Common questions: how a price is calculated

Short answers about how Renta builds a booking total, why it can differ from the price on the item, and what each line on a checkout, receipt or booking screen means. Every answer links to the full article.

Why the total differs from the item's price

Why is my customer's total higher than the price I set on the item?

The price you set is the starting point. On the Commission plan, the price a customer sees while browsing already includes Renta's 2.5% booking fee by default, and at checkout Renta adds sales tax, any add-ons or delivery, and shows the fee as its own row. Seasonal or day-of-week rules, a longer rental, and counting both the pickup day and the return day also raise the amount. On the Flat plan there is no booking fee. See How a price is calculated.

In what order does Renta work out a price?

For each item Renta starts with the base rate, then applies the duration discount, the day-of-week rule, the seasonal rule, and the bundle discount or bundle price, then adds add-ons and takes off a coupon. Tax is figured on that result. Renta's booking fee is figured on the same pre-tax amount and added after tax, and the security deposit is held separately and is not in the price. See How a price is calculated.

Can more than one discount or surcharge apply, and do they build on each other?

Each percentage rule (duration, day-of-week, seasonal, bundle) is taken from the item's base rate, so they add up instead of compounding, and a dollar-amount rule is added once for the whole rental, not once per day. Every matching day-of-week rule and every matching seasonal rule is added together, but for duration discounts only the rule with the highest day count the rental reaches applies, and for bundle rules only the smallest per-item discount applies. A multi-day and a multi-hour discount never both apply to the same item, and neither do a bundle discount and a bundle product price. See How a price is calculated, and for why a rule is not applying see Common questions: pricing rules, discounts and rate cards.

Which date decides a seasonal or day-of-week price?

Only the pickup date. A seasonal rule applies when the pickup date falls inside its dates (the first and last day both count), and a day-of-week rule applies when the pickup day is one of its days (and inside its dates, if it has any). The days after pickup are not checked. See Seasonal price markups and discounts.

Which rate does Renta use: hourly, half-day, full-day, multi-day or weekly?

An item priced with Packages charges the chosen package price. An item with an Hourly rate is charged the lower of its hours-times-rate total or the day price for that length; otherwise a short booking (about five hours or less) or one that fits a Time Slot uses the half-day price, 7 or more days uses a weekly price if one is set, 2 or more days uses a multi-day per-day price if one is set, and anything else is the Full Day price times the days. You can set a multi-day or weekly price in a Rate card template (Multi-day (per day), Weekly), on a bundle product, or through a CSV import, because the item's own Pricing step has no field for them. See Flat rates vs. Packages: choosing how an item is priced.

How does Renta count rental days?

The Rental day counting card (Pricing -> Payment & policies) decides: Calendar dates (inclusive) is the default and counts both the pickup day and the return day, while Calendar span (difference only) counts only the nights between them. Under either rule a rental is billed for at least one day. See How your billable rental days are counted.

Why is the same item booked on separate days priced like one longer rental?

When one booking holds the same item on several separate days, Renta prices it as a single rental of that many days, so the weekly, multi-day or full-day rate and the duration discount for the total number of days apply. The total is then shared across the day lines. This does not apply to items priced by the hour, to half-day lines, or to packages. See Booking separate days and the overnight rule.

Coupons and discounts

Do coupons stack with automatic discounts?

That is your choice. On the Coupons tab of Pricing rules, the Coupons + discounts control has Stack (the default, the coupon comes off on top of the automatic discounts) and Exclusive (the booking gets whichever saves the customer more, and a tie goes to the coupon). Seasonal and day-of-week surcharges are not discounts, so they still apply in both modes. See Creating discount codes.

Is a coupon taken off before or after tax, and what does it do to the Renta fee?

Before tax. The coupon comes off the pre-tax order (items, add-ons and delivery), then tax and the Renta booking fee are both figured on what is left, so a coupon lowers both slightly. A fixed-amount coupon cannot be larger than the order, and a total never goes below $0. See Creating discount codes.

Add-ons and delivery

How are add-ons priced?

A flat add-on is charged once, a per-day add-on is charged once for each rental day, a percent add-on is that percentage of the rental items at their normal rates (before discounts, add-ons and tax), and a choice add-on is its base price plus the option the customer picks. On the payment step each add-on shows "(flat)", its daily price or its percent beside the name. See Add-ons on one item.

Is delivery taxed, and does a coupon reduce it?

Delivery is part of the amount tax is figured on, and a coupon is sized on a total that includes delivery. Delivery shows as its own Delivery row on the checkout summary. See How a price is calculated.

Sales tax

How is sales tax calculated, and where do I set my rate?

Tax is your rate times the pre-tax subtotal after discounts, rounded to the nearest cent. Set the business-wide rate in Settings -> General under Tax Rate (%) (a number from 0 to 100, otherwise you see "Tax rate must be a number between 0 and 100."). A shop with its own rate sets Sales tax rate for this location in Settings -> Locations: blank uses the business rate, and 0 means no sales tax is charged for pickups there. See Setting your business name, timezone, tax rate, and currency.

What is not taxed?

Renta's booking fee is added after tax and is not taxed, and Renta does not take a percentage of your sales tax. The security deposit hold is not part of the price, so it is not taxed either. A deposit you keep after damage is added as a "Security Deposit Taken" line outside the taxable amount, and adjustments flagged non-taxable are handled the same way. Rentals, add-ons, delivery and other discounts or charges on the booking are in the taxable amount. See Renta's 2.5% platform fee.

If I change my tax rate, do existing bookings change?

No. Each booking keeps the tax rate it was priced with, so a new rate affects new bookings. The exceptions are a booking moved to a shop with a different rate (you confirm the new total first), and older bookings from before Renta saved a rate on each booking, which use your current rate when they are recalculated. See Setting your business name, timezone, tax rate, and currency.

Renta's booking fee

What is the Renta booking fee, and who pays it?

It is Renta's platform fee. On the Commission plan it is 2.5% of the pre-tax subtotal, paid by the renter on top of your price, and it is not taken out of your payout. On the Flat monthly plan there is no per-booking fee, and a special lower rate Renta has given your business shows on the Fees page as "Includes a special rate of". See Renta's 2.5% platform fee.

What does my customer see for the fee?

On the booking review step, the payment step, the quote page and the receipt, the fee is its own row labeled Renta booking fee (2.5%) (the percentage shows your actual rate), added before the final total. Under it the note says the fee is "Charged by Renta, the booking software this shop uses", not a tax, and not refunded if they cancel. On the Flat plan the row does not appear. See Renta's 2.5% platform fee.

Why does a payment link page say "Service fee"?

The page a customer opens from a payment link breaks the amount down as Total, Paid so far, Service fee and Due now. The Service fee row is Renta's booking fee, and a line under the amount also says the payment includes it. See Sending a customer a payment link.

What do I see as the shop?

Pricing -> Fees has a Renta fee card with Your plan, Fee per booking and Who pays, plus a worked example on a $100.00 rental; nothing on that card changes what a customer is charged. On each booking, the Payment Log shows Renta booking fee · paid by renter and Charged to card, or Fee unavailable if the fee could not be looked up. Your payout is the booking total without the fee. See Renta's 2.5% platform fee.

Why does the New Booking total not match what the card is charged?

The Total in the New Booking Order Summary is the shop total, without Renta's fee. When you charge a card, the payment window adds a Renta booking fee (2.5%) row (the percentage shows your rate) and a Card total that includes it, and it only does this for card charges. See Creating a booking yourself (front-desk / phone booking).

Is the fee charged again when a customer pays a balance later?

No second full fee. Each later payment (a balance, a scheduled charge, a partial charge) carries only the fee on its pre-tax share, so the pieces add up to the same fee as paying everything at once, within a cent. The fee rate is saved on the booking when it is created and used for every later payment. See Renta's 2.5% platform fee.

Is the fee refunded if a booking is cancelled?

No. Renta keeps the booking fee when a booking is cancelled or refunded; the one exception is a booking that failed before it was created, where nothing is kept. See Renta's 2.5% platform fee.

Why does my website already show prices with the fee included?

By default on the Commission plan, every price shown before checkout already includes the fee so the number never grows later, for example a $200 rate shows as $205. Tick Show tax and the Renta fee only at checkout on the Fee display card (Pricing -> Fees) to show the bare rate instead; this never changes what is charged, and the box saves the moment you click it. The box is greyed out while it saves, or when your role lacks settings access ("Only an owner or manager with settings access can change this."). See Showing fees and tax as separate line items.

What other fees are there besides the Renta booking fee?

Your own plan is separate: the Commission plan has no monthly charge and the Flat monthly plan has no booking fee. Card processing fees are charged by Stripe and come out of your payout. A late return fee or a damage charge kept from the deposit is added to the booking separately, not in the price calculation above. See Renta's fee vs. your subscription plan, and for card fees, taxes and extra charges in more detail see Common questions: Renta's fee, card fees, taxes and extra charges.

Reading the breakdown

What do the lines on my customer's checkout summary mean?

Subtotal is the items and add-ons at their normal prices, before automatic adjustments. Below it come one row for each applied adjustment, Coupon discount with the code in brackets if a coupon is used, Tax, Delivery if any, and the Renta booking fee row, then the total (Estimated Total on the review step, Total on the payment step). On the payment step the deposit appears in a separate Security deposit hold box that is not part of the total. See How a price is calculated.

What do Duration discount, Seasonal surcharge, Time-based surcharge and Bundle price adjustment mean?

Duration discount is the multi-day or multi-hour discount, shown as one row. Seasonal discount or Seasonal surcharge comes from a seasonal rule and Time-based discount or Time-based surcharge comes from a day-of-week rule, with the name following whether the amount is negative or positive. Bundle discount is a bundle rule, and Bundle price adjustment appears when a bundle product price lands above the normal rates. These rows show on the checkout summary and on the receipt. See How a price is calculated.

What do List price, Discount, Rate adjustment and Surcharge mean on the New Booking screen?

List price is the order at normal prices (items, add-ons and extra charges), before discounts and rules. Discount adds up rule and bundle discounts, manual discounts, the coupon, and any line you priced lower yourself, while Rate adjustment is how much a line you priced higher yourself is above the calculated price. Surcharge is seasonal and day-of-week markups, Tax always shows, and an empty summary reads "Add items to get started". See Creating a booking yourself (front-desk / phone booking).

What do the lines in a booking's Payment Log mean?

Open the booking's Payments & Documents tab. Subtotal is shown before discounts, Discount is what was taken off, and After discount (shown only when there is a discount) is the subtotal once it is taken off. Tax and Total follow; if the total was settled to an agreed amount, Total is greyed and crossed out and Settled to shows the new one, followed by Paid, the fee rows, Balance (red when money is owed) and Deposit. See Payment history and signed documents on a booking.

What does the customer's receipt show?

Each item, add-on and adjustment is listed (an adjustment shows its note, or "Discount", "Item swap" or "Additional charge"), then Subtotal (already net of discounts), Tax, the Renta booking fee row (hidden on the Flat plan) and Total, which includes the fee. Below that are the deposit box, Final Amount Paid and, if money is owed, Balance due. See Printing or emailing a receipt.

Deposit, rounding and minimums

Is the security deposit part of the price?

No. The deposit is a hold on the card (an authorization, money reserved but not taken) shown as Security deposit hold below the total and released after return inspection. It is not taxed and carries no Renta fee. See How security deposits are billed and returned.

How does Renta round, and why can a total be a cent off?

Every amount is whole cents, and each percentage (a percent discount, tax, the fee, a percent add-on) is worked out separately and rounded to the nearest cent. A price shown while browsing has the fee added to that one price and rounded on its own, while checkout works the fee out once on the whole subtotal, so a total can differ by a cent from the sum of the listed prices. See How a price is calculated.

Is there a minimum charge?

The price calculation has these floors: a rental is billed for at least one day, an hourly rental for at least one hour (any part of an hour counts as a full hour), an hourly item's daily total is raised to at least its Daily minimum charge, and a total never goes below $0. See Flat rates vs. Packages: choosing how an item is priced.

How do the hourly rate, Daily minimum charge and Daily maximum charge work?

On the item's Pricing step, tick Hourly, then open Advanced configuration to set Minimum hours, Maximum hours, Daily minimum charge and Daily maximum charge. Each day's total is hours times the hourly rate, raised to at least the daily minimum and held to at most the daily maximum (the minimum wins if you set it above the maximum), and it is then compared with the day price, and the lower of the two is charged. With no day price set, a day is capped at 12 hours of the hourly rate. Minimum hours and Maximum hours set the smallest and largest bookable length and do not change the price. See Flat rates vs. Packages: choosing how an item is priced.

Typing your own price and adding charges

How do I type my own price for an order line?

1. Go to Bookings -> + New Booking and add the item. 2. In the Order Summary, click the rate on the item line or the bold line total. 3. Type the amount in dollars and press Enter or click away. 4. The line is tagged "overridden", the old total is struck through, and the summary shows the difference as Discount (lower) or Rate adjustment (higher).

In the New Booking summary a line with your own price stays at exactly that price, so automatic rules and the coupon are not applied on top of it. See Adding a discount or an extra charge to a booking.

Why can't I edit the price on an order line?

By default only owners can type their own price, and the rate and total show the tooltip "Price overrides are restricted to owners". An owner can switch on Allow price overrides in Settings -> Team on the Permissions tab and press Save changes, which gives Managers and Staff the same ability. See Fine-tuning what Managers and Staff can do.

How do I add a manual discount, an extra charge or a custom item to a new booking?

In New Booking, open the Custom category in the items list. Manual discount (an ad-hoc adjustment, not a coupon code) and Add charge each take a name and an amount with a $ | % switch, and you add them with the plus button; Create custom line item takes a name, quantity and price and is added with Save to booking. See Adding a discount or an extra charge to a booking.

How do I apply a coupon to a new booking?

Type or pick a code in the Coupon code box in the Order Summary, then press Add coupon (the button reads Apply and stays greyed out until you type something). Coupons that have used up their limit are tagged Limit reached, and if the customer or the coupon is over its limit an amber warning appears with Apply anyway. Without any items you see "Add items before applying a coupon", and Remove takes an applied coupon off. See Creating discount codes.

How do I add a discount to an existing booking?

1. Open the booking and press More, then Discount. 2. Choose Percent off subtotal or Fixed dollar amount and enter it. 3. Add a Reason (optional); if you leave it blank it is saved as "Manual discount". 4. Check the preview (tax is figured after the discount) and press Apply discount.

If the percent is empty or outside 0 to 100 you see "Enter a percent off." or "Enter a percentage between 0 and 100." See Adding a discount or an extra charge to a booking.

How do I add an extra charge to an existing booking?

1. Open the booking and press Charge / Refund. 2. Choose Charge card, enter the amount, and fill in What is it for, which becomes the line item on the booking and the customer's receipt. 3. Press Add & charge.

It adds a new line and charges the customer's saved card (with no saved card, the line goes onto the balance and you collect it from Resolve payment). If the booking already owes money you are asked to confirm, because this is a second charge on top, and on a cancelled, expired or refunded booking Charge card is greyed out. See Adding a discount or an extra charge to a booking.

How do I change a booking's total to an agreed amount afterwards?

Use Resolve payment from the More menu (it also opens from the amber Needs resolution button on the Payment Log). Enter New rental total (pre-tax) and tick Add sales tax if the amount you typed does not already include tax, then act on the balance. The Payment Log keeps the original total crossed out and shows Settled to with the new amount; the menu item appears only when there is something to resolve, such as a gap between what was paid and what the booking should cost, or a card deposit hold that is waiting. See Payment history and signed documents on a booking.