6 Reasons To Switch to Sitting for a Cause in the Wake of the Rover and DogVacay Merger

News

On Wednesday, Rover and DogVacay announced they would be merging. Rover acquired DogVacay and while both sites will continue to operate as usual, integration plans are in the works as the two biggest pet sitting sites seek to further dominate the market.

While it’s hard to say exactly what the integration will look like, the ultimate goal and most likely outcome according to Rover’s CEO is an IPO. As with most companies, it would be safe to assume profits are the priority with this merger.

With Rover receiving $90 million from venture capitalists and DogVacay receiving about half that amount, this merger could end up creating a powerhouse site for pet owners to find their next sitter. However, it’s hard to say how this merger will impact the experience of users on these platforms.

If you are a Rover or DogVacay user who is less than thrilled about this merger, Sitting for a Cause would love have you on our site! Here are 6 reasons why you should join us today:

  1. 50% of Our Profits Help Animals in Need – At Sitting for a Cause, we donate 50% of our website profits to animal rescues and shelters, so each time you book a sitter with us a portion of the funds you spend on your pet’s care help animals in need. We even have “Super Giver” sitters who commit to donating anywhere from 1%-30% of their Sitting for a Cause earnings to animal-related causes! While Rover has a “Sit a Dog, Save a Life” program and both Rover and DogVacay have been known to support animal-related causes, neither of them have committed to giving a set portion of their profits to animal rescues and shelters. We don’t anticipate this changing once their merger is complete.
  2. No Service Fees for Pet Owners – Sitting for a Cause never charges pet owners extra service fees. Pet owners only pay for the services they book! Both DogVacay and Rover charge a 5%-7% service fee on bookings for pet owners who signed up for their site after certain registration dates. While we can’t predict if these fees will become universal regardless of registration date upon their integration, why pay extra fees when you don’t have to?
  3. Lower Service Fees for Pet Sitters – Sitting for a Cause charges a 10% service fee on our pet care professionals earnings. DogVacay and Rover charge anywhere from 15%-20% depending on your registration date (25% on Rover if you sign up for RoverGO). Again, it’s impossible to predict if these fees will become fixed at 20% regardless of registration date once the two sites integrate, but there’s no reason to pay extra service fees on your hard earned money when you don’t have to.
  4. Customer Service – While we cannot personally verify the quality of customer service DogVacay and Rover provide their users, I have heard sitters who switched to our site complain about the service they received from our competitors. As the CEO and Founder of Sitting for a Cause, I take the experience of our users very seriously. I respond individually to each email we receive through the site, will jump on the phone with a user who needs assistance, and examine each user’s account and profile personally to provide individualized suggestions and tutorials on how they can maximize their profile’s potential. I’d be willing to bet you can’t expect this level of service from Rover or DogVacay’s CEOs.
  5. Individualized Marketing – If you compare Sitting for a Cause’s Facebook page with DogVacay or Rover’s, you’ll notice Sitting for a Cause share profile links to our sitter on a daily basis for our California-based sitters while our competitors do not. As we expand, we will be sharing profiles from across the country. Additionally, we run paid advertising on our sitter’s profiles to help new clients learn about them. If you are a sitter who wants your profile promoted to dog and cat owners in your area, Sitting for a Cause is the way to go.
  6. Additional Qualification Checks – As a pet owner, you have specific qualifications you are looking in a pet sitter. Rover has four different badges sitters can earn for their profiles and DogVacay has eight, two of which don’t require any special testing or verification to obtain. We have eight different badges that our sitters can earn, all of which require specific testing and verification to earn. This enables you to find the sitter that best fits your pets needs. Our badges include:
    1. Background Checked
    2. Insured
    3. Pet Care Tested
    4. Cat Care Tested
    5. Dog Care Tested
    6. Master Class Passed
    7. Reference Checked
    8. Jobs Completed

Even if you plan on sticking with DogVacay and Rover as they merge, we do hope you’ll give Sitting for a Cause a shot as well. We’d love to have any interested pet sitter or pet owner join us in our mission to save lives through pet sitting that gives back! If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact me through our contact us page.