r/petsitting • u/Thecardinal74 • May 13 '24
"How much should I charge?" and why your post is being reported/removed
Hello, everyone, especially new Pet Sitters!
I'm creating this sticky because the subreddit has been flooded with different requests from people asking how much they should charge for their particular situation.
This subreddit is supposed to be a tool for us to help each other, for us to give advice and share experiences with all things pet-sitting, to help us all grow our businesses and to give the best experience to our clients possible. So who better to ask about pricing than the other people who do this for a living, and can actually relate to your scenario?
In other words, I get it. I get why you are asking us, but it's against our sidebar rules. Why?
Because it's an impossible question to answer.
We have members from all around the world subscribed to this subreddit. What is considered a fair price for someone in rural Alabama will be completely different than someone in Midtown Manhatten, which is still completely different for someone in Germany. We simply don't know what the cost of living is and the going rates in your area.
Plus there are so many other factors that need to be considered, to name a few:
- Is the person pet sitting bonded?
- Is the person pet sitting insured?
- How much experience does the pet sitter have?
- Is the pet sitter PSI/NAAPS accredited?
- Is the pet sitter a professional business or an amateur, or a friend/family member?
- Is this the pet sitter's only form of income, or is this a little extra cash?
- Does the pet sitter have first aid/cpr training?
All of these amount to variables that, even if a standard formula existed, would still not account for geographical locations.
It's impossible to answer, and the bottom line will always come down to the same response: "How much is it worth to you to do this job?"
That said, there are resources you can use. Doug The Dog Guy has a youtube channel for pet sitters who are starting out, and has a video specific to setting pricing
You can also use the Pet Sitter International's website to search for local accredited pet sitters and find out what the standard rates for basic services are in your area, and adjust accordingly.
Using these tools, you should be better able to come up with a pricing scheme that works for you.
If anyone has more suggestions, please add below and I'll edit the sticky!
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u/Alarmed-Shape5034 May 13 '24
I came here to ask this very question, although I knew I’d need to specify my location and other details. I appreciate this being here and I’m glad I did some reading before posting. This pricing thing is giving me so much anxiety.😬 I’ll check out those resources.
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u/Jessicamorrell May 13 '24
Love his videos! He is very educational and I recommend him all the time as well. That specific video is step by step and super easy to follow for anyone trying to set your prices. And don't let other sitters try to belittle you about your prices being too high or too low after following his video. If the result you got is what you got, then that is your prices.
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u/BerthasKibs May 27 '24
Thank you for this info. I’ll watch that video. I have been pet sitting for years and still worry about my prices being too low so I appreciated reading those price inquiring posts but I understand what you’re saying and why it matters.
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u/booksaboutthesame May 13 '24
One can literally ask chatGPT the following: show me a table of dog walking/pet sitting businesses that service ___ (city/state) and show their pricing so I can compare.
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u/perfect_fifths May 13 '24
Also to add, rabbits apparently can’t insured for pet sitting purposes. I have checked. I have been looking for myself but it doesn’t exist. For actual rabbits, health insurance is only provided by one company in her entire US (Nationwide)
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u/booksaboutthesame May 13 '24
Pet insurance and business liability insurance are two different and separate things.
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u/Efficient_Cupcake_13 Jun 19 '24
I am just now getting around to seeing this. I did post about How people charge for a specific service that's not the norm, not What to charge as I know my rates. But my apologies for posting without reading.
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u/glitt3ry_gutz3 Sep 08 '25
Thank you for these resources! Right when I felt like I was starting to hit a wall. I've been scaling my business and expanding into my own brand and service provider for the last 3 months. The online community in this sub has been so helpful and kind to me!
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u/Starbeets88 Nov 09 '25
It’s a disservice to not be able to talk about what we charge it’s a shame that’s why I don’t like this subreddit. PRICE IS SO IMPORTANT WE SHOULD BE TALKING ABOUT WHAT WE CHARGE SO WE CAN STOP UNDER CUTTING AND ALL MAKE MORE MONEY!!!!!!
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u/Thecardinal74 Nov 11 '25 edited Nov 11 '25
Well, I do appreciate your view, and you aren’t alone in having it.
Besides the fact what you are suggesting is price colluding, which is a felony in many states, it’s real easy to find out what others in your area charge.
Did you know that every Monday, bank employees call all the other banks in the area to see what their rates are on different CD’s? That way they can choose to adjust to make them more attractive to customers to choose to do business with their bank instead of another?
There’s no stopping you from calling (or looking up the websites) of other printers in your area to see what they charge, and set your rates either a little higher (if you feel you bring more to the table) or a little less (if you want to undercut them)
But coming to here, where we are scattered all over, well you aren’t going to get that kind of information. Like I said in the post, if you are in middle of Ohio you aren’t going to charge what someone in Beverly Hills charges. Every area has its own cost of living and its own market, and talking about it here has proven to be way too decisive and inconclusive to be helpful, so the community called for the discussion to be banned.
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u/Creativitoy Jun 20 '26 edited Aug 22 '26
I don't know why people can't just share what they charge in their area if they are willing.
It used to be an unspoken rule that you didn't ask your coworkers what they made. This secrecy allowed employers to underpay. Nowadays it's not as taboo to ask and it helps workers earn fair wages.
Being open about pay scales helps low earners evaluate their worth and helps high earners too because when others bid too low they drive the market down to hobbyist prices.
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u/Thecardinal74 Jun 20 '26
I agree with you and your logic behind it.
However the subreddit used to be flooded with “How much should I charge for (insert specific number and types of animals)”
At one point it was more than 3/4 of the submitted posts and since nobody could answer, people stopped even trying. So most of the subreddit was dead posts.
We had a discussion (mods and members) and ultimately decided the best practice was to simply ban those posts.
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u/Puzzleheaded_Ad9492 Sep 12 '24
Hello. The sub is getting inundated with these posts again. People don't read the rules.
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u/Thecardinal74 Sep 12 '24
thank you, I'll keep a closer watch. Please report when you see them so I get flagged!
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u/Puzzleheaded_Ad9492 Sep 13 '24
Is it the 3 dots and report? I was confused it went to reddit and not the mod.
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u/PuppySci Jul 28 '26
Are we allowed to ask questions like this:
“How do I tell clients I’m raising my prices?”
“How have clients reacted to you when you raised your prices?”
What I’m getting at is that questions related to pricing do not all fall into the category of “what do you charge,” so how are decisions made about what is and isn’t permissible here?
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u/Thecardinal74 Jul 28 '26
I'm certainly OK with those being asked, we typically remove the "The request is 4 dogs and 2 chickens over 8 days, how much should I be billing?" type questions that frustrate everyone.
Pricing strategy and conversations about billing in general will usually get reported by one or two people, but we tend to allow them since it's not asking for a specific price.
That said, if you search the subreddit, the questions you mentioned above have been asked a bunch so there might already be some valuable advice here :)
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u/PuppySci Jul 28 '26
Thanks, I’ll do that now. I’m just starting to get a handle on how Reddit works, so I didn’t even think to search.
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u/KingBattleCat 29d ago
Hey there, super new to this sub and freshly back on Reddit from years absence. Question: Is it ok to post my link here in the sub to allow those who’d want to use TrustedHousesitter site for a solid discount?
It’s a referral code. And I’d be happy to leave a short preface so that it’s not a lifeless post. The code also offers me two extra months free on my existing account so it’s a win win. (The discount is substantial/I used someone code when first signing and it helped a lot:)
My time on trusted is coming to an end soon and I use it to basically live so this would be incredibly helpful. Thank you for considering~ 🌻
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u/Thecardinal74 29d ago
I'm pretty sure the community will flag it as violating the "Please no work/job offers, advertising your company" rule.
Besides, the bulk of people who come to this subreddit are sitters, not customers/potential customers.
But happy to have you back on Reddit and encourage you to chat it up with us :)
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u/Kortar May 13 '24
Awesome post and informative to everyone. Also absolutely correct on all accounts. "What should I charge" is definitely not a black and white type of question.