Sitter Agreement

This agreement is between you and Nesti LLC ("nesti", "we", "us"). It sets out the terms on which you offer pet care services through the nesti platform. It sits alongside our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy; where this agreement and the Terms of Service conflict on a sitter-specific matter, this agreement governs.

Read section 2 closely. You are an independent contractor running your own business, not a nesti employee — that is the arrangement you are agreeing to, and it determines your taxes, your schedule and your control over how you work.

1. Becoming a sitter

To offer services you must be at least 18, legally able to work in the United States, and able to enter a binding contract. You must complete identity verification and pass a background check before your profile becomes visible to pet parents.

Everything on your profile — photos, experience, certifications, the services you offer and the pets you accept — must be true and about you. You may not list on behalf of someone else, share an account, or transfer your profile.

2. You are an independent contractor

Nothing here creates an employment, partnership, joint-venture or agency relationship. You are an independent contractor operating your own pet care business, and the care agreement for any booking is between you and the pet parent. nesti is not a party to it.

In practice that means:

You are responsible for your own taxes, and for any licences, permits or registrations your municipality requires. We do not withhold income tax, and no employment benefits — minimum wage, overtime, unemployment, workers' compensation — arise from this agreement.

3. Verification and background checks

You consent to identity verification and a criminal and sex-offender-registry background check, run by a third-party screening provider at our expense. You authorise us to receive the result. The check is run once during onboarding; we may re-run it if we receive a credible report about your conduct.

Convictions for violent offences, animal cruelty, theft from a home, or any listing on the sex-offender registry will disqualify you. If a check does not clear, you may dispute the underlying record with the screening provider directly. You must tell us within seven days if you are charged with or convicted of any offence in these categories while active on nesti.

4. How you are expected to work

These are the standards every sitter agrees to. They exist to keep pets safe, not to direct how you run your business.

• Deliver the service you accepted, at the times agreed, for the pets named on the booking.
• Check in and check out in the app for every visit, and send the photo and note updates the booking includes.
• Follow the pet parent's written instructions on feeding, medication and routine. If an instruction seems unsafe, raise it in messages before proceeding.
• Never leave a pet unattended longer than the booking contemplates, never transport a pet unrestrained, and never leave a pet in a parked vehicle.
• Do not subcontract or hand a booking to anyone else. If you cannot cover it, cancel in the app so we can find a replacement.
• Use the pet parent's home only for the agreed care. Do not bring guests, and do not enter rooms or use property beyond what the care requires.
• Keep addresses, entry codes and household details confidential, and do not photograph the interior of a home beyond what a pet update needs.
• In an emergency, seek veterinary care immediately, then contact the pet parent and nesti. Emergency treatment does not need prior approval.

5. Bookings and cancellations

Booking requests arrive with the full brief and your payout. You may accept or decline; declining does not affect your standing, though your response time is shown on your profile. Accepting forms a care agreement with the pet parent.

Once you accept, treat it as committed. If you must cancel, do so in the app as early as you can — repeated late cancellations, and cancellations inside 24 hours without cause, may lead to reduced visibility in search or removal from the platform. Cancellations for illness, emergency or a pet that turns out to be unsafe to handle are not held against you.

6. Fees and payment

nesti charges a 15% service fee on the booking total, deducted before payout. There is no fee to join, no listing fee and no charge for declining work. We will give at least 30 days' notice before changing the fee, and any change applies only to bookings accepted afterwards.

Payouts go through our payments processor to the bank account you provide, on the schedule you choose — weekly or monthly. Tips are passed to you in full with no fee deducted.

You may not solicit or accept payment outside the platform for work that originated on nesti. Doing so removes the pet parent's protection and yours, and is grounds for removal.

7. Taxes

You are responsible for reporting and paying all taxes on your nesti earnings. We collect a W-9 and issue a 1099-NEC where thresholds require it, available in the app alongside your annual summary and payout history. Nothing is withheld from your payouts — set aside accordingly. nesti does not give tax advice.

8. Insurance and liability

nesti provides limited protection on eligible bookings, described in the Terms of Service. It is not your insurance. It does not cover your own injury, your own property, your vehicle, or liability to third parties, and it does not apply to work arranged outside the platform.

You are responsible for carrying whatever insurance your circumstances require, and for any damage or injury caused by your negligence. You agree to indemnify nesti against claims arising from your services, your breach of this agreement, or your misclassification of the relationship described in section 2.

9. Your profile and reviews

You own your content and grant nesti a non-exclusive, royalty-free licence to display it on the platform and in marketing. Pet parents may review you after a completed booking; reviews are published as written and we remove only those that break our content rules. You may respond publicly once to any review. Soliciting or offering anything in exchange for a review is prohibited.

10. Suspension and termination

You may stop sitting at any time and close your account, subject to completing bookings you have already accepted. We may suspend or remove you for breach of this agreement, a failed or lapsed verification, repeated cancellations, credible safety concerns, or fraud.

Where a suspension is not for an urgent safety reason, we will tell you why and give you a chance to respond. Payouts already earned are still paid. Sections 2, 7, 8, 9 and 11 survive termination.

11. Disputes

Raise any dispute with us first — most are resolved in support within a few days. If it cannot be settled informally, this agreement is governed by the laws of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, and claims are brought in the state or federal courts of Suffolk County, Massachusetts. Nothing here prevents you from bringing a claim before a government agency where the law gives you that right.

12. Changes to this agreement

We will give at least 30 days' notice by email and in the app before a material change takes effect. Continuing to accept bookings afterwards means you accept the revised terms; if you do not, you may close your account without penalty.

13. Acceptance

By completing sitter onboarding and accepting your first booking, you confirm that you have read this agreement, that you meet its requirements, and that you are entering it as an independent contractor.