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Creating a Product

Adding a new product to EquipDash takes just a few minutes using the product creation wizard. The wizard is a slide-out panel that walks you through three steps: Product Details, Product Pricing, and Additional Information.

Creating a new rental product

Opening the Product Wizard​

  1. Go to Rentals > Products in the left sidebar.
  2. Click the Add Product button in the top-right corner.
  3. The Add new product panel will slide out from the right side of the screen.

The Products table with the Add Product button highlighted.

At the top of the wizard you will see a progress indicator showing the three steps: 1 Product Details > 2 Product Pricing > 3 Additional Information. A Save draft button is available in the top-right corner of the panel at any time, allowing you to save an incomplete product and come back to it later.

Step 1: Product Details​

The first step captures the core information about your product.

  1. Enter a Product name (required) -- for example, "Stand-Up Paddleboard".

  2. Optionally upload one or more Product image(s) by clicking the + button in the image upload area. You can upload up to 5 images. Accepted formats: jpg, jpeg, png, bmp, gif, svg, or webp. Maximum file size is 500 kB per image. Recommended dimensions are 500px x 500px.

  3. Optionally enter a SKU / unique identifier for internal reference.

  4. Optionally add one or more Categories from the searchable field — each appears as a removable pill, and a product can sit in several categories at once. If you have not created categories yet, you can skip this and assign them later.

  5. Click Next to proceed to Step 2, or click Cancel to close the wizard without saving.

Step 1: Product Details showing name, image upload, SKU, and category fields.

tip

At the bottom of each step you will see a link: "Need help understanding products? Read our Product guide". Click it to open this documentation in a new tab.

Step 2: Product Pricing​

This step is where you define how much your product costs to rent. Pricing has two settings: when prices apply (year-round or seasonal) and how prices are calculated (flat or schedule-based).

Let Dash suggest prices for you​

At the top of Step 2 you'll see a Suggest prices button. Click it and Dash AI will research competitor pricing in your area, then suggest a competitive rate — including which pricing structure (flat, tiered, seasonal) it thinks fits best based on what other businesses do.

You can review the sources Dash used, then click Apply to form to drop the suggested values straight into the pricing fields below. Dash will switch the Applies and Price structure toggles automatically if its recommendation differs from your current selection.

See the full guide: Suggest Prices with Dash AI.

Price applies​

  1. Choose when your pricing applies using the Applies toggle buttons:
    • Year Round (default) -- One set of prices applies all year.
    • Seasonal -- Different prices for different seasons (e.g., higher rates in summer). Requires seasons to be configured in Settings > Seasons first.

Price structure​

  1. Choose the Price structure using the toggle buttons:
    • Flat / Unit Based (default) -- A single price per time unit. For example, $10/hour or $50/day.
    • Schedule Based -- Custom prices for different durations. For example, $10 for 1 hour, $19 for 2 hours, $25 for 3 hours.

Flat / Unit Based pricing​

If you selected Flat / Unit Based:

  1. Enter the Price amount in the currency input field.
  2. Select the time unit from the Per unit dropdown: 15 Minutes, Half Hour, Hour, Day, or Week.

Schedule Based pricing​

If you selected Schedule Based:

  1. Select what to Charge based on from the dropdown: Hours, Days, or Weeks.
  2. Add pricing tiers -- each row has a duration and a price. Click +Add another to add more tiers.
  3. Optionally enable the Additional [unit] charge toggle to set a rate for time beyond the last tier.

After configuring your pricing, a Preview pricing link will appear. Click it to verify how your pricing calculates for different rental durations.

  1. Click Next to proceed to Step 3, or click Previous to go back to Step 1.

Step 2: Product Pricing showing pricing options.

For a deeper look at pricing options, see Product Pricing.

Step 3: Additional Information​

The final step lets you add descriptions and configure optional product settings.

Descriptions​

  1. Optionally enter a Brief description -- a short summary of up to 100 words that appears in product listings. Click the green AI Generate button to have EquipDash write one for you.
  2. Optionally write a Full description using the rich text editor. The editor supports bold, italic, underline, links, ordered lists, unordered lists, and clear formatting. Click the green AI Generate button to generate a full description automatically.

Optional settings​

The following toggles let you enable additional features for this product. Each is off by default. Toggle any of them on to configure the details:

ToggleDescription
Inventory trackingCount what you have. Switch it on and EquipDash asks how you want to track it, with two cards that preview what you get: Just track the total (one pooled count) or Track each item (every unit gets its own numbered code). You can only change your answer while the product has no stock. See Inventory Units.
Rental period limitsSet minimum and/or maximum rental durations for this product.
Minimum booking noticeRequire a lead time before a rental can start (e.g. for delivery prep). Overrides the Rentals default; leave it off to use the default.
VariationsOffer different versions, such as sizes or colors. Type what changes (Size) and its options (S, M, L), and every combination becomes a version when you save. See Product Variations.
Who can book itEveryone by default. Staff only hides it from your booking site but keeps it in POS and the app. Not on its own is for equipment that only runs your tours: it disappears from the widget, POS and app rental listings but stays fully manageable here. See Run Tours on Your Rental Fleet.

Under Advanced settings at the bottom of the step you'll find the rarely-changed options - security deposit, contents check, cleaning, maintenance, product type - plus:

For a boat, set Product type to Boats to track its inspection and insurance. See Boat Inspection & Insurance Tracking.

ToggleDescription
Buffer timeAdd padding time before and/or after each booking for cleaning, preparation, or transit.
Require participant detailsCollect participant information (name, age, etc.) for each person included in a booking of this product. Three choices: Shop default follows your shop-wide setting in Settings → Rentals, On always collects, Off never collects. When details aren't collected, the booker is the only person asked for details (and the only one who signs any attached waiver).
Participants per itemAppears only when participant details are collected (On, or Shop default when your shop-wide setting is on). How many people use one of these — set 2 for a 2-person kayak or tandem bike. Checkout then lets the customer add up to that many participants; each gives their details and signs any waivers. Only the booker is required, the rest are optional. Leave at 1 for single-person gear.
Customer must submit condition photos at pickupThe customer photographs the gear on their phone from a link in their booking emails, and submitting completes the pickup — no counter visit needed. Only appears when the customer portal is switched on. See Customer Condition Photos.

The product panel on step 3 with Advanced settings open and the "Customer must submit condition photos at pickup" toggle switched on.

  1. Click Add Product to create the product, or click Previous to go back to Step 2.
Your typing is safe

Pressing Enter moves you to the next step but never saves the product, and clicking outside the panel does not close it once you have typed something. Use Cancel to close it.

Step 3: Additional Information with Inventory tracking switched on, showing the two tracking cards highlighted below it.

After Creating a Product​

After the panel closes, find the new product in the Products list and open its Product Detail page. Use Search products if it is on another page.

If it is your first product with inventory tracking, EquipDash opens its detail page automatically on the Inventory tab and points at + Add inventory, so you can enter how many you have before customers try to book it. Press Got it to dismiss the pointer. It only shows once.

The Inventory tab of a new product with the "How many do you have?" pointer on the + Add inventory button.

From here you can switch between the Details, Variations, Inventory, Pricing, Bookings, Calendar, and Embed tabs to:

  • Add inventory units (if inventory tracking is enabled) — Inventory tab
  • Fine-tune pricing or apply a pricing template — Pricing tab
  • Add or edit variations — Variations tab
  • Take a 30-second test booking — + Book now button on the hero strip
  • Grab the embed snippet for your website — Embed tab

The product detail page after creation showing the page header, hero strip with status / price / SKU / category / inventory tiles, Check availability and Book now CTAs, and the seven-tab strip.