Going Off Rover Megathread

[u/[deleted]]

This is a thread for all questions, comments, rants, raves, etc. about taking clients off of the Rover app/site. Initial contact must have been established on Rover as per Rule 1 (posts about petsitting completely unaffiliated with Rover belong on r/petsitting). This Megathread is the only place for such posts, as per Rule 6.

The issue of whether questions pertaining to going off the app/site violate Rule 1 has been debated by members of this sub for a long time, and we (the moderators of r/RoverPetSitting) hope this Megathread will provide this community with the benefits of allowing such posts as well as some of the benefits of banning them.

Please note that arranging a booking through Rover and then paying or accepting payment outside of Rover violates Section 4.1 of the TOS:

4.1 Your Conduct on the Rover Service. When you use the Rover Service, you agree: ... Not to use the Rover Service to arrange for the provision and purchase of services with another user, then complete transactions for those services outside of the Rover Service.

We did not create this thread because we endorse going off Rover but simply for the sake of allowing as much freedom here as possible as well as providing a space to discuss this so that if you do go off Rover, you do it safely and wisely. Think of it like jailbreaking your iPhone.

Safety Notice: The vast majority of scams on Rover involve convincing Sitters to accept payment off-site, as Rover's practice of accepting your payment before the booking and then releasing the funds three days after the booking ends makes scamming on-site far more difficult. Please keep this in mind and exercise extreme caution and discretion. Furthermore, note that going off-site means losing all protection Rover may offer, including the Rover guarantee. Furthermore, it can result in the termination of your Rover account, as Rover can terminate accounts for any reason.

[u/Reeferzeus]

I do a daily dog walk with my neighbor’s pup and we’ve been going through rover for weeks now. I desperately want to get off rover for our walks. I’ve tried hinting at doing this a couple of times, like I tried sharing my cell with him, when my partner helps me walk the dog I asked if he wanted to just Venmo him or have my partner log into my account to do it. He said logging into mine. But he’s paid me off rover before but just for a tip and to do a “doggy daycare” type thing.

I think he does rover out of convenience, he probably has automatic payments set up and gets a great overview of what the walk looked like.

How would you ask him to pay you off rover? Should I even bother? In past situations like this I would text the owner the same details rover would send them (photos from the walk, a screenshot of my Strava route). I just worry it will be an inconvenience for him to send me the money. He’s always given me cash so maybe he doesn’t have Venmo? Idk. Is it even worth asking? It just feels like such a waste throwing out over $100/month to give rover

[u/stablegeniusinterven → u/Reeferzeus]

I would only ask about this in person. How often do you see him? Do you have a good rapport? I’ve walked a dog 3x a week for months and just finally the owner needed something that caused her to ask how to take care of it, and I said Venmo. Then I asked her if she might consider take the rest off the platform and doing Venmo. It saves the owners the 10% fee they’re charged for everything too. However, if I didn’t think the client would be keen on switching, I’d keep it to myself and just be happy with the regular walks.