Lensrentals News and Alerts

Introducing LensRentals Keeper

Published October 2, 2014

Saying goodbye can be the hardest part of any rental. With our new Keeper program, you can try it, then buy it!

Just rent an eligible item, and then we’ll give you a starting purchase price based on the age of the copy we send you. We’ll even give you a credit for a portion of the rental fees. Even better, you can handle the entire transaction with just a few clicks on our website (although we’d be more than happy to handle it over the phone if you are just dying to talk to one of our friendly customer service agents).

What equipment is eligible?

Almost all of our equipment is eligible. If it is impossible for us to get a quick replacement for a particular piece of gear, either because it is backordered or because our suppliers are slow to get us new copies, it may not be offered for sale. If you see a piece of equipment not offered for sale, just send us an email. In many cases, we just haven’t gotten around to updating the product to be eligible for sale.

If a product is eligible, it will have a badge underneath the rent button on its page.

If you click the Get Estimate button, we’ll display a range of possible prices, to give you an expectation of what your copy might cost before you rent it. The final price you are offered will be dependent on the age of the copy you receive, but should fall inside the quote range, in most cases.

How do I receive a quote for my rental?

Just log-in to our site, and pull up your current rental. Each eligible item will have a Buy Now button.

You’ll then receive your exact quote. You can approve the quote and we’ll bill your credit card on file, or you can decline the offer. Once you approve the offer, we’ll bill the card on file and send you a receipt. As always, if you’d rather talk to one of our friendly customer service agents and have them give you a quote and process the purchase, just give us a call!

How is the purchase price calculated?

It’s pretty simple actually. We take into account the retail price of the product, the price we can sell it for at the end of its run with us, and the current age of the copy you have in your possession. If the copy you have is on its very first rental, the price is going to be pretty close to the retail price, because, hey, it’s brand new! Likewise, if the copy you have is near the end of its rental life, it is going to be pretty close to the pricing you’d see at LensAuthority on our used gear.

That price is way too high! What’s up with that?

If you see a price that looks too high, it’s probably a mistake on our part. We’ve spent a lot of time developing formulas to give you real time price quotes, but we aren’t perfect. Retail prices are always fluctuating. We may have not updated our price to reflect a recent price change. Our formula might just be stupid in some way.

If you see a crazy price, please send an email to support@lensrentals.com – We’ll check on that price for you and adjust it if necessary.

What percentage of my rental fees do I get credited?

We’ll give you back 100% of the rental fees for up to a 7 day rental as a credit towards purchase. If your rental was longer than 7 days, we’ll give you the 7 day rental price as a credit, and 30% of the remaining rental fees you paid, as well.

No credit is given for amounts paid for the Lenscap and Lenscap+ protection plans.

Lastly, we want to be clear this is a try-and-buy program; it’s not a rent-to-own program in the traditional sense. The price, after any credit for rental fees, will never dip much below 50% of the retail price of the equipment, so please don’t expect to extend a rental over and over again until the item is completely paid-off.

Can I apply the rental fees from past rentals or from one product to another?

No. You will only receive a credit for the rental fees paid for the particular copy that is being quoted, on this particular rental. If you rent 3 copies of an identical lens on one rental, you cannot use the rental fees paid for all 3 copies towards the purchase of a single copy. Likewise, if you have rented the same lens on 3 different rentals, you will only receive a credit for the fees paid on your current rental.

What is the return policy?

We’ll allow a return within the first 14 days, and we’ll issue a refund less the rental fees that would have been charged for the period you had the equipment.

What if I want an extended warranty or a retail box?

We can sell an extended warranty from CPSfor a fee, and in many cases, we can also send you a retail box if you’ll cover the shipping costs. Just email us after your purchase if you’d like to do either of those, and we’ll take care of it.

 

Author: Lensrentals

Articles written by the entire editorial and technical staff at LensRentals.com. These articles are for when there is more than one author for the entire post, and are written as a community effort.

Posted in Lensrentals News and Alerts
  • Alex Stetson

    If you buy the lens do you keep the crate they sent the lens in as well or does that have to be returned still?

  • Okay, then let’s restate the question slightly: is there any way to specify the general part of the “Keeper” estimate range, and/or the general age of the item, we would like? Some of the ranges are rather wide. For example, as I type this, the Sony Alpha 7’s Keeper estimate range is $672 – $987, a 47% difference from low end to high end.

  • Ken Winokur

    Van none of the Equipment from LR is ever “old and wornout” it’s either brand new or used a few time and in perfect working condition or at worst used many times with a possible external cosmetic blemish but still in perfect working order.

    They check and service their gear every time it’s rented.

    If you really want something old and wornout check with a company like KEH camera in Atlanta GA. They have a system of rating the condition of their used equipment and I can tell you for sure that everything from LR would rate at the top of their system.

    However if you really want something cheap and can live with a real flaw or two KEH list bargains or Ugly rated products.

    For example I got a Canon 100 f2.0 lens from KEH that had a bent filter ring for dirt cheap, I never use filters so it was perfect for me.

    LR would never let such a unit out their door as a rental in the first place.

    I am a loyal LR customer and will be buying a slightly used camera from them in the near future

    I would never get a complex item like a camera or a zoom lens that was not in perfect working order and near perfect cosmetic condition.

  • Seconding this question, though currently I’m more interested for cameras than for lenses.

  • Van Forsman

    Can the general quality be specified when renting lenses? i.e. could I specify that I’d like to try out old worn out lenses, which I would then feel more comfortable buying despite their aesthetic/performance defects?

  • Cody Tverberg

    Considering one could by the camera displayed for 2500$ NEW, on B&H, this doesn’t seem like a great deal for the renter… Maybe a newer, better example would sway my opinion.

  • David Nauer

    Out of curiosity, if you thought you’d want to do this, and you wanted a retail box, couldn’t you request the box be included with the rental — if you did it you’d avoid the shipping cost of the box — and if you didn’t do it you could return the box with the returned equipment? Also, is there any way to get partial credit for the return postage since it isn’t used? Interesting concept —

  • BILL DAVIS

    SONY A7ii KEEPER PRICE PLEASE

  • Barry hogue

    Looking to purchase the red 5″ touch screen if u have one for sale.

  • Love LensRentals!!!! Rent to own??? Oh my yes!!! I hate those good-byes after finding and using a great camera or lens!

  • Scott

    +1 rent to own.

  • Mad Hungarian

    Do you charge sales tax on a LensKeeper purchase as well?

  • WOW! What people are saying about a rent-to-own programme is an AWESOME idea. I’ve been renting one specific lens from you guys for the past 2 years for a series of various shoots. Now I want to buy that lens. If only there was some way that all of those rentals or that my future rentals could be applied towards the purchase of it, that would be so amazing. I’m thinking about opening up a credit card just to buy the lens I want, I’m not sure where to go with this next…But nevertheless, this keeper programme seems interesting enough.

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