Online sign-up is the flow by which a new customer books a unit from your public storefront, with no involvement from your team. The customer picks a unit, fills in their details, pays, and receives their contract by email. This article describes the customer journey, what Stortech triggers in the background, and how this differs from a rental the operator creates manually.

Online sign-up is used by your customers, with no authentication or role required. The operator-side view of storefront-created rentals is visible to every role. Creating a manual rental (the alternative to online sign-up) requires the Owner or Manager role.

The facility needs at least one unit type with active pricing and public visibility. The facility needs an active Stripe Connect account to process payments. To offer pre-authorized debit, ACSS must be enabled on the Stripe account. See Pre-Authorized Debit (ACSS / PAD).

Step 1.
The customer visits your facility's storefront. The list of unit types shows with dimensions, pricing, and features.

Step 2.
The customer filters by Size (Small, Medium, Large) or Features (Climate-controlled, Drive-up access).

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Step 3.
They click Rent Unit for the type they want.

The Sign-up page shows: Move-in date (defaults to today), First name and Last name (required), Email address (required), Phone number (required), a I'm renting for a business checkbox (optional), and Payment method: Credit or debit card (default) or Pre-authorized debit (PAD/ACSS) (visible if ACSS is enabled). A charges summary shows Today (total charged now: first rent + deposit + one-time fees) and Upcoming rent (date, amount, cadence).

Step 1.
The customer clicks Continue.

Step 2.
Stortech creates a contact (or finds an existing one by email) and a portal account.

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Step 3.
Depending on the payment method, the customer is redirected to Stripe Checkout (card) or an ACSS mandate.

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Step 4.
Once payment is confirmed, the customer is redirected to the confirmation page.

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Step 5.
The Stripe webhook triggers Stortech's follow-up actions: creating the rental, sending the welcome email, provisioning access.

1. Stripe Checkout processes the card instantly. 2. The Stripe webhook arrives and Stortech creates the rental (status Preparing then Active), generates the first rental invoice and marks it paid, creates the deposit invoice if applicable, sends the welcome email with the contract to the customer, and triggers access provisioning via the configured provider (ICT, OpenTech, PDK).

1. The customer signs a pre-authorized debit mandate. 2. The mandate must be verified by Stripe (1 to 5 business days). 3. The first invoice is issued but stays Processing until settlement is confirmed. 4. During that time, the rental is in Preparing status. 5. Once settlement is confirmed, the rental moves to Active and access is provisioned.

Rent is charged via the Stripe subscription invoice. The deposit is charged separately and is not applied to the monthly invoice. It's held until the customer moves out, to cover any damage.

Anniversary — the first period is billed at full price on the move-in date, and the next charge is on the anniversary date (1 month or 4 weeks later). First of the month — the first rent is prorated between the move-in date and the end of the current month; the next charge is the 1st of the following month for a full month. The deposit and one-time fees stay at full price.

See Rentals for manual creation.

The customer clicked Continue but nothing happens. Check: is there an error message on screen? Fix: ask the customer to refresh and retry. If it recurs, contact support.

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The customer paid but no rental shows up in Stortech. Check: was the Stripe webhook processed? Do Inngest runs show an error? Fix: check the Activity tab. If the webhook failed, contact support for a replay.

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The rental stays Preparing for hours. Check: for ACSS, that's normal for up to 5 business days; for card, it's not. Fix: if card, contact support. If ACSS, see Pre-Authorized Debit (ACSS / PAD).

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The chosen unit is no longer available after sign-up. Check: another sign-up booked the unit in parallel. Fix: the storefront switches to Join the waiting list or offers another unit. See Waiting List.

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The customer didn't receive the welcome email. Check: the facility's Emails tab and Resend status. Did the customer check spam? Fix: resend the email from the rental's record.

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The Today amount doesn't match what the customer expected. Check: cadence (anniversary vs. first of month), a deposit, and one-time fees. Fix: explain the breakdown to the customer. Proration is normal in First of the month mode.

How does a customer book a unit online? — On the storefront, they pick a unit type with Rent Unit, fill in the sign-up form (details, payment method), pay via Stripe, and receive their contract by email.

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Why isn't the amount charged today the full monthly rent? — Depends on your billing cycle: in First of the month mode, the first rent is prorated between the move-in date and month-end; in Anniversary mode, the first rent is full. The deposit and one-time fees always charge at full price.

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What's the difference between Card and Pre-authorized debit at checkout? — Card is processed instantly by Stripe and access is provisioned quickly. Pre-authorized debit (PAD/ACSS) requires bank account verification that takes 1 to 5 business days; access is only provisioned after the first payment is confirmed.

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The customer paid but no rental appears in Stortech. What do I do? — Check the Activity tab, the Stripe dashboard (was payment received?), and Inngest runs (was the webhook processed?). If the webhook failed, contact support for a replay.

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The customer got a date error at checkout. Why? — The unit type has an advance booking limit. The customer needs to pick a closer move-in date, or you can adjust the limit on the unit type.

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Why isn't the deposit applied to the monthly invoice? — The deposit is a separate amount, held until the customer moves out to cover any damage. It's neither a credit nor a rent advance.