when paypal isnt enough

June 17, 2009 5:05 PM

I want to rent audio equipment online. Rental payments will be handled via paypal. But whats the easiest way, online, to hold a monetary amount as collateral (cash value of the equipment until the rental is returned)?
posted by jak68 to computers & internet (7 comments total)

To clarify, i want to "rent out" audio equipment that I own, rent it to others. That is, others will rent it from me, online.
posted by jak68 at 5:06 PM on June 17

Forget paypal, use a real merchant account so you can place holds on credit cards like car rental places do. I would also suggest you look into get a some kind of insurance policy to cover losses that are virtually guaranteed to occur.
posted by bigmusic at 5:37 PM on June 17

bigmusic - do you have any recommendations for insurance companies who would cover this sort of thing? And/or for merchant accounts? I'm a total noob here. Thanks.
posted by jak68 at 5:43 PM on June 17

I don't have any recommendations for specific companies, sorry. You are probably going to have to get a custom insurance company to do this kind of thing, I would call up a local business that rents tools and the like to see who they use (a home depot won't do, they have enough buying power that they self insure.) If that fails, call up some other place that is doing this kind of thing in say Nashville and ask them, I'm sure they'd be willing to help you with the information (maybe not if you tell them are doing it for an internet business, but if you tell them you are doing a local business) I'm not sure esoteric this insurance product would be - you aren't the only guy trying to do a rental business, there has to be some kind of standard product. As for merchant accounts, I would check out your local banks, the only odd requirement for your business is the deposits, and I'm sure they've dealt with that before. Good luck with your endeavors, what kind of audio equipment are you renting if I may ask? If you are renting old rare amps, you might look into to do impulses of them and selling the impulses of them as well.
posted by bigmusic at 6:00 PM on June 17

A good friend of mine who sells web-based software (for which clients need their own merchant accounts) usually recommends Authorize.net.
posted by Conrad Cornelius o'Donald o'Dell at 7:16 PM on June 17

What kind of audio equipment? If it is for recording sound for video, try www.mandy.com and you can find more than enough ads for people looking to rent equipment, most of which have their own employment insurance/companies have equipment insurance.
posted by banannafish at 8:27 PM on June 17

thanks for the tips. I guess i have some keywords to search on now ('merchant account' etc :) ). I'll also check out authorize.net, thanks conrad. If anyone has any other tips, I'd appreciate those too.

As for what kind of equipment, actually a variety of computer equipment (not just audio, tho to simplify the question I suggested audio as a typical product). I was thinking things like four-track recorders and effects pedals etc. Ie, standard electronics but things that are in some cases very expensive and only used on occasion - ie, something people may have an interest in renting therefore, online and via the mail. (would fit in a small package in other words). SO products like that is a good example of what i'm thinking of.

Also, just to add some context here, i'm just fleshing out some ideas, is all. This came up from a specific conversation I had with a friend recently when we were talking about our hobbies and how to make a buck off them. I do have a day job ;) so I'm not about to go whole hog and open an online storefront or anything.
posted by jak68 at 10:00 PM on June 17