Pet sitting rates: how much should I charge as a pet sitter?

Katy 02/05/2018 - updated: 04/07/2019

The pet owners of Pawshake are all dedicated pet lovers who offer their services mainly because they just like it and they have a big love for animals. Using Pawshake is completely free for both sitters and pet owners, but booking a sitter of course comes with a price. Each pet sitter determines his or her prices for each specific service such as dog walking of home pet boarding. That is completely transparent: as a pet owner you only pay the price for the specific service. There are no hidden costs. But what are reasonable pet sitting rates? What price should you ask for your services and what is a fair price to pay when you look for personal and affordable pet care? This is what both sitters and pet owners should know:

Experience and popularity..

If you are just starting to work as a pet sitter, it's best not to bet too high. If you haven't got any reviews yet, it's smart to set a friendly price. Have a good look at the prices of other pet sitters in your area to understand your 'competition', and start your prices a bit lower than more experienced sitters. As soon as you get more bookings and you have experience that is also worth some extra compensation, you can slowly raise your prices.

Please note that at Pawshake we use minimum prices: we do this because we have high expectation from our sitters and we want them to get a fair compensation. We want to prevent a 'race to the bottom' happening.

Popular sitters that receive a lot of booking requests might ask for slightly higher pet sitting rates because their time and space is limited. Pawshake sitters offer small-scale personal dog care where, for example, they take in a maximum of 2 or 3 pets only. They can not, like a big kennel or dog hotel, accommodate 10 or 20 dogs at the same time. That is why the price of this personal home dog boarding is not necessarily cheaper than in a kennel.

Read more about how you recognize a great pet sitter profile here

Knowledge and special skills

Petsitters at Pawshake are generally 'ordinary' pet lovers, but some of our community members have special skills and experience. You can find veterinarians, veterinary assistants, dog behavior therapists, volunteers at animal shelters, groomers, professional breeders, feline therapists and so on. Of course, this is great for when you're looking for a special type of pet sitter that can offer just that little extra care for your pet - for example, if you have an energetic dog that needs a little training, or an insecure cat that need a gentle approach. Special skills that demonstrable experience and knowledge may cost a little extra, as long as you can demonstrate what you have to offer as a pet sitter.

Travel expenses and fees

The prices on your pet sitter's profiles are all-inclusive: there are no hidden costs. This means that all costs are included in this price. As a pet sitter consider things such as travel expenses and other costs to include in your prices. One pet sitting job can differ from another. Keep an average of what you think is reasonable and make sure that your prices on your profile do not change too much: transparency and trust are very important to pet owners and they're looking for qualitative but also affordable pet care.

Payment and payment methods

If you have found a great pet sitter, you can book and pay via the website or free Android or iOs app from Pawshake. When you do this, both the pet owner and the pet sitter can use our 24/7 Customer Support, your pet is covered with the Pawshake Guarantee and the pet owner can leave a review afterwards. You can easily pay via Paypal or Creditcard. Once you made the payment, we keep the money safely, and pay out the pet sitter automatically after the pet sitting services are completed. So you do not have to worry about when and how you pay the babysitter. We will arrange it for you, right after your pet has been well looked after by your pet sitter!

As a babysitter, it is important to take into account the Pawshake contribution of 19% when you set your prices. For example, if you want to earn 10 euros for a dog walk, then put your price at 12 or 13 euros, so you'll receive a net amount of around 10 euros. We use the 19% contribution to acquire new community members, for the development of the website and app, for the customer service and the Pawshake Guarantee. Using Pawshake is otherwise free, you don't pay any subscription costs and you are free to cancel your account at any time.

Tip: Do you already have a pet sitter profile at Pawshake? Then run through your profile and check whether your rates are still in line with what you offer. Are you still too high or too low? You can adjust your prices at any time.