Switching to Rentopus
Moving from InflatableOffice, Goodshuffle or a spreadsheet
Your catalog comes across from a file: export it as CSV or Excel, and the import suggests where each column goes, flags what it cannot read, and saves nothing until you have checked it. Open bookings are entered by hand, nearest dates first, with availability checked on each. Past orders and signed paperwork stay in your old system, so keep it readable for a season.
At a glance
- Your catalog
- From a file
- Open bookings
- Entered by hand
- Customers
- With their bookings
- Past orders and signed paperwork
- Stay in your old system
What comes across
Four things to move, and how each one moves
Your catalog, from a file
CSV or Excel files up to 2,000 rows. The import recognizes InflatableOffice and Goodshuffle Pro files and suggests where each column goes: names, quantities, prices, sizes, categories, power and water. InflatableOffice's identical units listed one per row are added up into one item, and Goodshuffle's packages, discounts and vehicles start left out. Safety limits such as ages, riders and rider weight are never guessed. Photos are not imported: add them on each item afterwards.
Open bookings, by hand
Enter each booking not yet delivered with New quote, nearest dates first, then mark it booked on the order. Every item shows how many are free for that party as you add it, so a unit the old system sold twice shows up now, not on the Saturday. Your booking website has to be published first, because every order has its page there. A deposit your old system took is not recorded as a payment yet: note it on the order.
Customers, with their bookings
There is no customer list import. A customer is created the first time you enter a booking for them, or when they book on your website, and a returning customer is found by email however they type it. Your full customer list stays in your old system's export, for as long as you want it.
Your website, two ways
Keep the website you have and add your rentals to it with one line of code, or move to the booking website, on your own domain if you like. Rentopus cannot redirect your old website's addresses to the new pages yet. If those pages bring you bookings from Google, keep your website and add the embed, at least through your first season.
The InflatableOffice and Goodshuffle presets are new. They are built from the import template InflatableOffice publishes and from Goodshuffle's help pages, and have not yet been run on a real export from either system. Nothing is saved until you have confirmed every column and every flagged row, and a column a preset does not know gets the ordinary matching, so a file laid out differently still comes in: it asks you more questions.
The import
From your file to your catalog
- 1Export your inventory from your old system: InflatableOffice's rentals list as CSV, or Goodshuffle's Inventory with all columns. Any other spreadsheet works with one row per item and the column names in the top row.
- 2In Rentopus, open Items, then Import from a file, and upload it.
- 3Match your columns. Check each suggestion, pick Skip this column for anything you do not need, and look closely at any match marked Check this match.
- 4Check your items. The list opens on the rows that need a look, such as a price written as text or a missing quantity. Fill them in, or untick a row to leave it out.
- 5Import into your catalog. You can leave and come back before this, and importing the same file again later updates the items it made rather than adding them twice.
What stays behind
Keep your old system readable for a season
No software move carries everything. These stay where they are, and you will want them there.
- Past orders and rental history. Your reports in Rentopus start from the first party you enter.
- Signed agreements and waivers, with their signature records. Keep them where they were signed.
- Item photos. Upload them again on each item, at full size.
- Custom fields the import has no place for. Skip those columns, or paste what matters into the item's description.
- Deposits and payments already taken. Note them on each order you enter, and settle the balance the way you agreed with the customer.
And if you ever leave us
Account, then Your data, downloads everything your business keeps in Rentopus as one ZIP file: customers, orders with every line, payments, signed agreements, messages, your catalog and your settings, a spreadsheet for each. The owner can download it any time, and for 60 days after closing the account.
Questions about switching
- When is the best time to switch?
- Between November and February. Your open bookings are fewest then, and you have time to check your catalog before the first spring Saturday. Switching in May means doing it with a full calendar.
- Can I run both systems while I switch?
- Yes, and you should. Nothing in Rentopus touches your old system. While both are taking bookings, each new booking has to go into both, or one of them will offer that unit to someone else, so keep the overlap short: enter your open bookings, publish, and stop taking bookings in the old one the same day.
- Do you do the import for me?
- Not as a service. The import is built for you to do yourself, and nothing is saved until you have checked it. If an export from your system will not read, tell us through the contact page which system it came from: that is exactly the file we want to see.
- What if I import the same file twice?
- The second import updates the items the first one made instead of adding them again. Items are matched by the ID or SKU column when your file has one, and by name otherwise, and a value you typed in after the first import is kept unless the file fills it in.
- Can I try it before moving anything?
- Yes. The trial is 14 days with every feature and no card. Import your catalog, enter a few bookings and look at your booking website before you tell your old system anything.
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Put the whole Saturday in one place
Set up your catalog and see your booking website before you decide anything.
14 days, no card.
