Offering video rentals

In this article:

• Accepted video file types
• Creating a Rental
• Multiple file types
• How it works for customers

If you plan to sell videos on Gumroad, have existing video products, or have products that contain multiple file types (including video files) you can set up rentals at any time. 

Check out how a rental looks and feels with our free example.

When your customers buy a rental from you, they will have 30 days to stream (not download!) the video files. Once they click "play" on a video file, their access to this file (and to ALL other video files part of that product) will expire in 72 hours. For example, if your product consists of four video files, the customer has 72 hours to watch all of them. Even if they have clicked "play" on only one of them, they'll lose access to ALL after 72 hours). 

Currently, you cannot alter the time frame of rentals or set your own limitations on products.

Accepted video file types

The following file types are streaming-friendly and will work not only on desktop and laptop but through the Gumroad Library mobile app.

If you have not created a video product before, you'll need to start on your Products dashboard. 

1. Click Add a product, Digital Product 
2. Give your video a name, price, and add your video files to it. 
3. Click Next: Customize to move forward. 

The resolution for SD video streaming is 480p, and HD streaming is at 1080p.

Creating a Rental

First, upload a video file to the product. We recommend mp4 files since they work best with our streaming feature. Save changes. 

If you do not upload a video file to the product, you will not see the rental feature appear. Embedding a video from Youtube or Vimeo will not activate this feature. It will only appear once you've uploaded a video file and clicked Save changes. 

Scroll down to Pricing and click Offer rental to add a rental price. Remove the option by clicking the delete button next to the rental amount.

Customers can now either rent or buy your video. If you want your product to be Rental Only, just click the delete button next to the Amount box. If you ever want to bring back the ability to buy your product, click Offer buy, set a price, and save your changes. 

After uploading your video on the content edit page, be sure to check if your video download option is disabled.

Note: If you are allowing your customers to set their own price for the product (click the Allow customers to pay what they want toggle), you can only set a suggested price for the downloadable video, not the rental.

Multiple file types

If your product features multiple files, and one of these files is a video file, you can still set a rental price. Note that the rental rules will only apply to the video file(s) in that product. Your customer will still be able to download all the other files in your product, but keep in mind that the 72-hour rental rule applies to ALL video files in that product.

How it works for customers

If you have both the Buy and Rent options active, your customers will see buttons for both options on your product page. When they select their option, the price will automatically update to reflect their choice.

Once your customer has purchased their rental, they can watch it immediately, or open the video file in the Gumroad Library app (in case you missed it, we have them for iPhones or Androids).

If your customer does not immediately watch their purchased video, we will send them reminders that their rental is expiring seven days, three days, and 24 hours before their rental expires. These emails will also include links to the rental product.

Once your customer starts watching their rental, they won't receive any further emails from Gumroad and they will have 72 hours to watch ALL video files part of that product (if it consists of more than one video file).