Renting or buying a roll-up banner — when each makes sense
We work through the tiered tariff for 1, 3, 7 and 14 days and show how many appearances a year it takes before buying starts to pay off.
The question comes up in almost every first inquiry: should I rent a roll-up banner or buy one. The answer depends on a single number — how many times a year you will actually use it. Here we do the maths honestly, with the prices from the tariff, and we skip nothing.
How the tiered rental price works
Rental is a daily price multiplied by a percentage based on the number of days. The important part is that each tier applies only to the days that fall inside it. One percentage is never applied to the whole period. So a longer rental is cheaper per day, but the first day is always at the full rate.
| Days | Percentage of the daily price | Price per day at €10.00 |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 100 % | €10.00 |
| 2–3 | 80 % | €8.00 |
| 4–7 | 65 % | €6.50 |
| 8–14 | 50 % | €5.00 |
| 15–30 | 40 % | €4.00 |
| 31+ | 30 % | €3.00 |
A Strong 85×200 roll-up banner has a daily price of €10.00. The deposit is €40.00 and the replacement value is €145.00. The deposit runs on a proforma invoice, nothing is charged to a card, and it is released within 2 working days after the item comes back and is checked.
What the rental costs for 1, 3, 7 and 14 days
Here are the sums day by day. Check them yourself — the figure on the right is the total of the tiers on the left.
| Period | Tier breakdown | Total |
|---|---|---|
| 1 day | 10.00 | €10.00 |
| 3 days | 10.00 + 8.00 + 8.00 | €26.00 |
| 7 days | 10.00 + 8.00 × 2 + 6.50 × 4 | €52.00 |
| 14 days | 10.00 + 8.00 × 2 + 6.50 × 4 + 5.00 × 7 | €87.00 |
| 30 days | 87.00 + 4.00 × 16 | €151.00 |
Look at what happens between 7 and 14 days. Seven extra days add only €35.00, because they land in the 50 % tier. If your event is on Thursday and Friday but the stand stays up all week, the difference between 3 and 7 days is €26.00 — rarely worth driving to the venue twice to save it.
The break-even point in appearances per year
The replacement value of a Strong 85×200 roll-up banner is €145.00. Use it as a reference for what the hardware itself is worth. Now compare how many rentals it takes to reach that sum at a typical three-day appearance of €26.00.
| Three-day appearances per year | Total rental | Against €145.00 |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | €26.00 | cheaper by €119.00 |
| 2 | €52.00 | cheaper by €93.00 |
| 3 | €78.00 | cheaper by €67.00 |
| 4 | €104.00 | cheaper by €41.00 |
| 5 | €130.00 | cheaper by €15.00 |
| 6 | €156.00 | dearer by €11.00 |
The break-even sits between the fifth and the sixth three-day appearance. Up to five times a year the rental is cheaper than the value of the hardware. From six upwards the scale tips towards buying — but only on paper, because €145.00 does not include storage, transport or repairs.
If your appearances are single-day events, the maths differs: 14 one-day events come to €140.00, while 15 already come to €150.00. With week-long fairs the break-even arrives fast: two appearances at €52.00 are €104.00, three are already €156.00. And the other way round — one continuous long rental reaches €143.00 only on day 28, and €147.00 on day 29. A month of rental costs roughly what the hardware is worth.
The hidden costs of owning
This is where customers are usually surprised. A banner you own does not end with the one-off payment.
- Storage. The cassette takes up space during the 11 months you do not use it. Standing upright in a shared storeroom it gets knocked. Lying on the floor the graphic gets pressed into the edge of the cassette.
- Transport. Every time you pay the trip to the venue and back. With a rental sent by courier you know the figure in advance: €19.00 to a courier office, €28.00 to an address, and the return leg is paid separately at the same rate.
- Cassette wear. The spring mechanism is the part that gives up first. For a sense of what damage costs: a bent cassette is €65.00, a broken telescopic pole €22.00, a missing carry bag €18.00. On a rental those sums are the ceiling of your risk, and only if the damage is your fault. On a banner you own, a bent cassette means a new cassette.
- Reprinting the graphic. Change the phone number, the campaign or the prices and the graphic has to be replaced. A new 510 gsm vinyl print for 85×200 is €24.00. Do that twice a year and you add €48.00 on top of ownership, while the hardware underneath stays the same.
There is also something that does not show up in euros: a rented unit arrives checked. After every return we keep the item for 1 day for inspection and preparation. A banner you own is checked by you — usually at 8:30 in the morning at the stand.
Printing is a one-off either way
This is the part many people miss. Printing is not a daily charge. It is a one-off production per item, and the printed graphic stays with you after the rental. Only the hardware comes back.
| Print option for 85×200 | Price | After the rental |
|---|---|---|
| 510 gsm vinyl graphic | €24.00 | stays with the customer |
| PP film | €19.00 | stays with the customer |
| No print — I have my own graphic | €0.00 | — |
So a three-day appearance with a fresh vinyl print is €26.00 rental plus €24.00 print — €50.00 in total. Come back next time with your own graphic and you pay only the rental. If you buy instead, the same print still costs the same €24.00. Printing is an argument neither for nor against renting — it is the same expense on both sides.
If you want to cap the risk in rougher conditions, minor damage coverage is 8 % of the rental and covers up to €300.00. On a three-day rental of €26.00 that is €2.08. It covers a torn graphic, a bent pole and a worn bag, but it does not cover loss, theft, a broken cassette or storm damage outdoors.
When to choose which
Renting wins when you exhibit up to five times a year, when the format keeps changing (one banner today, four next month), when you have no storage, or when the event is outside Sofia and you would rather not haul hardware. Buying starts to make sense above six appearances a year with an unchanged size, when you have your own transport and storeroom, and when someone on the team owns the condition of the kit.
There is a middle option that works well: rent the hardware but keep your own graphic. The graphic is thin, it rolls up and stores easily, while the cassette — the bulkiest and most fragile part — stays with us. Then one three-day appearance costs you €26.00 plus logistics, with no new print spend.
The conclusions in short
- The tariff is degressive and each tier applies only to its own days: 1 day €10.00, 3 days €26.00, 7 days €52.00, 14 days €87.00.
- The €145.00 replacement value is matched by roughly 5–6 three-day appearances, or about 29 continuous rental days.
- Up to five appearances a year renting is almost always cheaper, especially once you count storage, transport and wear.
- Printing is a one-off either way — €24.00 for 510 gsm vinyl — and the graphic stays with you.
- The €40.00 deposit runs on a proforma and is released within 2 working days after the check.
- If you are unsure, rent once and count how many times you actually took the banner out that year. The numbers get easy after that.
