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Loaners Guide

A Guide on How to Create a Loan Order in Appliance.io

Jonathon Slyman avatar
Written by Jonathon Slyman
Updated yesterday

Watch this video or read through the article. Your Choice!

Hey there! In this guide, we’re walking you through a handy process: Loaning a Product — and how to manage it from start to return. You might want to offer this to your loyal clientele to get them by while they wait for their order to come in! Let’s jump in!

Where to find the Loaner model

First things first — we need to make sure the loan model is set up in your Inventory. Head over to the Inventory page.

Click here

Now, use the Condition filter and select Loaner.

Click 'Loaner'

This will show you all models currently set as available to loan.

d

How to Activate the Loaner Option

Don’t see the Loaner condition? No worries. Let’s fix that. Go to Settings,

Click 'settings'

Then open the Product Catalog.

Click 'Product Catalog'

Inside that, click on the Conditions section,

Click 'Conditions'

and hit + Add New Condition.

Click 'Add New Condition'

A little pop-up will appear — just give your condition a Name like “Loaner” and a short Description. Hit Save, and you’re good to go!

Click 'Add New Condition
                                  close'

Assigning a Model to a Loan Model

Now that the Loaner condition is available, let’s assign it to a product. Head back to the Inventory page.

Click here

Find the item you want to update, and click the eye icon in the “Available” row.

Click here

Next, hit the pencil icon next to the model’s condition.

Click here

In the popup, select Loaner,

Click 'Edit Condition
                                  close'

Then click Save.

Click 'Save'

You’ll see a success notification confirming the change.

Click 'Condition updated successfully!'

Double-check Your Model

To double-check, just use the Search Model Number bar at the top, type in the model number,

Click 'Search model #'

and voilà! — there’s your item, now listed under the Loaner condition!

d

Create a Loan Model Order

Alright — now that your inventory is ready, let’s create a loan order. Start by creating a Quote.

f

Click on + Line Item,

Click 'Line Item'

and type in the Model Number of your loaner item.

Click 'Search by Model # or Package Name'

If you’ve already set up a Loaner condition in Inventory, you’ll see it pop up automatically

Click 'Loaner 
                                    2'

No need to tweak the Condition or Price.

d

But if you haven’t set that yet, you can manually select the item,

d

And then change the Condition and Price right here in the quote.

Click 'New    New Scratch & Dent Used Floor Model Open-Box Demo Loaner  No elements found. Consider changing the search query. List is empty.'

d

Don’t forget to add the Fulfillment Type.

Click 'add
        Add Fulfillment Type'

After that, you’re ready to move into Payment.

Click 'Add Payment/Rebates
        add'

If your loaner item already has a Serial Number, you’re in luck — it’s automatically assigned.

d

You can check this by clicking Check Stock,

Click here

And see that the item is already assigned, meaning it's ready to be delivered.

Click 'close'

If it doesn’t have a Serial Number, no problem. Click View Items in Stock,

Click 'View Items'

Then hit Reserve

Click 'Reserve'

Now it’s assigned and ready to be shipped out!

Click 'TR5 ULTRA-QUIET TOP LOAD WASHER WITH SPEED QUEEN® PERFECT WASH™'

Returning the Loan Model

Fast forward a bit — the customer’s ready to return the item. Here’s what to do.

Click 'Order #1-146032'

Head back to their Order Page, click Select Action,

Click 'Select Action'

Then hit Start Return.

Click 'Start Return'

You’ll want to review everything: Model, Quantity, Price, and Fulfillment Type.

Click here

You can choose to either charge or waive the restocking fee for your customer.

Click here

Add the Reason for Return — just a short note will do.

Click here

Now here’s the important part: Change the Payment Method to Customer Credit.

Click here

Why? Because once the returned unit is inspected, you can either apply that credit to their next order or revoke it if the unit is damaged.

Click 'Date'

To wrap it up, hit Refund Payment.

Click 'Refund Payment'

And that’s it — the item’s now officially returned. It’ll show up on your Returned Inventory page, where you can adjust it and add it back to Available Stock.

Click 'home 
            my orders
        
            edit
                   arrow_back My Orders Order #1-146032       Order Date:
        05/15/2025
        edit          notification_add...'

And there you have it! That’s how you loan out a product, track it, and take it back — all within Appliance.io. Thanks for reading, and we’ll see you in the next one!

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