eCommerce | Consumer Portal Overview

Our Consumer Portal is the next-level tool for customers to see what they have out at your store. It's designed to be mobile-friendly, ensuring a seamless experience across all devices, from desktops and laptops to phones and tablets.

Topics in this article include

• Customizing your Consumer Portal

• Accessing the Consumer Portal Configuration Screen (Admin Panel)

• How can my team and I access the Consumer Portal

• Logging in to the Consumer Portal

• Home Screen

• Contract Screen

• My Rentals (Hires)

  • Requesting a Call-off

• Tracking     

• Multi-Payment Feature

Customizing your Consumer Portal

You can customize the Consumer Portal to your business by adding your logo, colors, and support-related emails. You can do this from the Consumer Portal Configuration Screen (also called the Admin Panel). The screen must be enabled before you can access it. 
     

Enabling the Consumer Portal Configuration Screen

Follow the instructions below to expose the Consumer Portal Configuration Screen. 
        

1. Click on the Gear icon located in the top-right corner of the software.
            

2. In the Main menu area, find or search for the Security option in the System area (shown in the image below).
      
           

3. From the security settings, search 'Consumer'.  Select the Configuration area.  Now you can set permissions for who can access the Admin Panel at the Company, Group, or Employee level.  If you are set at the Owner level role, this will be set to Yes automatically for you at the Employee level.  You must log in with Single Sign On to access the feature - see step 4.
        

4. Log out of Elite
    
5. Log back in using Single Sign On (SSO) credentials.  If you have not yet established an SSO, simply enter your email address into the Login ID and then select 'Forgot Password'.  This will email you an authentication code to establish your SSO.  An SSO login is required to access the Consumer Admin Panel as well as any other 'global' features.

Accessing the Consumer Portal Configuration Screen (Admin Panel)

1. Click on the Gear icon located in the top-right corner.
        

2.  Then, go to ECommerce to see the Consumer Portal Configuration Screen.
   
        

3. The Admin panel will appear.
   
               

How can my team and I access the Consumer Portal?

There are two ways you can access the portal:

1. The first is by creating a 'dummy' customer account. To do this press the Configuration cog (top right corner) > select File Maintenance > Customer File >  Add Customer. Once you're done, create 'dummy' contracts so you can view data within the portal. 
2. ​​​​You can also set yourself up as an Authorized User on a customer's account. To do so, add a contact within the customer record. Please see our article on the Contacts Tab for more instructions.

Logging in to the Consumer Portal

For New Account Registration

They can create an account through this portal if they have a contract number or account. 

1. Your customer goes to the Consumer Login screen

2. Clicks “Create Your Account Now”

3. Completes the registration form. If your customer has an email associated with multiple accounts, they will have to choose one and click confirm.
   
   
   

4. If they do not receive the email verification code, they can click
    “Use phone verification instead”.

5. A verification code will be sent via text message.
   

   1. Phone Number Format Issues: If a customer chooses phone verification but receives an error, it is usually due to a phone number mismatch.

      1. What’s happening:

         1. The phone number entered must match the format stored in your system exactly. The system does not reformat or normalize phone numbers when validating.
            Even if the number is the same, differences in formatting—such as including or excluding a country code, spaces, or symbols—can prevent a match.

         2. Example of a mismatch:

            1. Stored in system: +18135551234

            2. Entered by customer: (813) 555-1234 → This can result in a validation error

      2.  How to resolve

         1. Ask the customer to enter their phone number:

            1. Using numbers only, including the country code, without spaces or special characters. Example: +18135551234

For Password Reset

They can click the "Forgot Password" link under the login screen if they forget their password.

1. The customer clicks “Forgot password?”

2. They enter their email address

3. If they do not receive the reset email, they click “Not receiving code?”

4. Then select “Use phone verification instead

5. A verification code will be sent via text message
   

Once Logged in...

Once logged in, your customers will be able to see your home screen.

     

All logos and colors can be customized to your store's liking.

Home Screen

 All tiles are clickable. Your customers can also view contracts, invoices, rentals (hires), and item tracking information. You can also add coupons and ads.

Contract Screen

The contract screen is filterable, allowing your customers to search and narrow down the contracts displayed. By default, it will show all contracts.

Your customer can export the table view into a CSV file if needed.

On the table view, your customers will be able to see the contract number, amount, amount due, status of the contract, start and close date, location, and job number. When they click on the contract number, they'll see the contract details. They will also be able to see the items, contract start and end dates, amount total, and amount due, and view the most recent copy of the contract via PDF.

The number of contracts to be viewed on each page can be adjusted at the bottom of the screen.

       
In the bottom right corner, customers can select Pay to make a payment on the contract. Please note that the Point of Rental team must ensure that you're using the correct platform and provider for the pay feature to work

When you click on Pay, you can pay the contract in full or another amount.

My Rentals (Hires)

The My Rentals tab, displayed as MY HIRES (for our UK/AU counterparts), displays the items you will have or current items on rent. It will also display the contract number that is associated with each item.

When your customers select an item or items you currently have, you can request a call-off for them. If they're selecting multiple items, press the green Select Complete button to view the options below.

Requesting a Call-off

Your customers can request a call-off or service for one or more items simultaneously. When making the request, they can request when to call off a rental and view and modify the Site and Returner information.

To complete the call-off, your customer must click the Submit Request for Pickup button. Your store will receive an email and notification, and a copy will also be sent to the customer's email entered here. 

Tracking

Tracking will allow customers to see the items they currently have out on site, allowing them to see where each item is located.

Multi-Payment Feature

Please note: The multi-payment feature is available for closed contracts only.
     

1. Navigate to your dedicated Consumer Portal account. 
   
    
2. Click Closed Contracts or go to Contracts and apply the Closed filter. 
   
    
3. In the left column, select the contacts you want to pay. 
   
   
   
4.  Select up to 50 closed contracts to pay in a transaction. To deselect contracts, uncheck the box next to each contract or click the 'x' on the right side of the contract.
   
    
5. . Click "Continue" when you've selected all of your contracts to be paid 
   
   
   
6. You can pay by Credit Card (CC Fees can be added). Please note that this feature requires POR Pay. 
   
   
   
7. You can also pay by Bank/ACH. ACH payments can be enabled for both account and non-account customers. For more information, see our article, "Configuring Stripe Payments in Elite ACH (US ONLY)," and scroll to the section titled "Consumer Portal Customer ACH Configuration."
   
    
8. If you have any trouble, prompts will appear to guide you.