Urban Sitter

Urban Sitter Review:

Urban Sitter allows freelancers to post a profile and advertise caregiving services to potential clients. Although launched as a babysitting site, Urban Sitter has since expanded to elder care, pet care and other household services.

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How it works

Freelancers sign up and list their availability and the types of care they’re willing to provide. To get access to available jobs, sitters need to pay $35 annually and sign up for a background check. Families also pay a membership fee to find caregivers at this site.

Theoretically, the site doesn’t have specific requirements for care providers, but sitters say they’re picky about those who post profiles. The site requires background checks and clear photographs of all freelancers.

Getting hired

Once you’ve paid your fees and booked your background check, your profile is posted on the site and can be viewed by hiring families. There are no additional fees to pay when you get work. Families can pay you in cash, or via credit card through the site.

If they pay by credit card, you’ll get paid via direct deposit within a few days.

Regular reviews

Though reviews of this site are overwhelmingly positive, a number of sitters have complained about getting booted for what they believe were minor infractions. The site does have the right to remove sitters for any reason. And, given that parents pay for the service because they imagine they’ll get better-quality help, Urban Sitter has every incentive to be cautious.

The site says it regularly reviews sitters to make sure they continue to meet the site’s requirements. Profiles can be hidden or removed at any time.

Recommendations

This site is well-established and appears effective at connecting workers with work. Given that, we don’t see the $35 annual membership as being a negative. That said, the site works almost identically to Care, which is a bit more established. And Care is considerably more established as a site for senior care. So, if that’s the service you’re offering, we’d suggest you sign up there. (You can sign up for Care here.)

If you provide only occasional caregiving services, you might prefer to sign up with Bambino, or SitterCity.

What their users say: (From Glassdoor and Indeed)

Easy to contact families and self scheduling. But it’s hard to get started if you don’t already have reviews on platform. Job listings are sometimes expired by the time you get a notification for a new job listing and apply.

Being a college student , time is valuable. I was able to find lots of great gigs, timing was flexible and being able to make your own schedule is amazing. Sometimes it takes a few tries to get booked. Also there are times when people cancel on you last minute. I think there should be a fee for if its less than an hours notice.

I love working for UrbanSitter. Very competitive, Great Families and good pay. I have been working as a caregiver for over 10 years and absolutely love what I do.

You are basically self-employed. Really easy to create your own schedule. The local managers are really nice and helpful! They also put on local events for sitters to network and find new opportunities.

Self employed

I was able to create hours that accommodated my schedule and occasionally was able to negotiate pay. The hardest part of the job is it’s just you and the kids. No adult interaction.

I love being able to login and select which jobs I want and when, since I have a regular job Mon through Fri. So can only work as a babysitter on the weekends for extra cash.