Every rental business pays for damage sooner or later. The only question is whether the customer covers it, or whether it quietly comes out of your margin. Refundable Security Deposits collects a deposit at checkout and gives it back automatically when the item comes home in one piece, so the risk is covered without anyone having to chase an invoice after the fact.
Deposits that fit how you actually rent
Deposits are never one size fits all, so you can set them wherever the risk lives:
- Per product — a fixed amount or a percentage of the price, set on the product itself. Only the items that need protecting carry a deposit.
- Per order — a single deposit covering the whole basket, as a flat fee or a percentage of the qualifying items.
- Per variation — the compact hatchback and the convertible do not carry the same risk, so they need not carry the same deposit.
- Multiplied by quantity — renting five lenses rather than one takes five deposits, from a single checkbox.
Refunds that look after themselves
The part that usually goes wrong with deposits is giving them back. Honest customers wait, someone forgets, and the goodwill you collected the deposit to protect gets spent anyway. So refunding is the part that runs on its own:
- Deposits are returned automatically the moment an order is marked complete.
- Need to inspect first? Delay the automatic refund by up to 30 days.
- Refund a single deposit or every deposit on an order in one click from the order screen.
- Keep only what the repair costs and return the remainder — the outstanding balance is tracked per deposit.
- Where the gateway supports refunds, the money goes back to the original card or account, not store credit.
- Every collection and refund is written to the order notes, with branded refund emails for the customer and a copy for your team.
The same plugin, four different industries
- Car & motorcycle rentals — a percentage deposit works like an insurance excess, with per-variation overrides so each vehicle class carries its own figure and an inspection delay that gives you time to walk the bodywork.
- Electronics & equipment rentals — cameras, drones and AV kit have replacement costs far above their daily rate and go out several units at a time, so fixed per-item deposits multiplied by quantity match the real exposure.
- Baby equipment rentals — parents booking a stroller and cot before a trip are price-sensitive, so a single modest per-order deposit keeps the checkout friendly rather than stacking five separate charges.
- Clothing & fashion rentals — a gown or suit can be ruined in one evening and the damage rarely shows until it has been cleaned, so a percentage of retail value plus a grace period covers the trip to the cleaners.
Where it lives, and how to get it
There is no separate dashboard to learn. Defaults sit in a Security Deposits tab under WooCommerce settings, the specifics go on a Security Deposit tab on each product, and refunds happen from a panel on the order screen. Filters let your developer set the amount, force a deposit on or off, rename the fee or route refunds through a custom process, and a single checkbox disables the whole system if you ever need it gone.
Refundable Security Deposits is included with the Pro package alongside the full booking, rental and availability system — nothing extra to buy or install separately.
Read more about Refundable Security Deposits or see everything in the Pro package.