Settling Security Deposits in Orders with EZRentOut

Let’s say you run a construction rental business and have a customer who’s renting out a forklift. A forklift is a high-ticket asset, so it makes sense if you want the customer to deposit some security against it. The security deposit is important in the rental industry. It serves as an assurance that even if the customer doesn’t return the item, you can at least use the deposit to recoup the lost rental income.

EZRentOut now allows you to settle and refund security deposit payments against rented-out Orders. Let’s dive deeper to learn more about settling and refunding security deposits.

1. Enable the setting

To enable the setting, go to Settings → Company Settings → Settle Security Deposits in Orders and click ‘Enabled’.

1.1. Create a security deposit

Before you can start to settle or refund security deposits, you need to create one. You can create a deposit by following the pathway: Settings → Company Settings → Invoice Line Items. Click ‘Create New Invoice Line Item’. Now, choose ‘Security Deposit’ under the ‘Type’ drop-down field.

Don’t forget to hit the ‘Create Invoice Line Item’ button once you’re done.

2. Charge payment for the security deposit

To charge the payment for a security deposit, go to the Orders module and open the particular Order. On the Order Details page, scroll down and click on ‘Pay’ next to the security deposit as highlighted below.

This action pops open the following overlay:

In the ‘Amount’ field, specify the amount of the security deposit that the customer is depositing. If the deposit is $252, the customer does not have to pay it all in one go. They can pay $100 right now, and the remaining later on. Hit ‘Submit’ and the payment has been charged!

In the ‘Amount’ field, specify the amount of the security deposit that the customer is depositing. They can pay part of the total or the whole amount i.e. $300 as shown above. Hit the ‘Submit’ button and the payment has been charged.

3. Settle the security deposit

Let’s assume that the customer paid the entire deposit of $300 in one go. After the payment has been submitted, you’ll see a new entry for the paid amount:

Once the customer returns the forklift back safely, you can pay the security deposit back by clicking on ‘Settle’. You can settle the amount of rental/damages from the deposit, in our case, there is a $200.66 rental and no damages.

Let’s settle the deposit for $200.66. Clicking ‘Settle’ opens up the following overlay:

In the ‘Amount’ field, enter the amount of the security deposit you are settling and click Settle.

The customer had initially deposited $300, and you have returned $200.66. You can see that the amount settled is deducted from the deposit, as highlighted below:

You can also revert the settlement by clicking the ‘Revert’ button if necessary. Please note after settling $200.66, the remaining amount of $99.34 is to be refunded back to the customer. The refundable amount is $99.34.

4. Add settlements while charging payment

Instead of the process outlined above, you can also settle the security deposit while you charge the payment. To do so, click the ‘Charge Payments’ button from the right of the Orders Details page. This opens the following overlay:

In the above case, we have settled $200.66. However, the remaining $99.34 deposited by the customer still has to be refunded. Click on ‘Add Settlements’. This opens up the following overlay, where you can settle $200.66 from the security deposit:

Once you’re done settling the deposit, you just have to charge the payment as you normally would.

You can also carry out this entire process while the customer returns their Order. Click on the ‘Return Order’ button. This directs you to the page where you can ‘Add Settlements’ following the steps mentioned above.

Note: This is only possible if you have enabled the ‘Charge payment while returning order’ setting from Settings → Company Settings.

5. View settled/refundable amount history in printouts

When you print the invoice for a particular Order from More → Printout Preview, you can see the history of settled or refunded amounts in the invoice.

As you can see in the highlighted section below, all settlements with their associated or refundable amount and time are printed along with the invoice.