I have been getting a few invites to sit from owners. How do they find my profile? 99% of them are not on my favorite list. I actually feel bad when I have to decline them. I always reply with a note. I’m wondering if this is common for everyone?
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Are they possibly sitters who live near you? Many times sitters are looking for sits close to home, or possibly where they will be doing other sits during the same time you are requesting help.
Thank you for acknowledging all those requests as it helps, but you also may want to look at those profiles to see if there is a possible opportunity for a future sit. If so, you can flag them to look at again.
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I just got one for a local sit - would have taken it, too if I weren’t already traveling for a sit those dates.
We get invites from time to time. Often it’s local and those we always decline because we only sit away from home. Our sits take a great deal of coordination of flights and car rental etc so invites rarely work for us, so we just politely decline and if the sit looks interesting, we favourite it and let them know we will watch for future dates that might work for us.
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Most of them are not local sits. I think most of them are owners who are having difficulty finding anyone. I am not complaining, as I am flattered. I am just curious how I was picked. I am quite sure they are most likely sending them to many people.
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i may also be that you have a stella profile and transmits confidence to them as being a great sitter. If this is the case very well done 
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I once got an invitation for a 2 month sit in Canada. I have to say I was quite surprised as I live in France.
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@Lost.In.Translation I can relate as I received an invitation from a homeowner for a one-month sit that lives in Washington, D.C. and I live in Florida. There was no personalized message accompanying the invite which made me wonder why the HO sent the invite. Perhaps the HO sent out a mass invitation to sitters hoping someone would “bite” on the invitation. If it is expected for sitters to send personalized messages when applying for sits, one would think the same would apply for HOs sending invites.
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I don’t like it when out 9f the blue a HO sends a sit invitation with no accompanying message. I find it rude and uncaring which is a red flag for me that results in a “decline invitation” straight back.
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Do remember from another thread that if the owner has written a personalised message but just clicks the dates they are inviting the sitter, the message is often not received. Owner needs to send the message separately and many do not realise this. The same can happen when a sitter is declining an invitation and leaves a message too, especially on the website, where there is no pop up message like on the app to say do you want to leave a message.
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Agreed. And some home owners are very new and not even aware of how to best do things.
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Thank you @Kelownagurl
Sometimes when we are familiar with a product or service we forget how we may have struggled in the beginning and if you think about it there are quite a number of pieces to put together, everything is “easy when you know how”.
For new members there are instructions via email, FAQ’s, videos, blogs, Aunty Angela, Membership Services and our wonderful forum community but even so getting It right can take practice.
How many of us have misunderstood the Ikea flat pack instructions only to find we have a panel on back to front and a few screws left over?
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Oh no, I didn’t know that decline messages might not appear. As a sitter I have had invitations which I have needed to decline, so I have written a message first and then declined the invitation. I hope my messages have been received otherwise that would come across as rude.
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@AllyMac If you’ve sent the message first then declined, owner should have received both.
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So if I click decline and then write a message, the HO may not receive the message sent?
They both have to be sent separately @Lake
I have quite a few of these. I believe they search close to the ir own location: almost all of the HOs who have invited me have lived in the same UK county which my profile is registered under.
Few of the HOs check my calendar first (which I keep up to date) and I also feel awful when I have to decline them.
Recently I have had quite a few HOs send me an invite to sit with absolutely no message, nothing apart from a link to their listing. Those, I decide against accepting straightaway as I would prefer to be invited because they want ME, rather than because I am ‘conveniently’ located nearby. As I sit alone I would feel compromised agreeing to something I know nothing about.
BTW I never ‘decline’ the invite, I send a short message asking them to tell me a little about themselves or to please check my calendar.
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@Lake I always write the message first, then check they have read it (usually they will read and in most cases reply back to me fairly quickly), and then I will click the decline button so I am certain they have received my message.
Hi- Good question!
I am new to THS and I recently got a few of these “invites” and when i clicked on their message it prompted me to apply to sit. There was no personalized message for me. I did not want to apply as the location or dates didn’t work for me. So I wasn’t sure how to decline either. Can someone clarify?