How does your demo program work?

We are starting a demo program in the shop, and I am looking for information on how other shops work it.
Do they authorize your credit card for the purchase price, then just charge the demo fee when you return it? Or, do they charge the sale amount, then refund it, minus the demo fee when it is returned, or just collect a deposit? If they just collect a deposit, how much is it?
Also, is there a seperate demo fee for the board and bindings, or one fee regardless of whether you do a board, bindings, or entire set-up?
Thanks for any input!

the shops that I've seen do it, do $15/day for boards or bindings, $30/day if you take a full set-up. Then what they did is credited the demo charges towards the purchase of the final board. So if you demoed 3 boards, and you were ready to buy a board, and that board cost is $400, then they would subtract $45 from the $400. Does that make sense?

i demoed alot of boards, from a few diff. shops. None of them ran a card. They took alot of info. and then carbon copied the card so nothing ras ran against it until the board was returned. there was some sort of clause where you had so many days to return it before the purchase price was ran on the card.

At our shop we put a hold on the card for however much money the set-up costs.

When they bring it back we charge either just the demo price or if they want the set-up, the whole price.

When you charge the card after they bring the set-up back it clear the hold.

All the hold does is makes sure they will still have the amount left on the card for you to charge.



Danny T.
www.OKCBoardShop.com
www.WakeboardOklahoma.com

Thanks for the responses. That helps.
Danny T., that is the way we were setting it up at our shop, but I wanted to be sure that it was fair to the customer as well as cover the shop. We would have to put the hold on the card to know that it would be covered if they "forgot" to return it, or damaged the board somehow.
We had a situation yesterday where the card presented was declined for the "hold", and I didn't let it go out. I felt bad, but, if the money isn't available...

my local shop does a 10$ a day thing. 24 hours.. And then if you buy a "Demo card" worth of 10 demo's and if you end up choosing one of the boards you demoed then the price you paid for the card goes tward your purchase of the new board. I thought that was pretty awesome personally.

What I do is offer a demo if they go out riding with us. If not, they must buy a board and binding. They may return it and exchange it as many times as they want until they are happy with their setup as long as the boards are in like new condition.

Board shop #1 - you pay $150 to demo 8 boards (not all at once) and when you decide, that $150 goes towards your purchase. I think they also have a one at at time demo program for like $8 a day, but that money doesn't go towards anything.

Board shop #2 - buy the board and if you don't like it within 30 days, bring it back and you can get a different one. I'm sure there are rules in case you damage it or something though.

$15 a day $30 for a weekend if you want it the demo goes to the purchase price