow your business and offer customers a quick and efficient online experience.

In the past week, we’ve shipped a new feature to help you get a grip on the timeframes customers can choose, so you don’t end up canceling reservations that aren’t aligned with your method of operation.

Give customers the liberty to select a period freely

Allow customers to choose their preferred pickup and return date within your business hours. You can eliminate time selection if you need days only.

This setting gives customers the most freedom in your online store.

Let customers choose from predefined durations

When you use fixed periods in your daily operations, chances are you want your online store to reflect the same. With the new update, you can set up fixed durations for people to select in a drop down.

No rental company works alike, so we’ve built this feature to support any duration you want, no matter if you need one-hour or one-week periods.

Set fixed time slots for online bookings

Lastly, Booqable now supports fixed time slots too. You can specify slots like 09:00-11:00, 12:00-14:00, and 15:00-17:00, and even set up different ones for different days. We know some of you have been requesting this one for a while. 😊

Pinning these down is perfect when you want to be in control of all the timespans your customers can select.

To keep up to date with the latest updates and changes, see our full blog here.

Why authorization holds are invaluable for any rental business

If you’re running a rental business, chances are you’re already putting security deposits to good use. They’re an excellent way of increasing the chances of getting your products back undamaged or at least cover the expenses of repairs and replacement.

It’s likely that you’re using credit card payments to charge for those security deposits. And why not? It’s very convenient, right? But there’s one drawback if we try to look at them from a customers’ perspective:

Imagine paying a $200 security deposit and returning your rental in flawless condition. Depending on your bank, it can take quite some time until you get your money back.

Sure, security deposits give businesses some form of certainty and security, but they’re always prone to make your customers feel a little hesitant.

To prevent that from happening, let’s take a closer look at the benefits of authorization holds. Why are they best practice? And how do you use them for your rental business?

What is an authorization hold?

Authorization holds, also known as pre-authorizations, temporarily block available funds on a credit card, meaning you don’t take anything from the cardholder’s account until you decide to capture the authorization.

Once a credit card is authorized, you know there are enough funds available, and the cardholder can’t go and spend this money elsewhere.

This opens the gates for some new payment flows. Most notably, capturing the security deposit only when products are returned in poor condition, or charging just the order amount when items return in perfect shape. Another great benefit for you as a business owner is that you won’t have to pay the extra credit card fees for refunding the security deposit.

How to use pre-authorizations in Booqable

To start authorizing credit card holds in Booqable, make sure you’re connected to Stripe. Completing a payment transaction involves two steps: authorizing the card and capturing the authorization.

When you register a new payment, start by authorizing both the total amount of the order and the security deposit. Those will be the blocked funds on the cardholder’s card.

When you get your items back, you have three choices:

• Capture the order amount only and let the deposit fall off.

• Capture the order amount and partially capture the security deposit.

• Capture both the order amount and the security deposit in full.

It’s surprising how many rental companies don’t realize and take advantage of pre-authorizations. If you rent out high-end products, you probably want to work with authorization holds for most of your credit card transactions. Not only do they save you time and money compared to refunding, they’ll also result in happier customers. 🎉

Also check out our Help Center article for more information on authorizing and capturing credit card holds.

Booqable and the GDPR

We’ve updated our Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy in preparation for the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). The GDPR raises the bar for how companies use and protect EU citizens’ data. Companies with any relationship to EU residents are updating regulation on how personal data is obtained, used, stored, and deleted. It will take effect from May 25th.

How can I honor my customer’s requests around their personal data?

Under the GDPR, EU citizens have certain rights concerning their own personal data. Booqable offers you tools and methods that allow you to easily access, change, remove and delete that data at your customer’s request.

Let’s take a closer look at how Booqable helps you honor these rights.

Right to be forgotten

When a customer requests removal from the system, we recommend a procedure like this:

• View the customer you want to forget,

• Obscure/garble the customer name,

• Delete email addresses, address information and other fields like this.

This process effectively erases the customer’s personal data from Booqable. It’s a manual procedure, but it’s likely that this is going to be an infrequent request.

Note that these steps don’t change information on existing documents you may need to keep for legal obligations (like invoices).

Right of access

Your customers may contact you to request access to information you keep about them. You’re able to do a quick search for your customer in the Orders, Customers and Documents sections of Booqable and export relevant information to help you construct your response to your customer.

Data portability

Much like the right of access, you can run a search on your customers, export the data and hand it over to them however you choose.

FAQ

Is Booqable GDPR compliant?

We have made improvements to Booqable to assure that you as a controller can feel completely assured that you meet your obligations using Booqable under GDPR.

That said, because the GDPR is a brand new and very comprehensive regulation, no vendor can at this point legitimately declare that they are GDPR compliant as there doesn’t seem to be a certification method by which assures that you are compliant. If your company serves EU citizens, you’ll need to do your best at making a good-faith effort to be compliant, keeping a close eye on, and adapting to its developments.

Can I still use Booqable if I have customers in the EU?

Absolutely! Understanding what specific rights data subjects have to their personal data, and how to comply with them as a Data Controller is key to your ability to meet with GDPR. Booqable will be acting as a Data Processor for your customer’s data and provides means to help you comply with all of your data subject’s rights.

If I’m outside of the EU, am I affected by GDPR?

Most likely so. Whether you’re based in the EU or not, it is hard to be sure that you’ll never process an EU citizen’s data.

Where is my data stored?

Booqable’s production data is stored within state of the art data centers located in the US. If you serve customers in the EU or are located in the EU, our Data Processing Agreement (DPA) is available to sign upon request.

Disclaimer

The information in this post is provided for informational purposes only and should not be treated as legal advice. To determine precisely how the GDPR may or may not apply to you, you should work closely with legal and other professional counsel.

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