2023 New York Laws › PEP - Personal Property › Article 11 - Rental Purchase Agreements › 500 - Definitions.

§ 500. Definitions. For the purposes of this article:
1.  "Advertisement"  means  a  commercial  message  in any medium that
  directly or indirectly promotes or assists a rental-purchase agreement.
2. "Cash price" means the price of the merchandise  described  in  the
  rental-purchase  agreement  that  the  consumer  may  pay in cash to the
  merchant at the inception of the rental-purchase  agreement  to  acquire
  ownership of such merchandise.
3. "Consumer" means an individual who leases personal property under a
  rental-purchase agreement.
4.  "Merchandise" means the personal property that is the subject of a
  rental-purchase agreement.
5. "Merchant" means a person who, in the ordinary course of  business,
  regularly  leases,  offers to lease, or acts as an agent for the leasing
  of merchandise under a rental-purchase agreement.
6. "Rental-purchase agreement" means  an  agreement  for  the  use  of
  merchandise  by  a consumer for primarily personal, family, or household
  purposes, for an  initial  period  of  four  months  or  less,  that  is
  renewable  with  each  payment after the initial period and that permits
  the consumer to become the owner of  the  property.  An  agreement  that
  complies  with  this article is not a retail installment sales contract,
  agreement, or obligation as defined  in  this  chapter  nor  a  security
  interest  as  defined  in  paragraph  thirty-five  of  subsection (b) of
  section 1--201 of the uniform commercial code.
7. "Cost of rental" means the difference between the total of payments
  necessary to acquire ownership under the rental-purchase  agreement  and
  the  cash  price  of  the  rental  merchandise  that  is  subject to the
  rental-purchase agreement.
8. "Fee" means any payment, charge, fee,  cost,  or  expense,  however
  denominated, other than a rental payment.
9.  "Appliance"  means  and  includes any refrigerator, freezer, range
  including  any  cook  top  or  oven,  microwave  oven,  washer,   dryer,
  dishwasher, or room air conditioner or air purifier or other machine for
  routine household tasks.
10. "Electronic set" means and includes any television, radio, camera,
  video  game,  computer  system  or any type of device for the recording,
  storage, copying, printing, transmission, display, or  playback  of  any
  sound or image.
11.  "Merchant's  cost"  means  the  documented actual cost, including
  actual freight charges, of the rental merchandise to the merchant from a
  wholesaler, distributor,  supplier,  or  manufacturer  and  net  of  any
  discounts,  rebates, and incentives that are vested and calculable as to
  a specific item of merchandise at the time the merchant accepts delivery
  of the merchandise.
12. "Total of payments" means the total amount  of  periodic  payments
  necessary to acquire ownership of the merchandise that is the subject of
  the  rental-purchase  agreement  if  the  consumer  makes  all regularly
  scheduled payments.
13. "Periodic payment" means a payment to be made by  a  consumer  for
  the right of the possession and use of merchandise for a specific rental
  period, but does not include taxes imposed on such payment.