Security deposit holds and late fees

By default a security deposit is charged at checkout and refunded after the return. With deposit holds on, Rentshelf captures the rental part of the order right away and leaves the deposit authorized on the customer’s card. After the return you release it, or capture part of it for damage or a late return.

Requirements

Shopify Plus with Shopify Payments. Only those payments can be captured more than once, which a hold needs.
Manual payment capture. In Shopify admin, open Settings → Payments → Payment capture method and choose Manually capture payment for orders. This applies to every order in your store. Rentshelf captures rental orders, payment links and balance invoices right away, but you must capture other, non-rental orders yourself.
A security deposit on each rental product, set in the product’s Rentshelf pricing settings.

Turn it on

Open Settings → Security deposit holds.
Check Hold security deposits as card authorizations. The storefront then shows the deposit as authorized, not charged.
Optional: set up late fees (below).
Select Save.

Manage a hold on a booking

A booking with a deposit hold shows a Security deposit card with the held amount, its status and when the authorization expires.

Release deposit returns the remaining authorization to the customer.
Capture for damage charges part or all of the held amount. Add a reason, then Review capture and Confirm. Check Final capture (release what is left) to release the rest in the same step.
The History lists every capture and release with the amount and reason.

If a payment allows only one capture, the card says so: any capture then also releases the rest.

Authorization expiry

Card authorizations usually expire after about 7 days; some gateways allow longer. Rentshelf warns you 48 hours before expiry. After an authorization expires, late fees and damage charges need a payment link. For rentals longer than the authorization window, plan to capture or release before it expires.

Late fees

In Settings → Security deposit holds → Late returns:

Default late-fee rate: the amount per overdue unit. A product’s own Late-fee rate in the product editor overrides it; leave the product field empty to use the store default.
Charged per: Day overdue or Hour overdue.
Grace period (hours): 0 to 720 hours before lateness counts.

Rentshelf uses these settings only to suggest a fee: whole overdue days or hours after the grace period, times the rate. You approve every charge. On the booking’s Late return fee section, check or change the amount, add a note and select Review late fee:

If the hold still covers the fee and has not expired, the fee is charged from the held deposit.
Otherwise the fee is sent to the customer as a payment link.

What happens on other plans or gateways

If Shopify does not report the payment as capturable more than once (any store that is not on Shopify Plus with Shopify Payments, or another gateway), the first capture closes the authorization. Rentshelf then captures the whole order, including the deposit, and the booking shows that the deposit was charged instead of held. Refund the deposit after the return as described in Deposits. Late fees in this case are sent as a payment link.

Rentshelf never shows a deposit as held when it was charged.

Test the flow

On a Plus store with Shopify Payments, place a test rental order with a deposit and check that the order shows the rental captured and the deposit authorized. Then release the deposit from the booking. On other stores, confirm that the booking shows the deposit as charged and that your refund process is ready.