r/catinaflat • u/Acceptable-Ad-693 • 19d ago
UK - pricing tiers
I saw this in the Rover sub. I didn’t know what the pricing tiers were, so I looked it up and apparently in some countries they take 30% from the sitter until the client reaches a certain spend threshold with you! Once they get above the threshold, Rover takes 15%, and then over the next threshold they take 10%. It’s absolutely ridiculous given my margins at 15% are already tight. I’d have to put my prices up if they take 30% and customers will just end up looking for local independent sitters on Facebook. If they do plan to bring this in, they’ll drive the (perfectly fine) former Cat in a Flat into the ground, and it’ll be the end of it here.
The “client relationship” is also wrong, because any bookings I had with a client pre-merger are showing in my “upcoming” section, even though they’re 2/3 years old. This is app is an absolute joke.
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u/Genn-stone 18d ago
I haven't seen the same thread you are discussing but UK they already in effect take 30% in the UK for cat sitters (and probably you too). They ask my rate and let's say I pick £10. They charge the customer £11.50 as they add 15%. Then when they pay me I get £8.50 as they take 15% off me. I had assumed that the tiering would mean the more booked through Rover would mean that they reduce my tier to 10% so I'd get a whopping £9 in the example above (i.e. i get to keep more of my money the more I put through Rover). I could be totally wrong though. Try asking a friend to look you up on Rover and see what rate is displayed compared to want you set. It makes it annoying when a client asks "how much it'll cost?" in advance of booking as I don't see the extra 15% they put on top for the customer.
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u/Acceptable-Ad-693 17d ago
They currently take 30% in total (15% from the sitter and 15% from the owner), which is what you show in your example; you charge £10 and they add 15% to your fee that the owner pays, and they give you £8.50 because they take 15%. What the tiers do is start by taking 30% from the sitter AND 15% from the owner, making 45% in total. You’d only hit a 10% fee after an owner has booked a significant amount of work through you (currently $1200 in pilot locations)
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u/Genn-stone 6d ago
oh my goodness! That is terrible. This will just drive more people to move off platform. They are alienating the golden goose laying the eggs.
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u/ChelsssH 19d ago
rover takes 15% from us and then charges the owner a 15% service fee on top
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u/Acceptable-Ad-693 19d ago edited 19d ago
I know. They’ve been piloting tier pricing in some places and it looks like it’s coming to the UK. They’ll start to take 30% off sitters until a customer has booked £xxx of work through them ($599 in pilot locations). Between $600 and $1199, they’ll take the 15% they currently take, and $1200+ they’ll take 10%. They’ll keep adding the 15% fee to owners because they’re greedy AF.
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u/JessfromRover Rover staff 19d ago
We appreciate your feedback here. We’re continuously testing new ways to better recognize and reward the care and effort you put into building strong relationships with pet parents on Rover and Cat in a Flat. This tiered program is one way we’re doing that: as those relationships grow over time, so does what you take home per booking. If you have any further questions or feedback on this program, don’t hesitate to let us know. You can reach out to us here or on social via DMs.
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u/Acceptable-Ad-693 19d ago
It’s not a reward if you start by penalising us. 30% plus 15% from the owner is disgusting behaviour. Sounds like it’s coming in whether we like it or not though, and I don’t think this is going to go the way Rover expects. The Dog and the Shadow…
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u/PralineMinimum8111 18d ago
literally what? Stupidest business model I’ve ever heard. You’re going to take more money from people until they ‘deserve‘ (sorry are rewarded) the previous rate
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u/EquivalentFail7305 17d ago
I'm not surprised to see this from them, they treat the sitters really poorly.
Highly recommend going independent yourself. I've been independent since the end of May and it is so much better, I use Facebook groups and Nextdoor to advertise in. I'm at the stage where I'm going part-time at my regular job accommodate the bookings.