When switching rental software to Papalocal, your items come from the website customers book on now. They arrive as drafts you check first. Customers and past parties come from a spreadsheet, like the one your old software lets you download. There's no direct link to other software, so coming bookings come over one at a time, with Book it.
Step by step
Before you start: you need your rental company on Papalocal, and a spreadsheet from your old software.
0:00Start with your rentals. In Inventory, press Import from a website.
0:09Read your booking website. Type the address of the website your customers book on now. If Papalocal can read the items, they come in with their prices and photos, as drafts you check first.
0:19Bring in a spreadsheet. In Contacts, press Import a spreadsheet. Your customers and their past parties come in, and any columns will do.
0:30Find the coming parties. Parties from your spreadsheet that are still coming up are listed on your Rentals page, under From your spreadsheet.
0:40Book each one.Book it fills in the booking from that row. Check it, and press Save. Nothing is booked by itself.
0:46Bring your website too. On your Website page, below Build my website, press Or bring your current website over.
Good to know
Until you book them, they're not on your calendar. The screen warns that online booking could sell the same item meanwhile.
Booked quietly.Book it opens A booking you already have. It blocks those items on that date, and nothing is sent to the customer.
Excel or Google Sheets. The import takes the contacts, customers and past parties you keep in either, with any columns. The Rentals page says you can undo it.
Items stay hidden until you check them. They come in as drafts customers can't see. When a website can't be read directly, the screen offers Read it with AI, which uses your business's credits. Bring your catalog in from your old website shows the import in full.
Your website keeps its addresses. Bringing it over copies its pages and words, keeps every web address, and checks nothing was lost before you switch.
Pinewood Party Rentals, its customers, its items and its old website are made up.
Written with AI from this video's script and screens.
Your items, customers and parties sit together when you run your rental company on Papalocal.
The everything app. As simple as you want it, or as complete as you allow it to be.
Looking for rental software for a small business? Here's what else the plan holds, beside the items and customers you bring in.
The plan holds, in one place:
Your customer list: each lead and customer, with their quotes and jobs on one page
Quotes, jobs and schedule
Invoices and pay links
Your website, on a domain you own
Google Business Profile sync, for your first location
Reviews: links, QR codes and an embed
Time clock, team chat and training
The same account holds your own side too: music, books, messages, your money and your people. Some of it has paid upgrades.
Free to sign up, no card. Your account and your business page have no monthly charge. One thing is on from the start: AI replies to your reviews, $0.15 each plus AI usage. You can pause them.
Once you turn the plan on: $30 a month (one person; each added employee is $10 a month), plus 1.25% of payments your customers make through Papalocal, plus Stripe's processing fee. It's billed daily from a prepaid balance. Once your card is saved, it's charged a top-up within the hour, and again each time the balance falls under a month's charges plus 15%. You choose the top-up amount ($25 or more; $100 until you change it). You can cancel the plan online after its first 30 days; cancel any add-ons on it first.
Papalocal's founder, Garret Merkley, has started 7 local service businesses in 16 years. He bought one, sold one and closed some.
Can Papalocal import bookings from my old rental software?
Not directly. There's no link to other software. Parties from your spreadsheet that are still coming up are listed, and you book each one with Book it.
How do I import customers from Excel?
In Contacts, press Import a spreadsheet. It brings in the customers and past parties you keep in Excel or Google Sheets, with any columns.
Are customers told when I book a party from my spreadsheet?
No. It's saved as A booking you already have. That blocks the items on that date and sends nothing to the customer.
It's free to sign up, with no card. Your account and your business page have no monthly charge. One thing is on from the start: AI replies to your reviews, $0.15 each plus AI usage. You can pause them. The plan starts only when you turn it on: $30 a month (one person; each added employee is $10 a month), plus 1.25% of payments your customers make through Papalocal, plus Stripe's processing fee.
How is it billed, and can I cancel?
It's billed daily from a prepaid balance. Once your card is saved, it's charged a top-up within the hour, and again each time the balance falls under a month's charges plus 15%. You choose the top-up amount ($25 or more; $100 until you change it). You can cancel the plan online after its first 30 days; cancel any add-ons on it first.
Will Papalocal find me customers?
No. Papalocal gives you the tools. Finding customers is your work.
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