Welcome to Rentopian!
We're thrilled you've chosen us as your partner in managing and growing your rental business! This guide walks you through setting up your account the right way so you can start taking real orders with confidence. Work through these steps in order — each one builds on the last.
Rentopian is highly configurable. This guide covers the recommended setup path, but how you run your rental business will shape exactly how you use it. If you get stuck at any point, our team is here to help.
Before You Start: Two Concepts Worth Understanding Early
These two concepts come up constantly in Rentopian. Understanding them now will save you a lot of confusion later.
Quotes vs. Orders
Both are called transactions in Rentopian, but they behave differently:
A Quote is a proposal. It does not reserve inventory. It can expire, be revised, and be sent to a client for review.
An Order represents confirmed business. It reserves inventory, affects availability, and is used for dispatching, invoicing, and contracts. In certain stages it can be edited.
The typical flow is: Create Quote → Client approves → Convert to Order → Rent Out → Return → Collect Payment.
Rental Dates vs. Dispatch Dates
This is one of the most important distinctions in the system:
Rental dates control inventory reservation — when items are considered unavailable for other orders.
Dispatch dates control logistics — when your drivers are delivering and picking up.
Example: An event is on Saturday. You deliver Friday and pick up Sunday. The rental dates may span Friday–Sunday, but your dispatching schedule reflects the actual delivery and pickup windows separately.
Step 1 — Company & General Settings
Start by making sure your basic company information is correct. This affects how your documents, invoices, and emails display to clients.
Go to Settings → Company Details
Set your company name, phone, website, currency, date format, and country (if your company email needs to be changed, please reach out to our team an we can edit that)
If you have multiple locations, configure each one under the Locations tab — including your maximum delivery distance, which is used by the website sync plugin
Step 2 — Add Your First Product Manually
Before bulk importing your inventory, we strongly recommend adding your first product by hand. This helps you understand all the fields available — especially variants, pricing types, and buffer time — so your imports are cleaner and your catalog is set up correctly from the start.
Go to Products → List → Add Product
Fill in the product name, category, description, photo, and pricing
If the product comes in multiple colors, sizes, or styles, use Product Variants (e.g., a chair in White, Black, and Mahogany)
Set your Stock Quantity and Rental Price
Check whether the product is Taxable and Available
Watch out — Default Charge Days: Before you start creating orders, review your Order Settings (Settings → Orders) and pay close attention to the Default Charge Days configuration. This controls how rental pricing is calculated. Getting this wrong is one of the most common sources of pricing confusion for new accounts — it's much easier to set correctly before orders are in the system than to fix after.
Step 3 — Create Your Sets & Packages
Sets are grouped products that you rent together as a package — for example, a Wedding Lounge Set, a Table & Chair Package, or a Pipe & Drape Package. If your business uses packages, set these up before you start creating transactions.
Go to Products → Sets
Sets can include required items, optional items, and hidden components
Availability for a set is automatically calculated from the inventory of the individual items inside it
Sets behave differently from Add-Ons — see the article below if you're not sure which to use
Step 4 — Configure Tax Rates
Set up your tax rates before you create any orders. Tax rates can be applied automatically to rentals, sales, and services.
Go to Settings → Financial/Payments → Tax Rates
Add your rate(s) and set a default rate for rental products, sale products, and/or services
The default rate will be automatically applied to new orders unless overridden
Watch out: If tax rates are not configured before your first orders are created, taxes won't apply automatically and you'll need to add them manually to each transaction. Set this up now.
Step 5 — Set Up Delivery Fees
If your company delivers to clients, configure your delivery fees now so they calculate automatically on orders — no manual entry needed.
Go to Settings → Delivery Fees
Zone-based: Charge by geographic area (zip code, city, state) — best for companies with defined service areas
Distance-based: Charge based on mileage from your location — best for companies that price by the mile
Watch out: If delivery fees aren't configured, the system won't auto-calculate them on orders and you'll have to add them manually every time. It also means your website (if using the sync plugin) won't calculate delivery charges at checkout.
Step 6 — Set Up Contracts
Rentopian lets you send contracts for e-signature as part of the client workflow. Set up at least one contract template before you start sending orders to clients.
Go to Settings → Contracts
Choose your signature provider: Rentopian native (default), DocuSign, or DigiSigner
Configure whether contracts are appended to orders automatically or generated manually
Create contract templates — these can include conditions like client type or delivery method to trigger the right contract automatically
Need help with contract templates? Contract document formatting uses HTML and shortcodes, and our team is happy to set these up for you. You can either book a setup call or send your existing contract template to [email protected] and we'll configure it in the system for you.
Step 7 — Connect Your Payment Gateway
Connect your payment processor so you can collect deposits and payments directly through Rentopian. Supported gateways: Stripe, Square, PayJunction, CardWell, and Authorize.net.
Go to Settings → Financial/Payments → Payment Gateway
Click Add to New Location, select your location, then select your processor
Enter your credentials (available from your payment provider's dashboard)
Once connected, credit card processing will automatically appear as a payment option when collecting payments
Note on PayJunction: PayJunction is the only gateway that supports both ACH payments and physical card terminals — worth considering if either is important to your workflow.
Step 8 — Set Up Deposit Rates & Invoice Payment Terms
Configure how and when you collect payment from clients before you start sending orders. These two settings work together: deposit rates control what clients owe upfront to confirm their order, and invoice payment terms communicate when the remaining balance is due.
Deposit Rates
Go to Settings → Financial/Payments → Deposit Rates
Click Add Deposit Rate and give it a name (e.g., "50% Deposit," "Wedding Deposit," "Late Booking Deposit")
Choose a type — Dollar Amount or Percentage — and set the amount
Set the due date using the Due Days / Occurs / Event Type fields (e.g., Due Days = 0, After, Order Creation Date means the deposit is due immediately)
Optionally assign the rate to specific client types; if no client type is assigned, it can always be applied manually
Set a default deposit rate so it applies automatically to new transactions
Once your deposit rates are set up, go to Settings → Order Settings → Automation to configure whether quotes automatically convert to orders when a deposit is paid — one of the most useful automations for reducing manual follow-up.
You can also control how much clients are allowed to pay during the Request Review flow under Settings → Order Settings → Payments and Deposits: deposit only, full payment only, or any amount in between.
Invoice Payment Terms
Go to Settings → Financial/Payments → Invoice Terms
Add the terms that match how you bill clients (e.g., NET7, NET30, or 0 for Payment in Advance)
Set the due date based on either the invoice creation date or the event start date, depending on your billing model
Assign different terms to different client types if needed, and mark one as the default
Watch out: If you skip invoice payment terms, invoices won't show a due date to clients and your receivables reporting won't reflect accurate aging. Set at least a default term before you start sending orders.
Step 9 — Create Your First Transaction
Now that your account is configured, create a test quote and walk through the full workflow end-to-end. This is the best way to verify your settings are working correctly before you go live with real clients.
The core transaction lifecycle looks like this:
Create Quote — Select dates, add products/sets, assign a client, add logistics
Send for Review — Use the Review, Sign, Pay wizard so clients can approve, sign, and pay online
Convert to Order — Confirms the business and reserves inventory
Rent Out — Marks the rental as actively in progress (items are with the client)
Return — Items are back and the order is closed out
Collect Payment — Can be taken at any point in the process
Understanding Order Statuses
Every order in Rentopian moves through these statuses. Understanding what each one means — especially Delinquent — will help you keep your order list clean and your operations on track.
Created — The order exists and inventory is reserved, but the rental hasn't started yet
Rented Out — The rental is actively in progress; items are in the client's possession
Returned — Items are back and the order is complete
Delinquent — The order status doesn't match the dates. This happens in two situations:
The start date has passed but the order is still in Created status (should have been rented out)
The end date has passed but the order is still in Rented Out status (should have been returned)
Keeping delinquent orders cleared up ensures you have an accurate view of what orders have been returned and which are still out. The status of the transaction does not impact the availability counts of your inventory (unless your order has been marked "Open Ended") as the system uses the Start Date and End Date to determine availability of inventory.
Save Time: Set These Up Before You Get Busy
One of Rentopian's biggest strengths is automation — features that eliminate repetitive admin work so you can focus on your business. These are easy to overlook when you're just getting started, but they make a big difference once orders start coming in.
Review, Sign, Pay Wizard — Let clients review their quote, sign the contract, and pay online without any back-and-forth. Set this up in Settings → Orders. How it works
Automated Quote Expiration & Reminders — Set quotes to expire automatically and send reminder emails to clients who haven't confirmed. Set it up
Automated Tasks — Create tasks that trigger automatically based on transaction type, status, or dates — great for keeping your team on track without manual follow-up. Set it up
Scheduler (Email Automation) — Send automated follow-up emails based on triggers like quote creation, order start date, or payment due date. Great for pre-delivery instructions, quote follow-ups, and payment reminders. Set it up
Event Notifications — Configure which in-system events trigger notifications for your team (new orders, payments collected, contracts signed, etc.). Set it up
When You're Ready: Connect Your Website
Rentopian integrates with WordPress/WooCommerce via the Rentopian Sync plugin, letting clients browse your inventory and place quotes or orders directly from your website. This is not a Day 1 requirement — many customers get fully comfortable with the system first and add website integration when they're ready.
You're Successfully Onboarded When...
Use this as your finish line. When you can check all of these off, you're ready to run your business fully in Rentopian:
☐ Your inventory is in the system (products, variants, and sets)
☐ Tax rates are configured
☐ Delivery fees are set up and auto-calculating on orders
☐ At least one contract template is configured (if you use contracts)
☐ Your payment gateway is connected and tested
☐ User roles are set up and team members have been added (if you have multiple team members)
☐ You've created at least one test order and walked through the full workflow
☐ Real orders are being entered and correctly processed and your team feels confident
Still Have Questions?
Our team is here to help you get set up. You have a few options:
Book a free setup call — Schedule time with our team and we'll walk through your setup together
Get your contract templates and document templates configured — Send your existing documents to [email protected] and we'll set them up in the system for you
Browse the Knowledge Base — Every feature in this guide has a dedicated help article with step-by-step instructions and video walkthroughs
Chat with us — Use the chat icon in the lower right corner of your screen at any time