Rental subscriptions

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Use this guide when you rent out durable physical products for a fixed monthly price and a minimum rental period. A rental setup is common for products that are shipped once at the start of the subscription, such as furniture, baby products, electronics, appliances, or other reusable products. In a typical rental proposition, the customer chooses:

• The physical product or product variant they want to rent.
• A minimum rental period, such as 3, 6, 9, or 12 months.
• A monthly price that can be lower for longer commitments.

This article first explains the two most common rental setup scenarios. Use those scenarios to decide which structure fits your catalog. The step-by-step setup instructions are later in the article, after the scenarios and examples. For Shopify stores, the right setup depends mostly on how many products you rent out:

• If you rent out only a few products, you can configure exact monthly prices for each product and rental period in Firmhouse.
• If you rent out a large catalog, it is usually easier to keep the monthly rental price on the Shopify rental product and let Firmhouse apply discounts for longer commitments.

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Terms used in this guide

You will see these Firmhouse and Shopify terms in the scenarios below:

• Rental product: The Shopify product or variant the customer chooses when they sign up for the rental.
• Plan: The subscription option the customer chooses, such as “3 months” or “12 months”. The plan controls the billing frequency, minimum commitment, and pricing rule.
• Plan group: A set of plans that is connected to one or more rental products. Customers only see the plans that belong to the product they are viewing.
• Fixed price: A plan pricing strategy where the plan sets an exact monthly price.
• Percentage or Absolute value discount: Plan pricing strategies that discount the Shopify product price. Absolute value means a fixed amount off the monthly price.
• Shopify billing product: A virtual Shopify product used for recurring billing orders, so Shopify does not create a new fulfillment order for the physical rental item every month.

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Choose your setup

Use one of these structures. The details and setup steps for each option follow after this overview.

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Scenario 1: a few rental products

Use this structure when you only rent out a limited set of products:

1. Create one Shopify product for the physical item.
2. Keep Shopify variants only for real physical differences, such as size, color, or material.
3. Do not create Shopify variants for the rental period unless you have a specific storefront reason to do so.
4. In Firmhouse, connect that rental product to its own plan group.
5. Create one plan in that group for each minimum rental period, such as 3, 6, 9, or 12 months.
6. Use fixed prices on those plans when each commitment period needs an exact monthly price.
7. Configure a Shopify billing product on each plan so recurring billing moments use a virtual product instead of the physical product.

For example, a baby bed rental product could have two Shopify variants for the bed size:

• 60 x 120 cm
• 70 x 140 cm

The rental periods are then configured as Firmhouse plans: This works well for a small catalog because each plan can define the exact monthly rental price for that specific product.

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Scenario 2: a large rental catalog

Use this structure when you rent out many products:

1. Keep your regular one-time purchase products in Shopify for products customers can buy.
2. Create separate Shopify products for the rental versions of those products.
3. Set the monthly rental price as the Shopify product price on each rental product or variant.
4. Disable one-time purchases for the rental products in Shopify, so customers can only check out with a rental plan.
5. Create rental plans for the available minimum commitments.
6. Use Percentage or Absolute value discounts on the plans to reduce the monthly rental price for longer commitments. Use Absolute value when you want to give a fixed amount off the monthly rental price.
7. Configure a Shopify billing product on each plan so recurring billing moments use a virtual product instead of the physical rental product.

For example, a rental catalog could have separate Shopify products for the one-time purchase and rental version of the same physical item: The rental commitment plans then apply discounts to the monthly rental product price: This keeps the rental price close to the product in Shopify. When you add or change rental products, you update the rental product price instead of creating new fixed-price plans for each product.

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Before you begin

Make sure you have:

• A Shopify store connected to Firmhouse.
• The rental products created in Shopify.
• Products syncing from Shopify to Firmhouse. See Importing and syncing products.
• Access to plan groups and selling plans. See Selling Plans and Selling Plan Groups.
• The Minimum Contract Terms for Plans feature enabled in Firmhouse. See Contract terms.
• The Virtual Billing Product feature enabled for the project. Contact Firmhouse support if you do not see the Shopify billing product setting on plans.

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Set up the Shopify products

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1. Create or clean up the rental product

In Shopify, create the product that customers choose when they sign up for the rental. If the product has real physical variants, keep those variants. For example, a bed can have size variants such as 60 x 120 cm and 70 x 140 cm. If your current Shopify setup uses variants for the rental period, such as “3 months”, “6 months”, “9 months”, and “12 months”, remove those variants when possible. The rental period is easier to manage as Firmhouse plans because the plan already controls the visible subscription option, price, and minimum commitment. For a small rental catalog, this can be the same physical product customers receive. The plan’s fixed price controls the monthly rental price. For a large rental catalog, create a separate rental product next to the regular one-time purchase product. Set the rental product’s Shopify price to the standard monthly rental price, before any longer-commitment discount. Use Shopify’s built-in purchase option settings or your theme setup to prevent the rental product from being bought as a regular one-time purchase.

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2. Tag the rental product for Firmhouse sync

Add the FIRMHOUSE_SUBSCRIPTION tag to the Shopify product so it syncs to Firmhouse as a recurring product. After tagging the product, run a product sync in Firmhouse:

1. In Firmhouse, go to Apps.
2. Click Configure on the Shopify app.
3. Open the Product sync tab.
4. Select the sync options you need.
5. Click Start syncing.

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3. Create a virtual billing product in Shopify

Create a separate Shopify product that represents the recurring rental charge. This product is used for recurring billing orders after the first order. Recommended setup:

1. Name the product clearly, such as “Rental charge” or “Monthly rental charge”.
2. Use one variant unless you need multiple billing SKUs for reporting.
3. Mark it as a product that does not require shipping.
4. Hide it from your storefront navigation and product listings.
5. Add the FIRMHOUSE_SUBSCRIPTION tag so it can sync to Firmhouse.
6. Run the Firmhouse Shopify product sync again.

This virtual product prevents Shopify from creating recurring fulfillment work for the rental product every month. The first Shopify order still contains the rental product that needs to be shipped. Later billing moments use the virtual product.

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Set up the Firmhouse plan group

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1. Create plan groups for your rental setup

In Firmhouse:

1. Go to Plans.
2. Click Create Plan Group.
3. Give the group a clear internal name.
4. Use Manage Products to add the synced rental products or variants to the plan group.

For a small rental catalog, create one plan group per rental product. For example, create a “Baby bed rental” plan group and add only the synced baby bed rental product or variants. For a large rental catalog, create a shared rental plan group when the same commitment options and discount structure apply to many rental products. Add the synced rental products to that group. This avoids creating separate plan groups and fixed-price plans for every product.

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2. Create one plan per rental period

In the plan group, create one plan for each customer-facing rental period. For a small rental catalog, use fixed prices on each plan:

1. Use a customer-facing plan name, such as “Rent for 3 months” or “3 months”.
2. Set the billing frequency to the monthly rental billing cycle you want to charge.
3. Set the pricing strategy to Fixed price.
4. Enter the exact monthly price for that commitment period.
5. Set the minimum commitment to the matching rental period.
6. Select the synced virtual product in the Shopify billing product setting.
7. Save the plan.

Repeat these steps for each rental period you offer. For example: For a large rental catalog, keep the rental product price in Shopify and use plan discounts:

1. Use a customer-facing plan name, such as “Rent for 3 months” or “3 months”.
2. Set the billing frequency to the monthly rental billing cycle you want to charge.
3. Set the pricing strategy to Percentage or Absolute value. Use Absolute value for a fixed amount off the monthly rental price.
4. Enter the discount that should apply for that commitment period.
5. Set the minimum commitment to the matching rental period.
6. Select the synced virtual product in the Shopify billing product setting.
7. Save the plan.

Repeat these steps for each rental period you offer. For example:

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3. Check how the plans appear to customers

Selling plan names are visible to customers on the product page, in the cart, and at checkout. Use names that make the commitment and monthly price easy to understand. For example:

• 3 months - €89/month
• 6 months - €79/month
• 9 months - €74/month
• 12 months - €69/month

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Show rental options on the Shopify product page

Use the Firmhouse Subscription Options theme block or your own custom selling plan selector to show the available rental periods on the product page. If you use the standard Subscription Options theme block:

1. Open the Shopify theme editor.
2. Open the product template for the rental product.
3. Add the Firmhouse Subscription Options block.
4. Confirm that the four rental plans appear as subscription options.
5. Hide or remove one-time purchase options if the product should only be rented.
6. Test adding each rental period to the cart.

For a large rental catalog with separate one-time purchase and rental products, make sure the regular product page sends one-time purchases to the regular Shopify product and rental signups to the rental Shopify product with a selected selling plan. This keeps the one-time purchase price and the monthly rental price separate. For detailed theme setup steps, see Quick install on Shopify. If you use a custom storefront or custom product form, make sure the selected Shopify selling plan ID is submitted with the product. See Custom subscription widget.

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What happens after checkout

When a customer checks out with the rental product:

1. The first Shopify order contains the physical product variant the customer selected.
2. Firmhouse activates the subscription with the selected plan.
3. The plan’s minimum commitment controls when the customer can cancel.
4. Later billing moments use the configured virtual Shopify billing product instead of the physical product.
5. The recurring Shopify orders therefore represent billing charges and do not trigger shipment of another physical item.

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If you must keep rental periods as Shopify variants

Some merchants may need to keep rental periods as Shopify variants because of an existing storefront implementation or migration constraint. This is possible, but it is more difficult to manage. In that setup, create a separate Firmhouse plan group per rental-period variant so each Shopify variant maps to the correct selling plan. This keeps the variant-to-plan mapping explicit, but it also means you need to maintain more plan groups and product assignments. When you can choose the structure freely, prefer one of the two main setups in this guide: fixed-price plans per product for a small catalog, or separate rental products with plan discounts for a large catalog.

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Related articles

• Quick install on Shopify
• Importing and syncing products
• Selling Plans and Selling Plan Groups
• Contract terms
• Custom subscription widget