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DJ Ricky B

DJ Ricky B

DJ Extraordinaire
Mar 9, 2015
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Advertising for DJ gear rental on Face Book. Earlier this year I had some interest, and people messaging me from Market Place asking for availability and cost. Well then it was crickets pretty much all summer on the rentals ad. Maybe 1 or 2 all summer. Now in the last 3 days I have had like 13 different people message me. Some were for dates my gear is not available, but a few for dates in November and December that I can rent them gear. Of those dates, after I give them the info and pricing, they go queit.

So all year long, I have yet to have a paying rental customer, But the ad does get interest. My quotes have been any where from $90 to $180 depending on the exact gear they need for the most part on the rental side, and I always offer a concierge service for an additional $95 I will come to them, set it all up, then come back at the end of the vent to tear down. On top of the $95 is a mileage fee IF their venue is over a 25 mile drive each way.

So far zero paying customers though. I am going to give it another month or two, but might take the ad down if I don't get anything from it. I am probably spending 5 to 8 minutes of time with each person who messages me inquiring about it. Also, I have had a few shady people message me too. You can tell they are shady, OR perhaps a fake account when you look at their profile. Those are the ones waiting my time so I try to figure it out before I even send them a quote. Just thought I would let you all know about my experience with trying to rent gear out for additional income so far.
 
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Just tonight, I had another one. Lady hosting a Worship night for 30 to 35 guests in December. Quoted her for 8" line array with wired mic, OR single 10" speaker on stand with audio mixer. She said the price quotes given for either option is pretty good and she will get back to me. Maybe my first official rental customer off of face book.
 
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Renting gear can be a PITA most times. I've done it on numerous occasions over the years it's rare there is no issue you mileage may vary.

The one piece of advice I will give you is run it like a rental house don't rent anything you need anytime soon, use a rental agreement, take a CC deposit, and take ID

I hope it works out for you keep us posted
 
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I used to provide equipment to other DJs years ago. It started for just one DJ because the people he had been using were unreliable. It grew to the point where I had a whole system of my older equipment and a van dedicated to rentals. We weren’t required to stay but usually did. If I had my own event I had one of my guys take the van/equipment and handle it. The nice thing about the whole situation was always got fed, really well. I’d say two of the best dinners I ever had were when I was providing the service for another DJ. Where I did things differently is I didn’t advertise. If you didn’t know someone in the group of people I networked with, I wouldn’t work with you. It also gave me a chance to see a ton of other DJs both good & bad. One the of funny situations I saw was when a DJ came into the catering hall with speakers unpainted, he must have just finished building them and left a trail of sawdust through the lobby. Well, the maître d’ went ballistic. I stopped rentals when the equipment got much more compact. It doesn’t make much sense to call someone to provide equipment when you can fit a compact system in your car.
 
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Jeff Romard said:
Renting gear can be a PITA most times. I've done it on numerous occasions over the years it's rare there is no issue you mileage may vary.

The one piece of advice I will give you is run it like a rental house don't rent anything you need anytime soon, use a rental agreement, take a CC deposit, and take ID

I hope it works out for you keep us posted
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Just curious, what was the deposit amount you required?

My sister has rented from Guitar Center from time to time when she had a larger event, and they would charge her like $200 deposits, plus $150 to rent 2 speakers, and a sub out. $350, but she would get the $200 refunded back to her after she returned the speakers. I don't think any of these Facebook customers would bother with doing that.

Oh, I am taking scans of their Driver's License, and having them sign a rental agreement before any equipment is handed over. I am primarily using my old Alto TS110A speakers, and my Harbinger MLS900 for this endeavor. I will offer my Alto 12" Sub if any of these clients ever need a Sub, but so far no one has. Mostly smaller events and house parties they are looking for equipment for.
 
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DJ Ricky B said:
Just curious, what was the deposit amount you required?

My sister has rented from Guitar Center from time to time when she had a larger event, and they would charge her like $200 deposits, plus $150 to rent 2 speakers, and a sub out. $350, but she would get the $200 refunded back to her after she returned the speakers. I don't think any of these Facebook customers would bother with doing that.

Oh, I am taking scans of their Driver's License, and having them sign a rental agreement before any equipment is handed over. I am primarily using my old Alto TS110A speakers, and my Harbinger MLS900 for this endeavor. I will offer my Alto 12" Sub if any of these clients ever need a Sub, but so far no one has. Mostly smaller events and house parties they are looking for equipment for.
Click to expand...

It would depend on what I was renting and to who. Someone I didn't know well was a minimum of $250. The question you have to ask to put it in perspective is why are they wanting to rent from me when there are rental houses who specialize in that?

I would never actively seek rentals if they came along I looked at them on a case by case basis. There was one guy who owned a kids club that rented a full system with a couple of older lights from me for 3 years without a problem. There was another fellow who rented a set of speakers for one night and I got them back 2 weeks later when I went to pick them up abandoned in the hall he played. He was the guy that taught me to take deposits. I've probably turned down as many as I have taken
 
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tunes4046 said:
I’ve always had a minimum of a $200 deposit, much more for full system rentals, I’ve had stuff damaged, destroyed and completely ruined. You’ll want to make sure you invest in a quality compressor limiter to protect your gear
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If I was renting newer more expensive stuff I cared more about, I would certainly do that. However, my Alto TS110A speakers I have made my money back and then some on them. They would sell for MAYBE $200 each as is, and probably not that much. The mixer I am renting out is an Alto 8 channel Mixer that I purchased for $80 10 years ago. The Wired Mic cost me $20 on sale. Speaker stands I am renting out are old, and already scratched up pretty good.

I may have to rethink my deposit amount though. I have been telling people the deposit is $50.00, and returned once gear is inspected. My agreement does state they are responsible for repair costs if they blow the speakers or damage the mixer. If the mic breaks, I really don't care as it was cheap. I list cables as costing $20 each if they lose them. I also give them a cheap surge protector to plug every thing into.
 
Jeff Romard said:
Here is the local rental house's rates I could rent a full system with lights for around $200/Month

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Man, Those rates seem CHEAP.

$4 for a wired Mic on Saturday. $8 for a 8 channel Mixer. $38 for a pair of good speakers on Saturday, but can rent for $56 for a whole week. That is not bad at all. Guitar Center down here charges a lot more. 24 hour rental on a pair of QSC speakers on stands is like $89.99 plus the deposit.
 
DJ Ricky B said:
Man, Those rates seem CHEAP.

$4 for a wired Mic on Saturday. $8 for a 8 channel Mixer. $38 for a pair of good speakers on Saturday, but can rent for $56 for a whole week. That is not bad at all. Guitar Center down here charges a lot more. 24 hour rental on a pair of QSC speakers on stands is like $89.99 plus the deposit.
Click to expand...

In your case if you could get those rates it would be cheaper to rent than have a storage locker
 
Jeff Romard said:
In your case if you could get those rates it would be cheaper to rent than have a storage locker
Click to expand...

But availability of having the items in stock and ready for me to rent for all my events would be the issue. Then having to return to the store quite often pretty much every Monday or Sunday after an event because I couldn't just leave it in my car all the time. Too Risky. My sister went to go rent speakers and a local GC didn't have anything for her one time. But that would make total sense for a DJ who just does a few events per year. Perhaps just have your own mixer, and mics. and other small equipment you can leave in a corner of the bedroom in your house. Go rent the speakers/sub and lighting every event
 
Unless you are dealing with more established DJs, ones flying in, or one that just needs some extra speakers, I don’t see it being worthwhile unless you are like Guitar Center with a location. Or renting out high-end gear. Or getting into the corporate rental market, they pay very well. Then again many DJs usually get their rental leads by calling other DJs someone knows for info in the area they want to go. That is how I got my biggest rental for two Pioneer DVD players. The DJ contacted Promo Only, they gave them my number. They figure they rent instead of spending 5K to buy them. It was for an Indian DJ, I got to attend the wedding reception, and all I can say is wow. They had the whole floor the of venue where normally there would be 2 or 3 events in that space.
I found guys not established just don’t have much money. I used to sell off my old equipment and used to run into them regularly offering a few dollars for a pair of speakers because it is all they have.
 
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