What does Rover take from you each year?
Put in your rate and how often you work. You'll see Rover's cut per booking, per month and per year.
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Open the kitClients who found you through a friend, a flyer or your own page don't have to cost you 20%. Reeve gives them a booking page for a flat $49 a month, with no percentage of your bookings.
See how Reeve runs your businessRover's terms cover clients you meet on Rover. This is about the clients you find yourself.
Photo: Andriyko Podilnyk on Unsplash
How do Rover's fees work?
In most of the US, Rover keeps 20% of every booking and charges your client an 11% booking fee on top, so on a $25 walk you get $20 and your client pays $27.75.
Rover charges both sides of a booking. Your 20% service fee comes out of the price on your profile, so you keep 80%, and your client pays the 11% booking fee at checkout. Some cities have Rover's pilot rate instead, and California works differently.
Rover's fee page doesn't mention a cap, so the calculator applies both percentages to every booking.
Where does the money go?
Your client pays Rover your rate plus Rover's fees on their side. Rover keeps those fees, takes its own fee out of your rate where it charges one, and pays you the rest. Tips come on top. Below is each line for your numbers, per booking, per month and per year, and the lines add up.
| Line | Per booking | Per month | Per year |
|---|---|---|---|
| Your rate | $25 | $625 | $7,500 |
| Rover's fee from you | -$5 | -$125 | -$1,500 |
| Tips | $2 | $50 | $600 |
| You take home | $22 | $550 | $6,600 |
| Rover's fees on your client | $2.75 | $68.75 | $825 |
| Your client pays, before tips | $27.75 | $693.75 | $8,325 |
| Rover keeps in total | $7.75 | $193.75 | $2,325 |
- Figures are rounded to the cent.
- In California, Rover says its 11% booking fee is "applied to the booking total". We read that as your rate plus the 25% marketplace fee, and calculate it that way.
- On Rover's pilot rate, each option applies one rate to every booking, so Month and Year assume the client stays at that rate. Rover moves a client to the next rate as their history passes $599 and $1,199, and splits the booking that crosses.
How does Rover's pilot rate work?
In parts of the Seattle, Chicago and Dallas areas, Rover is testing a fee that falls as a client books you more. It's worked out per client, on the total of your completed bookings with them, tips left out: 30% up to $599, 15% from there to $1,199, and 10% after that.
- Up to $599 with a client: 30%
- $600 to $1,199: 15%
- $1,200 and over: 10%
A booking that crosses a threshold is split. Rover's own example is a first booking of $650 with a new client: 30% on the first $599 and 15% on the other $51, which comes to $187.35 in fees.
Rover's pilot rate covers Seattle, Tacoma and Bellevue, WA; Chicago, Naperville and Elgin, IL; and Dallas, Fort Worth and Arlington, TX. It's automatic, you can't opt out, and training and grooming aren't included. Your clients still pay the 11% booking fee.
Why are Rover's fees different in California?
In California you keep the full rate you set. Your client pays two fees instead: a 25% marketplace fee, rounded to the nearest dollar, and an 11% booking fee. On a $25 walk that's $9.41 in fees, so your client pays $34.41 and you keep $25.
Your client pays more in fees than in most of the US, where the same walk carries $2.75 on their side.
Does Rover take a cut of tips?
No. Rover's help page says sitters receive 100% of the tips clients give them, so the calculator adds tips to your take-home in full. On Rover's pilot rate, tips are also left out when it adds up a client's booking history, so a client who tips well doesn't reach a lower tier any sooner.
What does a $25 walk cost on Rover?
At $25 a walk in most of the US, Rover takes $5 from you and charges your client $2.75, so Rover keeps $7.75 of the $27.75 your client pays. At 25 walks a month with $2 tips, you take home $550 and Rover keeps $193.75.
| Line | Most of the US | Pilot rate, new client | California |
|---|---|---|---|
| Your rate | $25 | $25 | $25 |
| Rover's fee from you | -$5 | -$7.50 | $0 |
| Rover's fees on your client | $2.75 | $2.75 | $9.41 |
| Your client pays | $27.75 | $27.75 | $34.41 |
| You keep, before tips | $20 | $17.50 | $25 |
| Rover keeps in total | $7.75 | $10.25 | $9.41 |
On Rover's pilot rate, a new client's walk costs you $7.50 at 30%, so Rover keeps 41% of the rate once your client's fee is added. When that client has booked more than $599 with you, your fee drops to 15%, and past $1,199 to 10%.
In California, the same month leaves you $675 and your clients pay $235.25 in fees.
Can I take my Rover clients off the app?
No. Rover's terms don't let you move clients you met on Rover off the platform, so keep those bookings on Rover. You can build your own clients alongside it: people you meet through neighbors, flyers, your vet or a friend's referral. They book you directly, and Rover takes nothing from those bookings.
Does Rover take 20% or 25%?
It depends where you work. In most of the US, Rover takes 20% of your rate. In California it takes nothing from your rate and charges your client a 25% marketplace fee instead, plus the 11% booking fee. On Rover's pilot rate it's 30%, 15% or 10%, depending on how much that client has booked with you.
Who pays Rover's 11% booking fee?
Your client does. Rover adds it at checkout, on top of the price on your profile. Your own 20% fee comes out of that profile price, so it isn't added on top.
Is there a cap on Rover's fees?
Rover's fee page doesn't mention one. This calculator applies the percentages to every booking, however large.
Can I opt out of Rover's pilot rate?
No. Rover says the pilot rate is automatic for sitters in the cities it covers, and you can't opt out. It doesn't apply to training or grooming.
What should I charge on Rover to take home $25?
Divide what you want to keep by 0.8. To keep $25 after the 20% fee, set $31.25, and your client pays $34.69 with the 11% booking fee. In California, set the rate you want to keep, because Rover adds its fees on the client's side.
Are these figures exact?
They follow Rover's published percentages, rounded to the cent. Rover finalizes the booking fee at checkout based on the options your client picks, so a real booking can differ a little. On a pilot option, Month and Year assume every booking stays at the rate you picked. A real client moves to a lower rate as their total with you grows, so a new client's month or year can cost you less than shown.
Where to go from here
Photos: Matt Nelson, Erin Vey and Christian Testa on Unsplash
When you have clients of your own, Reeve handles the scheduling, texts and invoices for a flat $49 a month, and never takes a percentage of your bookings.