How to rent out party equipment on a Wix site, with stock and deposits

By Kayabyte

Disclosure: I make Equipment & Party Rentals, a Wix app that I describe near the end. The checklist in the first sections works with any tool. Wix details were read on 14 November 2026; check Wix’s help pages for changes.

Renting out party tents, chairs, tables, bounce houses or sound gear from a website needs more than a booking button. You hold several identical units, customers want several items on one booking, you need time between rentals to clean and set up, and you may want a deposit. This guide goes through what to decide, in the order that avoids the usual mistakes, and what Wix gives you for each part.

1. Decide your rental unit and price

• Per hour, per day or per event. Chairs and tables are usually per day, a PA system per event or per day, a kayak per hour or half day. One item can have one rate; don’t mix rates in the same listing.
• Day counting. Decide whether a Saturday pickup and Sunday return is two days or one night. Write the rule on the page, because customers compare it with other firms.
• Minimum rental and lead time. A two-hour minimum or a 12-hour lead time saves you short, awkward jobs.
• Weekly and long-rental prices. If you want a weekly rate, decide how many days earn it.

2. Count stock, not listings

If you own 40 chairs, you want one item “Chair” with a stock of 40, not 40 listings. Wix’s own Rentals app, according to Wix’s help article “Wix Rentals: an overview”, works with a resource for each rentable thing, so identical units are set up one by one; it is also described as available on the Harmony editor. For one bike or one meeting room that is fine. For 40 chairs it is a lot of setup.

Whatever tool you use, a stock count per item should let a customer book 12 chairs when 12 or more are free for their dates, and refuse 30 when only 28 are.

3. Leave time between rentals

Add setup time before a rental and cleaning or check time after it. A bounce house that returns at 6 pm on Sunday and goes out at 8 am on Monday needs the hours between in the calendar as occupied time, not free time. Check how your tool handles buffers for the way you rent, hourly or daily, before you rely on it.

4. Choose pickup or delivery for each item

Party hire is often delivered. Decide per item whether customers collect, you deliver, or both, and what the delivery fee is. See Equipment rental on Wix: delivery zones, pickup times and opening hours for the details.

5. Decide how customers pay

You have three common choices:

• Pay in full online. Simple, and the booking is confirmed when the order is approved.
• Pay part now, the rest later. A part payment is a share of the rental price, taken at booking, with the balance due before or at pickup.
• Pay at pickup. Easy for customers, but a booking with no payment is easier to abandon, so many firms avoid it for popular dates.

Part payment and security deposit are different things, and mixing them up confuses customers. A part payment is part of the price. A security deposit is extra money, refunded when the equipment comes back undamaged.

6. Security deposits: what Wix can and cannot do

Wix Stores checkout takes real payments. As far as we have found, there is no card pre-authorisation hold, where the bank reserves an amount without charging it. So a security deposit taken online is a charge, and you refund it afterwards from Wix Orders. Say this in your rental terms, so customers know the money leaves their account and comes back.

The alternative is to collect the deposit at pickup, in cash or by card, and write it on the pickup sheet. For how Wix Bookings, Wix Hotels and Wix Stores handle deposits more generally, see How to take a deposit on a Wix site.

7. Write terms customers accept

Put the cancellation rule, the late-return rule, the damage rule and what the customer must bring (an ID, for example) in a short terms text and ask customers to tick it when they book. A tick box is not a signed contract, so if you need signatures, add that step yourself.

8. Test the whole path on your live site

Make a booking as a customer, pay with a payment method you can refund, and check the order in Wix Orders. Then look at your calendar: the item should show as out for the right dates, with the buffer. Cancel the order, refund it, and check that the units come back.

Our app: Equipment & Party Rentals

We make Equipment & Party Rentals, a Wix app built around the steps above. Get it on the Wix App Market.

• A stock count per item, with prices per hour, per day or per event, and a minimum rental.
• Setup and cleaning time before and after each rental, opening hours and block-outs for repairs.
• Several items and extras in one booking, with pickup or delivery.
• Part payment on every plan, and a refundable security deposit on Pro, charged online or noted for pickup.
• A Today screen with pickups, returns and deposits to return.

Free covers up to 3 items and 5 online bookings a month. Pro is $9.99 a month, or $7.49 a month billed yearly; Business is $19.99 a month, or $14.99 a month billed yearly. Paid plans have a 14-day free trial. It needs a Wix store checkout with a payment method, and it does not track serial numbers per unit or sign contracts. Made by Kayabyte.

FAQ

Can I rent out equipment on Wix without an app? For one or a few items, Wix Bookings or Wix’s Rentals app can work, with each rentable thing set up as its own resource. For many identical units, several items per booking, delivery or deposits, you will probably want an app or a lot of manual setup.

How do I stop customers booking more chairs than I own? Use a stock count per item and have the tool check the whole rental period, not only the pickup date. See How to prevent double bookings for rental items on a Wix site.

Can I take a deposit on a party rental? Yes, in two ways: a part payment that counts toward the price, and a security deposit that you refund. An online security deposit is a normal charge followed by a refund.

Do I need Wix Stores? For Equipment & Party Rentals you need Wix store checkout and a payment method. For other tools, check what they require.

Can I deliver items? Yes. Decide on a flat fee or fees by area, and the time windows you offer. Our delivery guide covers both.