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| Account Protection : |
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| Scams |
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| We take the protection of your Rent-Instead account and your online identity very seriously. With a proper understanding of protection practices, tools, and tips, you can make sure that you stay secure during your online activities |
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| It’s more important than ever to protect yourself from Internet scams like Phishing and identity theft. Phishing emails are emails that appear to be from a reputable company or brand in an attempt to steal your personal information like your credit card or online passwords |
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| Phishers use several tricks to make fake emails look convincing. Some Phishers even go as far as to imbed official-looking logos to ensure the customers responds. It’s easy for identity thieves to make emails look very realistic. They can change the “from address” to say that the email was sent from Rent-Instead. They also include pictures or logos that will convince the recipient that the email is real. Don’t be fooled into giving away your personal information or password when an identity thief uses these tricks. |
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| All emails from Rent-Instead that are about your account or request personal information are copied in the “My Messages” section of My Rent-Instead. Emails sent to you through Rent-Instead’s member-to-member system like “Ask Owner A Question” are also always copied in “My Messages”. Responding in “My Messages” allows you to confirm that this message was in fact sent from another member of the Rent-Instead community, and it protects your email address identity. It’s always a good practice to treat your email address as a piece of personal information |
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| You may think that replying to the email to ask why Rent-Instead needs this information would be the right thing to do. Unfortunately, this only confirms for the identity thief that your email address is valid. |
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| If you’re not sure whether an email is real, you can always forward it to security@rent-instead.com. Our staff will respond to you, usually within minutes, to let you know whether or not the email is real. Alerting us to new Phishing scams also helps us protect other Rent-Instead members since we can send announcements to our customers notifying them of this scam |
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| If after the fact, you realize that you have entered your personal information into a Phishing site, it’s important to take the following steps to protect yourself: |
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Change the passwords on all accounts that could now be accessible by the identity thief. |
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| 2.Contact financial institutions that are related to any financial information that may have been given away. |
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| 3. Report the identity theft to either the Federal Trade Commission or your local law enforcement agency. |
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| Secure Passwords |
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| It is important to use a password that contains letters, numbers and characters like “@” or “%”. This makes your password hard for third parties to guess. In addition, it is critical that your password is not something that is personal about you and easily guessed - like your first or last name or your pet’s name. |
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| It’s a smart practice to use different passwords for all of your online accounts so that if someone gains access to one of your accounts they do not automatically have access to all of your other accounts. |
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| Listing and Renting with Confidence : |
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| Listing Safely |
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| Make a clear, compelling first impression by writing a great title and description of your item. Your description should include all required or optional accessories that you intend to include with the item. Also, describe the material it is made of and it’s dimensions. |
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| Clearly and precisely identify all flaws, scratches, missing functionality and the age of the item. The goal is to minimize any surprises that could result in an “Unacceptable Rental” status. |
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| Do: |
| • How the item might be used. |
| • What you especially like about the item. |
| • Who you think it would appeal to and why |
| • Highlight the value and savings for renters who might consider buying instead. |
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| Do not: |
| • Fail to state what the nature of the item is. |
| • Include Web site addresses, email addresses or phone numbers. |
| • Use profane or obscene language. |
| • Use words such as "prohibited", "banned", "illegal", or "outlawed". |
| • Include brand names other than the specific brand name used by the company that manufactured or produced the item you are listing |
| • List items that are on the Rent-Instead Prohibited Items list. |
| • Include anything that is not true. |
| • Include keywords that are unrelated to your item in order to try to lure buyers searching for these words. (For example, do not say, "If you like Ralph Lauren, you'll like these towels.") This is known as "keyword spamming" and it is against Rent-Instead’s listing policies. |
| • Copy word-for-word from other sources (i.e., e-commerce Web sites, other Rent-Instead listings, manufacturer Web sites, etc.). |
| • Highlight the value and savings for renters who might consider buying instead. |
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| Renting Safely |
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| To make your renting experience as comfortable and enjoyable, here are some basic safety tips to assist you in this process. |
| • Always read the entire item description carefully before you Rent, Rent-to-Own, or Buy Instead. When you place a rental order, you are agreeing to the rental based on the contents of the listing. Before confirming your order, read the item description carefully! |
| • Review the Shipping & Handling costs. These costs include the shipment both directions. If you choose to have the item shipped, be certain to check out each shipper’s shipping methods to ensure the items arrives in time to meet your needs. |
| • Always review an Owner’s Feedback before you Rent, Rent-to-Own, or Buy Instead. An Owner's Feedback reflects the experiences that other Renters have had with them. You should evaluate: the number and percentage of positive Feedback, as well as the comments left by Renters |
| • If you receive offers from Rent-Instead Owners outside of the Rent-Instead environment, we highly recommend that you forward these emails to us, at security@rent-instead.com. These offers pose a serious risk to our unsuspecting community, since they do not offer the same protection that we do. For instance, the Owner Obligations section of the Terms and Agreement document enforces contractual agreements between Owner and Renter, should any rental discrepancies arise. Rent-Instead provides an “Unacceptable Rental” process that may be initiated by either party. The process facilitates remedies and enforces the decision made by an arbitrator chosen by RI, should a rental dispute get to this point. |
| The cost of the arbitrator will be split between the Owner and Renter and all decisions of the arbitrator will be binding. The Owner may report the item stolen if the item is not returned at the rental return date and the renter has not contacted the owner to extend the rental and the delay is not caused by a delay in shipping. Upon return, Owner must certify that item is free from contamination. |
| • Always communicate to Owners through through “Ask Owner a Question”. This is the most secure means of communication. When you use this, copies of the emails will be sent to “My Messages”, and you have the option of hiding your email address from the Owner. |
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| Use of AlertPay |
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| Rent-Instead only uses AlertPayl for payment transactions to and from Owners and Renters. We found that PayPal is the safer, easier way to pay and get paid online. |
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| AlertPay, a privately owned and managed company founded in 2004, is a rapidly growing leader in online payments. The service provides individuals and businesses the ability to send and receive payments online without exposing their personal or financial information. |
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| All monies deposited with AlertPay are FDIC (Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation) and CDIC (Canada Deposit Insurance Corporation) pass-through insured in the U.S. and Canada, and are held with federally chartered and regulated banks. |
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| AlertPay is committed to handling your customer information with high standards of information security. Your credit card and bank account information are stored only in encrypted form on computers that are not connected to the Internet. When your information is being transferred over the internet, 128 bit SSL encryption is used to ensure your sensitive data is not legible by anyone on the internet. They restrict access to your personally identifiable information to only employees who need to know that information in order to provide products or services to you. AlertPay maintains physical, electronic and procedural safeguards to protect your information. |
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