LensRentals.com - Why buy when you can rent?
October 1st, 2008 by Dan BodensteinNext year I am planning a trip to Yellowstone National Park. In order to get those magnificent shots I can only imagine I will have the opportunity to get, I will need at least a 500mm f4 lens. I could pop over to bhphoto.com and drop $8000.00 on a lens, and spend the next 3 years trying to pay it off on my credit card. Or, I can choose another option, a more fiscally responsible option.
Lens rentals has recently become a booming business, and one company has stood out among the rest as a leader. I recently had the opportunity to correspond with Roger Cicala of LensRentals.com to discuss what makes his company stand out. He was kind enough to answer several of my questions.
LensRentals.com
Question 1: When did LensRentals.com start, and what was your motivation?
I started it 3 years ago. My first thought was to model it as a ‘photographers coop’ so local photographers could share resources. That didn’t work so I started a local lens rental business, which also didn’t work. So sitting there with about 30 lenses I put up a little web page thinking maybe somebody would be interested in renting. I found there was nowhere online you could reserve a lens for future delivery, so I offered that option (everyone else was ‘rent today, we ship it otu today’). Within a month all my lenses were rented and I bought 30 more. The next month I emptied out my savings and had 100 lenses. After about 6 months I realized my business model was flawed: to take reservations you had to have a lot of copies, otherwise there was a huge loss of efficiency. So I sweated for a while, took out a loan and a mortgage, and rolled out Lensrentals similar to what you see now.
Question 2: There are other rental sites on the web, what sets yours aside from the rest?
For our first year, we were very different: we were the first place that took reservations, guaranteed to buy new lenses to fill 2 week or longer orders, carried camera bodies, rented supertelephoto lenses, used FedEx Express for shipping, carried Nikon, etc. We were obviously successful and a lot of other sites have added those services too - heck, we even helped a couple of rental houses start up.
Today we don’t look that different from several others at first glance, other than our selection and the size of our inventory. Behind the scenes we’re different though: we’re now a full-time freestanding business with 10 employees so there are people in the office answering phone calls and emails all day, not just after they get off work in the evening. We also are a lot more automated: trying to track inventory by hand or using a database or spreadsheet just doesn’t work when you’re handling much over 500 lenses, which is why there aren’t a lot of large online rental houses. The software it requires is remarkably expensive.
Question 3: You were the first to offer insurance, and reservations. Can you explain how those work?
The reservation system is very straightforward for the customer: you put in an order, tell us when you want to receive it, and it will be there. We’ve missed 11 of our last 6,500 reservations and 10 fo the 11 were because of shipping delays. We lost one order ourselves. From our side it can be very complex: when a customer puts in an order for a Canon 70-200 f2.8 IS for example, our software looks at 93 copies, returning anwhere from tomorrow to 2 months from now, checks the new order against 100 to 110 pending reservations and makes sure we have a copy, plus enough back up to make sure we can still cover the order if some lenses return late or damaged.
The damage insurance was started because our customers had coverage for theft or loss, but their photographer’s or homeowners insurance often didn’t cover the cost of a damaged lens. This way if they drop a lens they don’t have to worry about it, the damage insurance covers the cost of any repairs.
Question 4: So if I reserve a lens for three months from now. When would I pay for it? What’s the process?
You wouldn’t pay for it until we’re packing it for shipping, about 4 days before delivery. Until then its reserved for you, but if you change your mind you can log on to your account page and cancel the reservation yourself.
Question 5: Obviously renting a $5000.00 lens would cost more than a $500.00 lens. How do you determine the price?
Price for lenses is pretty straightforward, mostly depending on the expected resale value after two years and the price of the lens, and the frequency with which it rents. That’s why a third party lens may be a bit more expensive than a Canon or Nikon lens of the same retail price: the third party will have a lower resale value. We may also have to increase price a bit for specialty lenses that don’t rent very frequently, like tilt-shift lenses.
Cameras and flashes are more difficult. First they rarely have a lot of resale value at the end of their life. They also are far more likely to be “written off” during their rental life. The electronics are delicate and don’t ship well. So a $3,000 camera will cost a lot more to rent for a week than a $3,000 lens.
Question 6: Do you sell used lenses and equipment? If so, when do you decide to sell them, and do they carry any kind of warranty?
We sell all of our lenses after 2 years maximum in service, or 48 weeks of rental, whichever comes first. We give a 5 day inspection period with every sale - if you don’t like it you can send it back for a full refund. Lenses that sell for more than $1,000 also come with a 90 day warranty: we’ll cover the cost of any repairs arising from failure during routine use.
Question 7: Would it be possible to ship a lens directly to a hotel or resort I would be staying at?
We can’t ship to resorts or hotels: they have language in their contract that states if they sign for the lens and then lose it, they aren’t responsible. Instead we ship “hold for pickup” to FedEx Kinkos everywhere in the country. There’s one close to almost every hotel and resort in the U. S.
Question 8: Do you have a mailing list or a blog that announces new products you carry, and used products you are seller?
We don’t at this time. We list our ‘for sale’ lenses on the front page of our website, and have little news bulletins there too, for new releases, etc. We don’t believe in bulk mailing our customers at all, but we do have a list of people who want to be notified when a certain lens comes up for sale. We do that individually, and about half of our ‘for sale’ lenses never get listed, there are people waiting to buy them.
Question 9: The holidays are coming up. Do you offer Gift Certificates?
We do, they’re available on our cameras and accessories page. We also have a pretty large used lens sale in November that a lot of people use to buy Christmas presents.
Question 10: You recently introduced an iPhone version of your web site. What was the thought behind that?
Several of us have iPhones and saw how much more conveniet it was to go to “iPhone ready” pages, so we thought we’d just set it up and see if there was interest. We’ve actually been surprised by how many people use that page, even some with other phone browsers.
Nikon 500mm Lens
LensRentals.com is the perfect solution for those of us photographers on a budget. Just so you know, that 500mm f4 $8000.00 lens would only cost me $399.00 to rent for 7 days.
I’d also like to point out that LensRentals.com also rents camera bodies, support systems such as tripods, and Bush Hawk shoulder supports. Visit their website to see all the items that they have to offer.
Comments
Nice writing style. Looking forward to reading more from you.
Chris Moran
This is very cool. I just got into digital SLR’s with my D80 and now have a great place to rent cool lenses for my vacations. Thanks!
Very informative and well written article. As a past lens rentals customer I can say that they were a pleasure to use equipment is of the highest quality and delivered on time and as promised and returns are a breeze. I have a D40x and it saves a lot of time and money to rent as needed. Will continue to use them. Great article.
That is good to know, I’ll have to keep that in mind when planning.
Great photos too, I enjoyed the marine life. You reminded me …I have a few photos that I need to dig up now.
Thanks
-Evan
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