Hi there, a friend told me that Rover takes a cut out of the payment to the sitters, so if I, let's say, ask for $16 per visit, do I actually get that amount?
Your friend is correct. Rover takes a percentage of every booking, usually 20%, but it depends on when the sitter registered. Rover also collects the separate "service fee," so it is double-dipping, i.e., taking a cut of the sitter's earnings and levying a fee on the owner.
They get their 20% cut of your asking rate, so your Rover rates may be higher than what you'd ask someone you met through other channels.
That said I've had a ticket with support for a number of issues I've been experiencing working with Rover. They have arbitrary limits to rates that you might set. They do not really vet their owners contacting us either. Way too often I get hit by one customer's shotgun blast where they'll contact a half-dozen of us at once or another customer might contact you noting they have three dogs but their profile only has one listing.
I've less and less reason to use Rover as my work involved to utilize their service has been increasing for the reasons I've mentioned. What are they doing for their 20%? It's way too much for a simple finder's fee and that's about all they're offering these days to providers.
For what it's worth, Rover encourages the shotgun blast by prompting owners to contact other sitters.
Whenever I send a message to a sitter, Rover says, contact 3 more. When I contact one more, I get the same message, contact three more. So yeah, they encourage that.
Rover takes 20%
Dies rover take PayPal