@Pets4me Could you please share with us the list of questions you compiled? Thank you
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This morning, on my desk top computer, I searched for a sit in a specific city in California. I was faced with 339 sits to look through before it zeroed in on a couple of listings in the specific city. The curious thing about this is that a “new” listing for said specific city is appearing only on the THS App and only on my Android phone. I’m wondering why there’s a difference between the 2 platforms?
@lmhale Thank you for asking about this one. I know that you are replying to snowbird but just to help you in the meantime.
With the city that you were looking at, if you were on the website version you are able to select ‘sort by’ and then filter by ‘distance’ and this will show you the closest ones to that location first.
The listing that is appearing on the app but not on the website, just to check have you got the ‘new’ filter selected on the website? Please feel free to DM the listing link and I will have a look at it, as when the listing has new dates it should appear on both the app and the website as a new listing.
You are right the app and website do have some unaligned functionalities and the product team is aiming to align these.
Anymore questions just let me know 
Thank you, Carla. I was just now able to get the ‘sort by’ and ‘distance’ features to work on the website version. That’s very helpful. However, on my Android phone/App version, there is no ‘distance’ filter offered (that I can see).
Hi @lmhale Carla is offline until later tomorrow but she will get back to you when she returns.
Hello, @lmhale Yes, good spot, this function is only available on the website at the moment as it was a recent update and the product team is looking to align this with the App in the future. Using the web version for larger cities and selecting the distance is probably more helpful at the moment and with the App, all new listings appear first as default.
Thank you, Carla.
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FYI: I just did a search for sits in my own (big) city, and entered the “distance” function. I still got listings in the suburbs on the first page. Those listings listed “Philadelphia” as their location even though they are not in the city.
@GardenCat Thank you for the feedback, I just had a look at Philadelphia and sorted by distance. I am not sure (my Geography of Philadelphia- sorry) if they live in the suburbs of Philadelphia they have the option to put another location unless the suburbs have a sub-division name they can use? Also maybe the owners choose Philadelphia so it is a recognisable location as people might not search a suburban area? Just my thoughts…
It might help in that case to do the search and filter by distance but also use the map to see the ones that are right in the city centre of Philadelphia.
The by-distance filter should still pick up the one closest to the city centre first, if they are not please let Membership Services know and they can look into it further for you. At support@trustedhousesitters.com
I hope that helps get some great Philly sits!
Thank you, Carla. Yes, the suburban towns have names, post offices and they can be identified as such. Either the HO is intentionally misleading to get sitters who want to stay in the city, or they’re confused by the wording of the form. In the location description, the HO will often say “we live 45 minutes drive from downtown Philadelphia” etc, and will mention the name of the town they live in.
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Hi @GardenCat , I just took a look at the Phila. sits by distance. The first 27 are all in Phila. except for two, one in NJ, 20 min from center city so actually a great location for exploring Philly, and the other says it’s in the suburbs but seems a bit of a drive from the city. Other sits after those are in the suburbs but Glenside, Ambler and Wayne are all places I might choose if I wanted to go to Philly. The sits after those are getting a little further away – in NJ and DE. Surprisingly, there are two in Maryland at the end. That’s a bit of a stretch.
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Interesting. I did the same search again: for Philadelphia and searched by distance. The 11th sit (on the first page) is not in Philadelphia, it’s in Merchantville. Not far outside the city, but you’d need a car to get to Philly. There’s a difference from staying in a city - to staying outside the city. Sure, there are advantages to the suburbs as well, but for those looking for a city sit…
The map location is too broad. For example, Austin shows every location as downtown Austin when they could be 40 mins away in South Austin. Please find a way to narrow down the location into sections of the city or by landmark.
Hello @Geek and a very warm welcome to the Community Forum and it’s lovely to see you joining in with this thread 
For reference, as a member, you can also add your TrustedHousesitters profile on to your Forum profile by following the attached link, should you wish. This will then enable others to offer you helpful advice and feedback.
If you are unsure how to do this, or if you have any questions at all, do not hesitate to ask, we are all more than happy to help.
Also, remember you can use the spyglass symbol at the top of the page next to the TrustedHousesitters logo and search for any questions that you may have as they have most likely already been answered on here and of course if not then please just ask! 
I agree with you. I have seen a listing that is Henley-on-Thames and it is listed as London. I guess in some ways London is the nearest city, depending on how you define the word “city” . It takes takes 1h 11mins to get to London Paddington (ie by train) so it is not too far away, but it is not exactly a London location 
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@cat.tails Yes, that is ridiculous! At least you can now sort by distance, at least on the web version (not the app). You can search “London” and then sort by “distance,” and the THS computer knows the actual location of each home, so it can sort by distance even if the Owner is trying to pull the wool over our eyes. I want to KNOW where a home is before I apply. Sometimes I will “apply” just to ask the Owner to clarify the location. Sorry that takes up one of the 5 application spots. Be more clear in your listing, and be more honest with your location pin, and we would not need to do that!
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I am new to THS but in my view, the lack of specific location makes it unusable. I am looking for two sits, both with very specific locations - one in the UK and one for when I visit my kids in Australia. for the UK, I searched for ‘Hertford’ and I’m being shown sits from Cambridge to South of London. For my Australian trip, some sits just say ‘Melbourne’, which is an area of 80km north to south. Another named the suburb closest to my son, but when I read the details, it is an hour’s drive away. I will not have a car when I’m there so location is super important.
Does anyone have any tips? I am very disillusioned with the platform and thinking of asking for a refund as it’s just not practical to use.
@CarolB if you search on the desktop version not the app you can sort by distance .
So the closest to your searched location will come up at the top of the list.
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I hear your frustration, it would be awesome if you could narrow down the search function to a certain number of miles, yes I too regularly scrolling through pages and pages, bringing up google maps because it’s a place i’ve never heard of and more of then that not, it’s nowhere near where I am actually looking.
Also the THS letting HO set up places as Regional or City, I understand for example central London (mind you there are hardly any sits in Central London, yet every time I am in there, there are Dogs being walked everywhere? anyways)
Hopefully THS website/app developers will put these upgrade in as I am sure when a HO searches a city/region for a local sitter if for example in the USA or Australia it could be a 5hr drive away.
Happy sitting.
@CarolB I agree with @Silversitters about using your computer (not the app) and search Hertford and then sort by Distance. That can be very helpful. You can also search Hertford and then go into the map of results and zoom in and out to see which homes are in or near Hertford. That can be helpful, too, but again, you are at the mercy of where people say they live, which might be different from where they actually live! 
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