Yup. The concept was easy to grasp for me. I’d also heard about CouchSurfing many years before. I wanted to sign up, but my husband didn’t want strangers at home, so I respected that.
Things are starting to fall into place, here.
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I’d like to take a look at sites where one is hired to house/pet sit (and therefore gets paid), just out of curiosity.
Google will surely be your friend
Hilarious.
Unfortunately that’s the deliberately misconstrued version you’re repeating so….
Is there any point to this response? Or are you just prodding?
Sorry, didn’t intend to be obscure. If you are a paid house sitter, that explains why you think we’re all being bamboozled by THS marketing.
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No I’m not insulting anyone.
Edited post to meet our Community Guidelines.
Just a quick reminder about our Community Guidelines around kindness and respect. It’s important to remember that members will have different views and opinions but these should be discussed respectfully.
Thank you.
Does it though?
Maybe I could claim I see it from both sides - paid and unpaid - hence I’m uniquely positioned to comment on this issue. But I wouldn’t want to come across as condescending.
And thank you again for telling me what I’m thinking…. Things are all starting to fall into place now.
I totally think you can see it from both sides, paid and unpaid. I certainly can’t. People here are choosing to do it unpaid, and if you want to argue they could get paid, it’s fine. I don’t personally want to be anyone’s temporary employee.
As someone who is actually tracking their savings…both accommodation we would have stayed in for the location AND equivalent accommodation, we are well in excess of 300K for the latter (over 100k for what we’d choose if paying) I still prefer the term ‘no cost’ rather than free. In every one of our 75+ sits worldwide its been a mutual exchange or I felt we did very well out of the arrangement. I wouldn’t dream of charging. That just taints the arrangement and adds too many complications.
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Well I’ve paid for a subscription - so as a paying customer I’m kinda entitled to give my feedback on what works and what doesn’t. And I will continue to pay for a subscription so long as see benefit in having access to the occasional select sits that interest me!
I mean seriously this platform is actually heavily dependent on a review system.
Edited to meet Community Rules.
Are you seeing that as a downside? I feel like it’s an upside. I read reviews extremely carefully, to the point I’m reading between the lines.
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That is not so easy to combine with travel.
The sites where sitters, dogwalkers etc get paid usually work by HOs contacting locals. (Some HOs try that method here believing they get access to free sitters that way.)
Yeah, that’s what I kind of thought…that most paid housesitting was by locals?
A downside? Now why would I see it as downside?
The point I’m making is that faith in this platform is pretty much dependent on users freely sharing their experiences and opinions.
So why wouldn’t that translate into this forum I wonder.
There seems to be quite a few people in here that don’t seem to like opinions being expressed that don’t fit the picture they’ve painted themselves of this platform.
That’s not my experience.
@LiamSits, I honestly don’t think this is the case. I don’t think we have problems with people expressing their opinions even if we disagree. But I do think that sometimes the tone is too belligerent, patronizing or judgmental. We all can express our views in a way that doesn’t diminish others or make them feel they are not bright enough to understand subtle nuances.
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Wow. You’re point of view is not attached to reality.
If I am an employee at a job, I have to show up long term (years maybe, unless I quit or am fired) to do a task. In some cases, a complex task requiring degrees and certifications.
THS is a house-sitting forum, you don’t need a degree or any verified credentials. Therefore it’s an EXCHANGE not a paid service.
If you were paid for pet sitting in the past, feel free to continue to do so.
But THS is not a paid platform. An employer-employee relationship is paid.
THS - not paid. Employer - paid.
If you were suckered into sits where you paid utilities, that is your own (questionable) choice. I would have said no thank you but that is me.
Not sure why that is so complicated but it’s the truth.