Is rover.com appropriate to market my existing pet care business?

Rover sitters are not employed by Rover. We also have pet care businesses. If the nature of your services falls within the type people expect from Rover and you are willing to give Rover 20% of your revenue, then it is up to you whether to join and use Rover as a platform to market your business. Pet owners come to Rover as an alternative to kennels. They expect a high level of personalized care and regular updates and photos. Rover sitters also can provide housesitting or drop-in visits, plus daily walks and daycare for pets. Sitters decide which services they will offer as well as the number of concurrent customers they can accommodate. Rover provides 24/7 support as well as a form of insurance, which may or may not be something you need. It is up to you whether to pursue this route.

You definitely can join, but any requests that come through Rover need to be booked through Rover. If they aren't, it's a violation of the terms of service.

Rover.com would most likely be just another platform for you to get a few more customers. Karen and Amber said it nicely, but I'll give you the straight up - IF you do get customers through Rover, DO NOT(double repeat do not...lol) attempt to solicit them directly without going through Rover. You WILL get suspended, and then it's a huge pain to get unsuspended (if they even decide to let you back). I am speaking through experience - I've been suspended twice - once I'm still not even sure why (I was a newbie), and the second time I took a cash payment for an extra day without even thinking. Rover.com takes care of their sitters pretty darn well, but don't think they aren't keeping tabs on them.

I think that we all have personal businesses. I have long term clients that I had way before Rover and they refer others so I often have Rover clients and non Rover clients. To be honest, I LOVE Rover! Yes, we pay them some but we get advertising every time they do a commercial, they provide insurance in case something happened to the dog and they have some pretty awesome support. I have none of that outside of Rover except home insurance.

The advertising alone brings me in a large majority of my business so for me, it is well worth it to pay a little for what they give.

Just remember to never accept Rover clients outside of Rover because that is a no-no. All Rover business goes through Rover.