Feb.. 28 email for sitters in CALIFORNIA vague about why rates changed. Now that the $18 Million class action settlement re. Sportsman v. Rover was public earlier in Feb. it makes sense!
This is actually class action lawsuit material. Do they really think that no one is going to realize this "new" listing method is a different way of increasing the percentage they take of our earnings? Terms are set in stone. They have been published on the website and guaranteed not to change. Service fees are based on when our profiles were approved:
Before March 1, 2016: 15%
On/After March 1, 2016: 20%
I wonder if CA is the test case so that it can be implemented nationwide.
Agreed. Longtime customers who established their rover accounts before the service fees were introduced, and so have not been charged any additional service fees ever will notice this change. And the percentages referenced are from sitters’ % booked amount.
As you know, the other Owner service fees didn’t apply to longtime clients of rover. Beginning in Sept. 2015, bookings by **NEW** account holders are charged a **Owner Service** fee ...(Pet owners with rover accounts prior to Sept 2015 were never charged this. Even for affluent, they’ll see 10%more
Karen: $18M class action settlement from Feb. 2023 very likely is behind this change!
Yeah, I was looking at this today and it doesn't seem legal? Not to mention I feel like this is going to affect whether or not a client books me. They're going to see that higher rate now and potentially pass us over for cheaper sitters. Because if I'm reading this right, instead of Rover taking a cut from our earnings directly, they're just charging the owners what our fee would've been, but do they still cap that fee at $50? Or is it just a straight 25% on their end now? That's a lot of extra money on the client side. We were hurting enough before with Rover taking 20% with no cap, now we're going to lose clients on top of it. It's ridiculous!
I'm likewise a bit concerned by this recent change -- I offer cat sitting only, and have instantly seen a drop in requests (aside from time of year).
NEW HELP Center link contains errant info, citing 20% fees. For some sitters (started Prior to March 2016) it was 15%.Now, it will be 25%! https://support.rover.com/hc/en-us/articles/12439190554132-Fees-and-rates-in-California BTW 25 % for ALL CA customers confirmed by email from support today!
Interesting that the Sportsman v. Rover case settled in Feb. 2023 resulted in “As part of the settlement agreement, Rover has agreed to change its fee structure and will no longer take the 20% cut from providers on its platform. “ Creatively, following month charge CA clients 25%! https://www.mselaborlaw.com/news/rover-settles-misclassification-case-18-million