Getting Work

What Mad Paws actually costs pet sitters and dog walkers in Australia

Mad Paws is the dominant pet care platform in Australia. It is also taking a significant percentage of every booking you complete. Here is the honest breakdown of what that costs — and what Australian pet carers are doing instead.

Mad Paws charges approximately 15% on every completed booking, deducted from the provider's side. A pet sitter completing 10 overnight stays per month at $60 per night loses around $900 per year to the platform at that rate alone.

How Mad Paws makes money

Mad Paws operates a marketplace model — it connects pet owners with local pet sitters, dog walkers, and boarders, then charges a service fee on each completed booking. The fee is deducted from the provider's payment after the booking is marked complete. Providers set their own rates, but the platform takes its cut from every transaction before the money reaches the carer.

The platform also charges a booking fee to pet owners, so both sides of the transaction are being charged. For the pet carer, this creates a structural problem: you need to price high enough to cover the commission and still be competitive against other carers on the same platform who are doing the same calculation.

What the commission costs at different income levels

At approximately 15% commission, a pet sitter earning $20,000 per year through Mad Paws loses $3,000 annually to the platform. At $40,000 that becomes $6,000. At $60,000 it is $9,000 per year — every year, as long as you use the platform. These are not one-off costs. They compound indefinitely.

The alternative: listing on a no-commission platform

CoYoTrade lists pet care services — pet sitting, dog walking, pet boarding, grooming, and more — with zero commission on every booking. Providers pay a flat monthly membership starting at $49 per month for Pro and keep 100% of every job. At $40,000 in annual pet care work, the saving compared to 15% commission is over $5,400 per year. Here is how the no-commission model works for Australian service providers.

Building a direct client base

The most effective long-term strategy for pet carers is to build a client base that is not dependent on any single platform. A Google Business Profile, reviews from satisfied clients, a listing on CoYoTrade, and word-of-mouth from happy pet owners creates a pipeline that does not cost 15% of every booking. Here is the full guide to finding pet care clients without Mad Paws.