What price you choose to charge for your equipment can depend on a lot of things. For most owners, the biggest factor is the replacement value, or what the gear cost to buy.

Traditionally a rental business worked on the 1% rule of thumb, where a day’s charge should be around 1% of the replacement cost. However, for delicate gear that may require costly maintenance and equipment that loses its value rapidly, a higher percentage is needed.

But the actual cost of the kit may not be the most important factor. The time it takes to check through equipment and get it ready for the next hire is a real ongoing cost of your time. So an easy item to check and maintain, like a tripod, is cheaper to turn around than say a Ronin gimbal stabiliser that will need checking, batteries recharging, and has many parts that may be easily lost. To mitigate this, it’s a good idea to have a good casing for your gear that has an obvious place for each part. Make a laminate listing all the pieces as an easy checklist for the hirer.

Another factor is competition. If no-one else in your area has a piece of equipment like yours, it may have a higher scarcity value. On the other hand, it could be that no-one wants it.

Do some research on what the going rate is for similar equipment. Make sure you are comparing apple for apples, especially when it comes to accessories. A Red camera kit can double in cost to the owner depending on accessories such as memory cards.

Put your equipment together in a package that you think people will want to use. A hirer on mykitplace.com won’t want to be getting separate components from many people. They’d prefer to get a ready to go package from one person.

Another reason to put a package together rather than list lots of small items is the time it can take to meet and arrange a rental. Think if the minimum amount you need to be earning to make that worthwhile. Then look at if any of the items you are offering are below that. Chances are simply increasing the price will simply make them uncompetitive. Rather improve the overall value of your package by including as much as you have.