Rental waitlist
The rental waitlist is included in the Growth plan. It records demand for unavailable rental dates without reserving stock and can alert a verified customer once when suitable capacity opens.
Choose where the waitlist appears
Section titled “Choose where the waitlist appears”Open Rental waitlist and choose one of these modes:
- Off pauses new requests and alerts while preserving saved configuration and existing requests.
- Selected products gives the team product-by-product control.
- All rental products includes active rental products by default, while still allowing an individual product to use Never.
Each product can show the waitlist Any time, Only when fully booked, or Never.
Customer request and verification
Section titled “Customer request and verification”The storefront request retains the customer’s preferred dates, quantity, variant, delivery method and location so Rentshelf can evaluate the same request later. Customers must consent and verify their email before the request becomes eligible for an automatic availability alert.
If the requested rental is already available, Rentshelf directs the customer back to booking and does not create an unnecessary waitlist entry. Joining the waitlist does not hold inventory.
Availability checks and alerts
Section titled “Availability checks and alerts”Rentshelf evaluates confirmed booking capacity for the requested product, variant and location. Manual closures and Google busy-calendar blocks remain separate availability controls.
When enough capacity opens, a verified waiting request receives one invitation to book. The same request is not repeatedly alerted automatically. A request can later be matched to a completed booking, removed by staff, expire, or show a failed-delivery state that requires review.
Manage requests
Section titled “Manage requests”Use the waitlist queue to:
- filter by product, status and preferred dates;
- review the requested rental details and customer;
- add an internal note;
- send a manual message or invitation to book;
- remove a request; or
- confirm that the request became a booking.
Downgrading from Growth pauses protected waitlist actions and automatic alerts but retains requests subject to normal data-retention rules. Staff can still remove retained requests.