Rental Products adds a rental form with a date picker to rental product pages, and an optional availability checker that lets customers pick their dates once and see which products are free as they browse. This page covers what customers see, from the shop page to the order email, and the store-wide settings that shape it.
When you’d use this
- Check how rentals look and behave for customers before you launch.
- Move or restyle the rental form on product pages.
- Let customers choose dates first, then browse what’s available.
- Fix a rental or purchase toggle that doesn’t show on a page builder template.
The rental form on product pages
Every rental product page shows a rental form beside the add to cart button. The customer picks their dates in the calendar (or a rental period, for period selection products) and sees the rental total before adding it to the cart. The calendar only offers dates the product can be booked for, and the add to cart button stays disabled until valid dates are chosen.
You control the form store-wide under Rentals » Settings » Rental form (settings reference):
- Position places it before or after the quantity field. New installs place it after.
- Layout offers Default (your theme’s styling), Theme compatibility, and light and dark styles. Try Theme compatibility if the form looks out of place in your theme.
- Date selection, Date format, Auto select end date, Available rental stock totals and Reset button change how dates are picked and shown.
Per product, the Calendar tab sets how many months and columns the calendar shows, or shows it open on the page (product options).
The rental form needs WooCommerce’s standard add to cart form on the product page. With the modern handlers, it also works in block themes’ product templates.
Variable products
The customer picks the variation’s options first, then the dates. With the modern handlers, the form updates its price when a variation is chosen. In legacy mode, choosing dates first shows "Please select all required product option(s)."
Time based products
A time based product shows a calendar for one date, then Start time and Duration lists. Each duration shows its end time and price. If the date has no times left, the form says "No times are available on this date."
In-person pick up and return
Products with in-person pick up and return show Pick up time and Return time choices under the dates, with any fee beside each time. The form explains: "When selecting dates above, exclude the return date. The return date will be automatically calculated and shown below." Fees are charged for each item. With the modern handlers the form’s total includes them; in legacy mode they’re added in the cart.
Rental information tab
A rental information tab appears on rental product pages when there’s store-wide or product rental information to show. Set its title and store-wide text under Rentals » Settings » Catalog, and product-specific text on the product’s Information tab. On rental or purchase products, it shows in the rental view only.
Rental or purchase toggle
Rental or purchase products show a toggle, as a link or a button, to switch the product page between the rental and purchase options. Set its type, its position (after the add to cart button or after the price), and whether it also shows on shop pages under Rentals » Settings » Catalog.
The toggle normally appears in WooCommerce’s product summary. If your theme or page builder (Elementor, for example) leaves out the standard product summary, the toggle is shown by the add to cart button instead. If it still doesn’t appear because the template has no standard add to cart form, add the [wcrp_rental_products_rental_purchase_toggle] shortcode to your single product template.
Shop and category pages
- Rental products show their rental price with "Rent for" or "Rent from". See how the price is displayed.
- Rental only and Rental bundle products have a Select dates button that opens the product page, instead of an add to cart button. Rentals can only be added to the cart from the product page.
- A grouped product shows a rental button for each rental product in it, and hides its own add to cart button when every product in it is Rental only or Rental bundle.
Add the availability checker
The availability checker is a small form where customers enter their rental dates and, optionally, a quantity. Once they apply them, rental products on your shop, category and search pages, and in most WooCommerce product blocks, show whether they’re available for those dates. The dates also carry through to product pages, where the rental form fills them in and says "These dates have been automatically populated as this product is available for your previously selected dates."
Place it where customers see it as they browse, such as above the shop’s product grid or in a sidebar. Don’t add it to product pages, where it would compete with the rental form.
Block
Edit the page or template, add a block, search for Availability Checker (in the Rental Products category) and save.
Shortcode
Add [wcrp_rental_products_availability_checker] to any page, post, shortcode block or widget area.
What the status shows
The checker labels products; it never hides unavailable ones.
- Rental only and Rental bundle simple products show Rental available or Rental unavailable, with the dates and quantity chosen (or just the status, with Status display set to Minimal).
- Variable products, and grouped products whose every product is Rental only or Rental bundle, show "Select rental dates/options to check availability" instead, because availability depends on the options chosen on the product page.
- Rental or purchase products show nothing, unless you turn on Status on rental or purchase products. It’s off by default because their shop listing shows the purchase price and add to cart button, which customers could mistake for the rental.
- Cart and checkout never show a status.
The status attaches to each product’s button on shop pages. Themes and page builders that remove those buttons get the status at the end of each product instead.
A product with no rental price, or with no stock left on the dates, shows as unavailable. A time based product shows as available on a date when at least one start time on it has room for the quantity chosen.
Checker settings
The checker’s options are under Rentals » Settings » Availability checker and Rentals » Settings » Advanced (settings reference):
- Minimum days, Maximum days and Period multiples limit the lengths customers can enter. Set both minimum and maximum to 1 to pick a single date. Match them to how most of your products are priced, such as multiples of 7 days for weekly rentals.
- Quantity shows or hides the quantity field (hidden means a quantity of 1).
- Apply dates redirect sends customers to a page of your choice, such as the shop, after they apply dates.
- The text it shows, such as "Rental products will now show availability for your selected dates.", is on the Labels tab.
The checker remembers the customer’s dates and quantity for 30 days in cookies (wcrp_rental_products_availability_checker_rent_from, _rent_to and _quantity). Add them to your cookie policy.
Cached sites: use AJAX mode
On sites with page caching, set Rentals » Settings » Advanced » Availability checker » Mode to AJAX, which loads the checker and its statuses after the page loads so cached pages don’t show another visitor’s dates. New installs already use AJAX.
Cart, checkout, My Account and emails
The rental dates, the return period, any pick up and return times, the start and end times of a time based rental, and any security deposit appear throughout checkout, in both the classic and block cart and checkout.
- Security deposits are separate fee lines, such as "Security deposit #1 (refundable) – Camera". See security deposits.
- Bundled products follow their bundle’s quantity, and items using advanced pricing can’t have their quantity changed in the cart.
- A customer can’t rent and buy the same product in one order: "Sorry, you cannot add a purchase and rental of the same product to cart. If you require a purchase and rental of the same product then these must be ordered separately."
- If you turn on Same rental dates required, every rental in the cart must have the same dates.
Customers find their rental details on the order in My Account, where "Order again" is hidden for orders with rentals, and in their order emails.
To remind customers when a rental is due back, turn on the rental return reminder email.
Express checkout buttons
Express checkout and buy now buttons can skip the rental form, creating orders without rental dates. Stripe’s express checkout buttons (from the WooCommerce Stripe Payment Gateway) are hidden on rental product pages automatically, except on the purchase view of a rental or purchase product. Other gateways’ buttons aren’t hidden: hide them on rental pages with custom CSS targeting this body class, which keeps them on the purchase view:
body.wcrp-rental-products-is-rental:not(.wcrp-rental-products-is-rental-purchase-purchase)Common issues
The calendar doesn’t open, or the rental form does nothing
Usually a JavaScript error or an optimization setting that defers or moves jQuery. See troubleshoot Rental Products.
The availability checker doesn’t show a status
Check that customers applied dates in the checker, that the product type shows a status (see what the status shows), and on cached sites that Mode is AJAX.
Dates chosen in the checker are lost or wrong between pages
Page caching is serving stored copies. Set Mode to AJAX and purge your cache.
The rental or purchase toggle is missing
See rental or purchase toggle for the fallback and shortcode.
Every product shows as unavailable in the checker
The dates may have no free stock. Try other dates to confirm the checker works, and check that each product has a rental price.
Keep learning
- Rental Products settings (every storefront option)
- Set up rental pricing
- How rental availability works
- Troubleshoot Rental Products