I recently came across an unusual sit in a location that really interested me (no further description in the interests of PP privacy).
However, the PP (who has both sitter and PP profiles) was really muddled in their sitter advert. Most of it reflected what they wanted in a sit for themselves and included details about their own pet that would be traveling with them due to anxiety issues. The last paragraph said they’d never used a pet sitter before but were keen to try it out and did include some info about the pet.
Because I was interested, I messaged asking for clarification (trying to politely say that the advert was awkward and confusing!). They came back apologizing, saying they’d fix it (took about four days to do so and it’s still a muddle), and they offered a time for a video chat.
The chat happened but only after them changing the time at the last minute.
They seemed nice and indicated that they’d like me to let them know by the end of the week if I wanted to sit for them, but they have failed to follow up with the info they promised related to the unusual nature of the sit.
I’ve withdrawn my application because it seemed to me that if they were this busy and disorganized two months out from the sit, it would only get worse later… I had a previous experience where my interest in a sit overcame my hesitation at the PP’s state of rush and disorganization - it didn’t end well!
I feel both sad to be missing out on an interesting new experience, and relieved that I might have dodged a bullet. 
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I look for such signals in listings, and in how quickly hosts reply and organize chats. It’s usually apparent from those alone whether someone has their act together, so I don’t waste time with iffy hosts.
One key thing that helps me: I don’t get over invested in sits from the outset. Like I read the entire review without having looked at anything but the first photo. That’s because humans are easily swayed by images. For me, if I read the entire listing first and don’t see iffy signals or red flags, then I look at their reviews. Only if those all check out do I bother looking at the rest of the photos.
To me, I’d rather risk false negatives than false positives with sits. That’s because I don’t want to get stuck with crummy sits.
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Well done @Elleann for listening to your gut instincts. I fully agree. A small amount of disorganization might be tolerated because people are busy and have lives. But several discrepancies and confusions over a short period is just too hectic for my liking. We have a lot of things to organise from our side as sitters too, so we need the other side (HO’s) to be clear and concise to enable us to make decisions and arrange things.
Not necessarily. Especially if they are flying or have very fixed dates, it does not matter so much for the sit.
But yeah, when they are driving or travelling by train, anything could happen when the HO lives like this.
@Elleann good call and I get your disappointment.
We all have things going on in our lives and juggling priorities.
My feeling is that once there is involvement in a listing, each party needs to prioritize that process, settle/confirm and then move on til the sit draws near.
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