> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://app.docs.circuly.io/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Rental Unit Lifecycle

> Follow a rental unit from handover, out with the customer, back through inspection, and onto the shelf again.

## After the booking becomes a rental

The [booking flow](/docs/mintlify/rental-booking-flow) ends the moment a booking is paid and
becomes a confirmed rental. This page covers everything after that: handing the item over,
getting it back, checking its condition, and putting it back into circulation.

You work through this in two places — the rental itself under **Rentals**, and the day-to-day
queues under **Operations**.

***

## Pooled or individually tracked

Every rental product is tracked one of two ways.

**Pooled** is the default. circuly counts how many units you have and how many are out. Any
unit is as good as any other, so there is nothing to identify.

**Individually tracked** registers each unit separately, with its own serial number, notes,
tags, and history. Choose this when you need to know exactly which unit a customer has.

To switch, open the product under **Rentals** → **Inventory** and choose **Switch to
individual tracking**. You then register one entry per unit you own.

<Warning>
  Switching to individual tracking is **one-way**. You cannot go back to a pooled count
  afterwards, so make the change when you are confident you want to track each unit.
</Warning>

***

## Handing the item over

There are two ways a rental starts:

<Steps>
  <Step title="Mark it delivered in circuly">
    Open the rental under **Rentals** → **Bookings** and choose **Mark as delivered**. The
    rental becomes active and circuly creates the fulfillment in Shopify for you.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Or fulfil the order in Shopify">
    If you fulfil the line in Shopify as part of your normal picking routine, circuly notices
    and activates the matching rental on its own. You do not have to do both.
  </Step>
</Steps>

To hand over several at once, use **Operations** → **Fulfillment**, select the rentals, and
choose **Mark as delivered**.

<Note>
  If the Shopify fulfillment cannot be created, the handover still stands — circuly tells you
  to fulfil the order in Shopify manually. Cancelling a fulfillment in Shopify afterwards does
  **not** move the rental back; reopen it in circuly if you need to.
</Note>

***

## Getting it back

How you receive a return depends on how the product is tracked.

**Pooled products.** Choose **Mark as completed** on the rental, or select several in
**Operations** → **Returns** and choose **Mark received**. The units go straight back to
available. No condition is recorded.

**Individually tracked products.** Choose **Inspect & receive units**. You record a condition
and optional notes for each unit that is still out, so you can put one unit back on the shelf
and hold another for repair.

### Condition verdicts

| Verdict      | What happens to the unit                                                         |
| ------------ | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Good**     | Goes straight back to available and can be booked again immediately.             |
| **Cleaning** | Held in inspection and taken out of your bookable count until you mark it ready. |
| **Repair**   | Held the same way, for work that takes longer.                                   |
| **Damaged**  | Held out of circulation as damaged.                                              |
| **Missing**  | Marked lost and removed from your fleet entirely.                                |

<Note>
  Units in cleaning, repair, or damaged are held out of the count customers can book, so
  nobody reserves a unit that is on your workbench. They come back into circulation when you
  choose **Mark ready**.
</Note>

***

## Working with a single unit

Open a unit from the product's **Units** table to see and edit its full record: serial number,
tags, notes, and a dated history of everything that has happened to it.

Depending on where the unit is, you can:

* **Mark ready** — return a cleaned or repaired unit to available
* **Retire** — take a unit permanently out of service
* **Mark lost** — record a unit you cannot find
* **Recover** — bring a lost unit back after it turns up

<Warning>
  If retiring or losing a unit would leave you short for rentals that are already booked,
  circuly warns you and blocks the change. Resize your fleet or move those bookings first.
</Warning>

***

## Seeing what needs doing

**Operations** → **Today** collects everything waiting on you, grouped as **Money**, **Out the
door**, **Coming back**, and **Health**. Overdue handovers and overdue returns show up here
first.

The **Fulfillment** and **Returns** queues are the working lists behind those groups, with
views for what is due today, this week, and what is already late.

***

## Related

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="Rental Inventory & Capacity" icon="boxes-stacked" href="/docs/mintlify/rental-inventory-model">
    Set how many units you have and how availability is worked out.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Asset tracking" icon="barcode-scan" href="/docs/mintlify/asset-tracking">
    Track serial-numbered units attached to subscriptions.
  </Card>
</CardGroup>