Skip to main content
If you rent out equipment, vehicles, storage units, or anything else people pay to use temporarily, April brought two changes worth your attention: a faster way to get contracts signed, and a set of self-service and pricing upgrades that reduce manual admin. Below is what shipped, why it matters, and how to turn each feature on.
What’s new this month, at a glance
This release focused on three things rental operators keep asking us for: fewer manual steps, more flexible pricing, and stronger documentation when money and equipment change hands.
- Self-service booking for both B2C and B2B customers, so renters can reserve, pay, and manage their own bookings without a phone call.
- More flexible pricing configurations, supporting hybrid models that combine short-term rental, long-term rental, and subscription in one system — part of our broader MultiCommerce approach.
- Electronic signatures and identity verification, through a new integration with Criipto, a European digital identity and e-signature provider.
- AI-assisted analytics, giving operators a clearer read on booking patterns and resource allocation without building spreadsheets by hand.
We’ll walk through the signature feature in detail below, since it’s the change most likely to affect how you run your day-to-day operations.
Signing rental agreements just got a whole lot easier – and smarter
Every booking made through Sharefox already requires customers to accept your rental terms before completing a reservation, by checking an approval box. With the new integration with Criipto, you can now take that a step further: electronic signatures and identity verification, built directly into the booking flow.
If you rent out high-value products — construction machinery, vehicles, camera equipment, or anything else where a signed agreement genuinely matters — this is a meaningful upgrade. It speeds up your workflow, strengthens security, improves the customer experience, and gives you stronger documentation, all while reducing the risk of errors and misunderstandings that come from paper or PDF-based signing.
“Digital identity verification is becoming a baseline expectation in European online services, not a premium add-on — customers increasingly assume that anything requiring a signature can be completed in a few taps, from a phone, using an ID they already trust.” — paraphrased from industry commentary on e-identity adoption in the Nordics; see sources below.
E-signatures with Criipto and Sharefox
Criipto supports a wide range of national eIDs, including:
- BankID (Norway & Sweden)
- Vipps Login (Norway)
- MitID (Denmark)
- Finnish Trust Network (Finland)
- itsme (Belgium)
- iDIN and DigiD (Netherlands)
- Personalausweis (Germany)
This means you can enable secure, legally valid e-signatures using trusted eIDs from across Europe, making your rental process faster, easier, and more reliable for both you and your customers.
Why implementing digital signatures is a smart move:
- Improved customer transparency – customers fully understand the terms of the rental before pickup, which minimizes the risk of disputes later.
- Faster, smoother customer journeys – signing contracts becomes quick and easy, with no printing and no scanning.
- Stronger documentation – signed contracts are securely stored and accessible for any insurance claims or disputes.
- Legal peace of mind – e-signatures provide clear confirmation of consent, helping you meet compliance and legal requirements.
How the e-signature flow works in Sharefox
- Send a signature request. Trigger it manually or automatically. Customers receive a link via SMS or email to sign the agreement.
- Track signature status. Monitor the status of each e-signature directly from the Sharefox admin dashboard.
- Contract signed. The system logs the event, attaches the signed contract to the order, and emails a copy to both the customer and your team.
Read the full walkthrough in our help center article on the e-signature feature.
How to get started
To enable e-signatures, send a request to support@sharefox.no. This is a premium feature, and you’ll receive a tailored offer based on your setup. When you contact us, specify which signature type(s) you’d like to use:
| Signature type | How it works | Best suited for |
|---|---|---|
| BankID / eID signatures | Verified through trusted national eID providers such as Norwegian or Swedish BankID, MitID, or itsme | Rentals where legal identity verification matters — vehicles, machinery, high-value equipment |
| Drawable signatures | Hand-drawn signatures, powered by Criipto Signatures | Lower-friction agreements where a quick, informal signature is enough |
Why this matters, whoever you are
Product updates only help if they solve a real problem for the person using them. Here’s how this release maps to the operators we hear from most:
| User segment | Core challenge | What this update solves |
|---|---|---|
| Rental operators | Fragmented tools, manual admin, no self-service for customers | Self-service booking and flexible pricing run more of the business from one platform |
| Mobility managers | Manual key handling, multiple disconnected systems | Faster, more automated check-in/out and stronger booking-to-return documentation |
| Self-storage & property managers | Coordinating several systems while trying to grow | Automated billing and access, with agreements signed and stored digitally |
| Digital agencies & integration partners | Need for white-label, reliable, well-documented software | A more robust, better-documented platform to build client solutions on |
If you manage a fleet or mobility service, this pairs well with what we cover in Mobility Rental: How Rental Software Can Improve Customer Satisfaction and Loyalty. If self-storage is your focus, see how other operators approach this in Automate & Optimize Your Self-Storage Business with a Rental & Subscription Management System.
AI enhancements in this release
This update also includes AI-assisted analytics that help you spot booking patterns and allocate resources without manually building reports. If you want a deeper look at where AI is heading for rental businesses generally, our team has written more on how to use AI in a rental business for more efficient operations, and on getting your business recommended in AI search results.
Flexible pricing and self-service booking
The updated pricing engine supports hybrid models — combining short-term rental, long-term rental, and subscriptions in the same catalog — which is useful if your business is expanding beyond a single rental type. We go into more depth on this in Strong and Flexible Pricing Engine of Sharefox Rental and Hire Software and How to Handle Both B2C and B2B Customers with Sharefox Rental Software.
Self-service booking is one of the more requested features from operators who currently rely on phone or email to close reservations. If you’re building this out, Why the Vehicle & Trailer Rental Industry Should Embrace Online Booking covers the operational case for making the switch.
Changelog highlights
Beyond the features above, this release includes a set of bug fixes, performance improvements, and documented API changes to support smoother integrations. If contracts and documentation are relevant to your setup, it’s also worth reading Protect Your Business with an Equipment Rental Agreement Template and Why Rental Businesses Should Embrace E-Signatures for more context on why digital agreements have become standard practice.
Missed a previous update?
Catch up on earlier releases in our product updates archive.
All in one platform
