Rentshelf app: Shopify Rentals, Deposits and Returns

What Rentshelf Does for a Rental Store, and What Stays in Shopify

A rental store needs three things a normal product page does not: dates the customer picks, a guarantee that the same item is not booked twice, and a deposit that comes back when the item does. No Shopify Help Center page we have found describes a built-in security deposit for an item that comes back, so this is app territory (the boundary of that search is at the end of the deposit section).

Rentshelf adds the dates and the deposit to your existing products and checkout. Here is the split:

Two Shopify pieces sit underneath. The deposit checkout is a Shopify draft order with an invoice, and the listing's data access includes draft orders. Shopify's pickup in store is a checkout option of its own, which Rentshelf's label-only delivery method does not select.

Rentshelf launched on May 11, 2026 and, as of October 31, 2026, carried a 5.0 rating from 4 reviews and no Built for Shopify badge.

When another tool fits better. Two needs change the answer. Of the nine rental listings our guide compares, only Miko lists one-click deposit refunds to the original payment method; FlexCon lists creating a rental through POS, both on their App Store listings as read October 31, 2026. For signed contracts, RentBase lists contracts with e-signature on its Pro tier, while Rentshelf's own agreements, signed with a typed name, come with Growth. Our rental guide sets out what each of those nine listings documents.

Rentshelf is built for items that come back. If you sell time rather than things, such as classes or appointments, start with booking apps for services.

For cars and boats, read whether a vehicle rental fits Shopify first.

How Does Rentshelf Charge the Deposit at Checkout?

You set the deposit on each product, on its Pricing tab in Rentshelf; Settings > Deposits also sets a default booking-deposit percentage for new rental products. The product's Deposit card offers two models: a security deposit, an extra refundable amount on top of the rental, and a booking deposit, a share of the rental paid now with the rest later. Each takes a percentage or a fixed amount, labelled USD in our USD-based test store, and a fixed amount overrides the percentage.

In Shopify adminOpen in your store

1. Apps
2. Rentshelf - Product Rentals
3. Products
4. Pricing

Zoom

How the deposit reaches the payment. When the customer presses Check out in your theme's cart, Rentshelf sends them to the checkout of a Shopify draft order it creates. In our test that checkout showed the dress at $1,300: the $800 rental and the $500 deposit on one line, with “Rental Quote” and “Security Deposit” listed under it. The prop with a 20% booking deposit charged $200 today and showed the $800 remaining balance on its line.

Shopify checkout reached from the cart for a rental dress

Zoom

The order that comes out of it carries the same single line, with the deposit recorded in the line's details rather than as a separate item. That matters later: when you return the deposit, there is no deposit line to pick, only an amount to type.

In Shopify adminOpen in your store

1. Orders

Zoom

Keep customers on the cart. Our first checkout, opened directly and bypassing the cart, charged only the rental price; the deposit stayed as text on the line. Rentshelf's Storefront settings offer to hide dynamic checkout buttons on rental products, and the screen calls it the recommended default: rental products show Rent Now and hide dynamic checkout. Leave that setting on.

Why charge the deposit instead of holding it on the card. A card authorization on Shopify Payments has to be captured within 7 days, longer periods are for Shopify Plus stores, and manual capture is a store-wide setting that applies only to online orders. None of the Shopify pages we read describes capturing payment per product, or a longer hold below Plus, and the Rentshelf docs we read describe charging and refunding, not holding. Our fraud guide explains how long an authorized payment can wait.

Tax follows the line. In our test, with prices including 20% VAT on a manual tax setup for the Ukraine market, checkout calculated tax on the whole $1,300 line, deposit included: $216.67, where the $800 rental alone would have carried $133.33. Rentshelf's help docs warn, in their words, “Do not assume a line-item label creates a separate tax-exempt item.” No Shopify help page we have found says how a refundable deposit is taxed.

Shopify's own additional fees are not taxed, but they are in early access for selected stores and meant for fees the law requires, not for bookings. Which tax rule applies to a deposit is a question for your jurisdiction; Shopify's tax overrides work on whole products, and here the deposit shares the rental's line.

How Do You Refund or Keep a Rental Deposit?

Rentshelf's help docs send you to Shopify for every deposit refund, and in our test the app had no refund button of its own. Because the deposit is part of the rental line, you return it as an amount, in full or in part:

1. Open the order in Orders and click Refund.
2. Leave the item quantity at 0 and type the deposit, or the part you return, into Refund amount.
3. Add a reason, such as “Security deposit returned”, which only your staff can see.
4. Click the refund button and confirm.

In Shopify adminOpen in your store

1. Orders
2. Refund

Zoom

Keeping part of the deposit for damage is the same move with a smaller amount: Shopify lets you issue partial refunds until you reach the order total, and the order turns Partially refunded. In our test, refunding $500 of the $1,300 order left a net payment of $800. The order's tax line still read $216.67 afterwards, so the tax charged on the deposit stayed on the order after the deposit went back, and the refund screen itself warns: “For accurate sales and taxes, refund items or add a discount for partial refunds.”

The refund and the booking are two separate records. What each action changes:

In Shopify adminOpen in your store

1. Orders
2. More actions
3. Cancel order

Zoom

The full procedure, including restocking and store credit, is in how to refund an order in Shopify.

What a deposit costs you. The deposit travels in the same card payment as the rental, so it pays the card fee too, and on Shopify Payments a refund does not return it. On Shopify Payments' US online standard rate for the Basic plan, 2.9% + 30¢, the $500 deposit in our example carries $14.50 of that fee, and the 30¢ is paid once for the whole order.

On a third-party gateway in a country where Shopify Payments isn't available, Shopify credits its transaction fee in proportion to the refund, but only when you refund through your Shopify admin; any card fee is set and charged by that gateway.

On Shopify Payments you can usually issue a refund up to 120 days, depending on the customer's bank; the refund shows as Pending for up to 2 business days, can take up to 10 business days to reach the customer, and comes out of your next payout. A partial refund does not stop the customer from disputing the full order, so record the item's condition before you keep part of a deposit.

Two Rental Setups Rentshelf Handles

In both setups, an online booking starts with a customer choosing dates on your product page and paying the rental and deposit at checkout. Other bookings are entered by staff as manual bookings in Rentshelf's admin, which, per Rentshelf's docs, do not automatically create a paid Shopify order or collect payment. The two setups differ in what happens between the booking and the return.

Booked Online, Then Shipped or Collected

When it arises: dresses and costumes for an event, camera kits for a weekend, party props delivered to a venue. The customer books days or weeks ahead and the item ships or waits for pickup.

1. Add the product as a rental product in Rentshelf and set how many units you own.
2. Pick the deposit model on its Pricing tab, as shown in the deposit section above.
3. Add the Rental Calendar Widget block to your product template and switch on the app embed.

What to combine it with: Shopify's own shipping and pickup in store for delivery, and Rentshelf's pickup and return reminder emails, from Starter.

For a booking deposit, Rentshelf can send a Shopify payment link for the balance on the due date. Its docs say the link asks the customer to pay and does not charge a saved card, and that a sent link is not a paid one, so check the booking's balance before handing the item over.

In Shopify adminOpen in your store

1. Apps
2. Rentshelf - Product Rentals
3. Bookings

Zoom

Where it breaks: in our test the return day stayed open to the next customer, which is the gap Starter's buffer days between bookings are for. A fixed deposit, entered in our store's US dollars, was not converted in another market currency, and a checkout that bypasses the cart drops the deposit, as covered in the deposit section.

Handed Over and Checked In at the Counter

When it arises: a local shop where customers collect a costume or a tool and bring it back to the same counter. When the booking is made online, the deposit is already paid at checkout, so the counter's job is the handover and the check-in.

Rentshelf's POS settings screen lists three steps:

1. Open Shopify POS on the device at the counter and sign in to your store.
2. Go to Settings, then POS apps, then Rentshelf, and add the Rentshelf rentals tile to your home screen.
3. Tap the tile to see the day's pickups and returns, and use Check out to customer and Mark returned.

In Shopify adminOpen in your store

1. Apps
2. Rentshelf - Product Rentals
3. Settings
4. Shopify POS

Zoom

Two boundaries before you plan around it. The claim rests on Rentshelf's listing and this screen: we did not test the tile on a device, and Rentshelf's help docs we read have no page describing POS pickup and return check-in (see the box in the deposit section). Marking an item returned at the till refunds nothing either; Shopify POS can refund an order fully or partially, and exchanging an item needs POS Pro.

Which Rentshelf Plan Fits Your Rental Catalog

Rentshelf charges by catalog size and booking horizon, not per booking: its pricing page says it adds no per-booking commission, while Shopify's subscription and payment fees stay separate. The plans, in USD as Rentshelf's pricing page showed them on October 31, 2026, with features from Rentshelf's App Store listing:

Go by the highest need, not the average. A fourth product, a booking 16 days out or a buffer day each moves you to Starter on its own; a 26th product, a booking past 90 days or a signed agreement moves you to Growth.

Both paid plans start with a 7-day free trial, charges are billed every 30 days, and a downgrade can pause rental products above the new limit while keeping their settings and booking history.

Signed agreements are a Growth feature. Rentshelf's docs describe terms that customers sign with a typed name through a private booking link, with no legal template or identity check from Rentshelf, and a booking that requires an agreement can't be marked Active until it is signed. The product setting says plainly that payment does not count as a signature. We did not switch the requirement on, so the signing flow itself is untested.

In Shopify adminOpen in your store

1. Apps
2. Rentshelf - Product Rentals
3. Products
4. Customer experience

Zoom

Set These Up Before Your First Rental

The order matters because the deposit is configured on the product but only proven at checkout: a product set up perfectly still loses its deposit if customers can reach checkout without the cart. Step 6 is the one that tells you the earlier steps worked.

Rentshelf's deposit screen says stores must approve the Shopify draft orders permission once after installing or updating the app; in our test no prompt appeared and the draft-order checkout worked anyway, so approve it only if you are asked. Tick each step off as you go:

The Bottom Line

In our November 1, 2026 test, Rentshelf did the part of the rental job that Shopify lacks: dates that close once booked, and a deposit charged with the rental. What it leaves to you is the money after the return.

Frequently Asked Questions