Condition reports on your piece

The condition report is the most useful thing you own on a rental. It is the record of what your piece looked like before it left and what it looked like when it came back, and it is what a claim rests on. Without it there is nothing to compare a mark against.

Before it goes out

Film the piece. The courier cannot be booked until you have. A short film of the piece as it is going, taken when it is going rather than days earlier.

• In the app, on the camera, never from your camera roll. A record made at that moment is the whole point.
• About 10 to 15 seconds. Ten is the minimum and a minute is the ceiling.
• A photo is accepted if you cannot film.

Get the flaws in. The whole piece front and back, then close on the hem, the straps, the fastenings, the lining, and every mark, pull or scuff that is already there. Those close-ups are what protect you if a renter says a piece arrived worn, and they are what stop you being told a mark of your own is new. Good light, plain background, no filters.

Say what it needs in the note under the capture: a fastening that sticks, a lining that catches. It reaches her, and it is worth more than hoping.

What she films

Two records, both hers, both on the order beside yours: the piece as it reached her, filmed within 12 hours of delivery, and the piece as it went back, filmed before the return courier could be booked. She cannot skip either without cost: no arrival film and she cannot open an issue, a fit refund or a claim on that rental at all.

Read both before you report anything. Half the marks people find were in the first film.

When it comes back

Film your own record if you want one. The "as it came back" capture is optional (it gates nothing and forfeits nothing if you skip it), and it is the single most useful thing you can hand a mediator. It is also the one stage that accumulates: film the hem, then the lining, then the mark you found an hour later, and each is its own record rather than replacing the last. Up to six.

Open it from the rental. Once the piece is back, the rental says Your piece is back. Add condition photos within 48 hours if needed. with an Add photos button, and the Condition photos row under Return opens the same report. Take what you need, write the note for the renter, and press Save report. Nothing is on the record until you do.

Your 48 hours run from the scheduled return date and time, or from when the piece actually reached you, if that was later. A courier running behind never shortens your window, and a report made after it has closed is not reviewed. Look at the piece the day it comes back rather than the day you next need it.

Filming is not reporting. Adding to your own record raises nothing by itself. If the piece came back damaged, short a part, or in a state, report it inside the 48 hours. See If a piece comes back damaged.

Normal wear is not damage: deodorant marks, a light washable stain, creasing, gentle stretching, minor pilling, a scuff on a sole. A piece that needs cleaning needs cleaning, and cleaning is yours: you have priced it in.

What happens with them

Jelly reads both sides' records, mediates, and charges whoever is responsible. That is the whole of it: there is no cover band and no threshold below which paperwork is waived. See If something goes wrong.

They are never public: not on your listing, not on your closet, not in a feed. Both parties and Jelly can play them back through a link that expires, and nobody else can. They are kept for 90 days after the order closes, or, where an issue or a claim refers to that order, until it is resolved and for a year after.