Bambino is a babysitting app that uses social media to connect sitters and clients recommended by your friends and neighbors.
Expected pay: $12 – $25 per hour
Husl$core: $$$$
Commissions & fees: Parents pay $1.95 to $2.95 per booking; sitters pay nothing
Where: Nationwide
Requirements: Be over the age of 18 or over the age of 13 and have parental permission; must have a smart phone and a Facebook account; be willing to submit to a credit check and a cursory background check. If you are younger than 18, the site will also require that you share emails with your parents
Bambino Review:
Bambino is a babysitting app that uses social media to find sitters recommended by your friends and neighbors. As a sitter, you download the app and connect it to your Facebook profile. You then set your rates based on your age and experience level. Junior sitters are between the ages of 13 and 15; “standard” sitters are between the ages of 15 and 18; advanced sitters are over the age of 18; and “elite” sitters are both older and background checked.
You then ask families that you’ve sat for to sign up and recommend you so that your profile will show up in the app. If a family is looking for a sitter in your neighborhood, you can accept or decline their offer. The good news is that parent/employers can’t reduce your rate just because, say, they don’t like paying $17 per hour. The bad news is that once you’ve set a rate, you can’t raise your rate, even if the family that wants to book your services has six children under the age 10. (You can, however, decline the job.)
Main sitter complaint
The main complaints that sitters have about the app focus on this seeming shortcoming, which Bambino brushes aside. The site figures that the simplicity of knowing what you’ll get paid (and what you’d have to pay, if you are the parent) is worth the occasional underpayment because of “additional complexities,” like a lot of children. The other complaint: The app has no method to tip, so unless a parent hands you a few extra bucks in cash, you get paid your rate without any extras.
The site reserves the right to screen both parents and sitters with credit and background checks, but generally doesn’t. Sitters, who are over the age of 18, can voluntarily submit to background checks to raise their rates, however. When you sign up, you agree not to accept babysitting jobs outside of the app with families you found through the app. If you do, you can be kicked off the platform.
Recommendations:
Reviews of working with this site are generally positive, with a few complaints about the multiple-kid issue and about the requirement to sign up through Facebook. Given Facebook’s recent data breaches, booking your gigs via social media does give pause. That said, the app is pretty user friendly and, at present, only parents pay a fee, which makes it a better-than-average side hustle for sitters.
You can also find babysitting positions through Urban Sitter, Trusted and GoNannies.
Want to find babysitting jobs through Bambino?
Here’s a direct link to sign up.
Want to book a sitter?
Here’s a direct link where parents can register to find sitters.
What their sitters say: (from Apple’s app store)
You are in complete control of what your profile details. Accepting and denying jobs is super easy and convenient because the app texts you for sittings. (I believe your have control to turn on and off notifications over text). As a sitter you have a wide variety of price ranges to choose from, but you have a fixed price no matter how many kids you sit for. I think an increase in number of kids should somehow increase the price of the sitter. And there should be a tip option for the parent so that they have the option to reward sitters for a great job.
Been using the app for about 2 months now. I have a full time job and I was able to make about $1200 just doing a few nights and weekends. It would be great to be able to see your areas average rate so one could gauge their competitors. Also a rate for 3 or more children would be grand or holiday rates. I also wish one could stop notifications at night there are a few that come in after midnight and it keeps ringing as text notification every couple of hours reminding you have not responded. Lack of response for requests after midnight also effects a sitters response and reliability score.
I get lots of requests for babysitting and am easily able to book jobs that work with my schedule. The best part is that there are no fees for sitters, so I get to keep all the money that I earn.
Love the concept and was so excited to use it. I was disappointed that it requires a Facebook account. I hope they will find another way to make this work.
Updated 10/27/2021
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I had the best experience with Bambino. I will definitely use it again.
Bambino is a complete scam for parents.. the average sitter gets $10 an hour Bambino takes the rest and also charges daily tax of $2.99 +… they do not allow multiple books (for example if you need the sitter three days a week). The local administration shows preferences to their friends/family often instructing a sitter to cancel with you in efforts to accommodate their friends/family. They are not flexible with payment (example pay weekly) because they make a killing on the tax.. there is little to no consistency in sitters they will often expect you to introduce a stranger every time despite requesting a sitter your child is comfortable with… very unprofessional and not parent friendly!!! If you express concerns they retaliate and instruct sitters not to sit for you… beware parents
I think you need to revise your review.
I have babysat on Bambino for a long time. They have introduced the option for parents to tip and have the option for the parents to send multiple bookings at once. It is far more rewarding thank looking for jobs at care.com or urban sitters or nanno. I usually earn about 400 a week and that is only on weekends 🙂
How do you get families to reach out to you? Do you have to add the parents for them to see you?
Hey Jessica, you have a really cool name 😀
Parents do not need to add you to see you!
You just set up your profile, set your hourly rate and availability. Parents create requests for when they want a babysitter and enter a time and date and they are shown all the profiles of babysitters in their neighborhood. I receive a notification if a parent has chosen me. It shows how much I will earn based upon my hourly rate (which I can set in the app) and how long the gig is going to be. I can accept or deny the request. If I accept I am shown the parent’s address and I can chat with the parent if I have any questions. The app automatically begins tracking the time when the gig is about to start and I can end it whenever I want (I had many experiences where parents needed an hour long so I can modify the duration and the amount I get paid will change based upon that). After that, I directly get paid by the app automatically via Venmo (I think there is an option to get a direct deposit into your bank as well). I do not get charged anything. I get the hourly rate that I set(which I can change whenever I want) multiplied by the hours the gig was and the tip if the parent chooses to leave one. The parent can then write a recommendation on my profile and add me to their favorites if they like me. It took me a small amount of time to build my profile up. I think the app has an AI which sees how active I am in accepting requests and then markets me to parents if I am doing well. So I think the more you babysit on the app, the more exposure you get.
PS- sorry for the long response. I have too much time on my hands because of the pandemic 🙁
I hope you are staying healthy
Bambino is excellent for sitters. Care.com is the scam. They expect both babysitters and parents to pay and you can never find a job. I’ve been on bambino for almost a year now and it’s great! I’m lucky that a lot of parents in my area use the app. And parents can tip. I would know as I received a very generous one. Please update your article.
Hii so i was wondering how long does it usually take for you to get ur first booking i signed up about 2 days ago