Terms of Service
These terms are an agreement between you and Nesti LLC ("nesti", "we", "us") covering your use of the nesti app, website and services. They apply whether you book pet care, provide it, or simply browse. If you do not agree with them, do not use nesti.
We have tried to write this plainly. Where a section matters especially — fees, cancellations, what our vet protection does and does not cover, and how disputes are handled — we have said so directly rather than burying it.
1. What nesti is
nesti is a marketplace. We connect pet parents with independent pet sitters who offer boarding, house sitting, drop-in visits, dog walking, day care and training. We provide the platform: search, profiles, verification, booking, messaging, live tracking and payments.
We do not provide pet care ourselves. Sitters are independent contractors, not nesti employees or agents. They set their own rates, decide which bookings to accept, and choose how they deliver care. We are not a party to the care agreement between a pet parent and a sitter.
2. Your account
You must be at least 18 and legally able to enter a contract. You may browse sitters without an account, but booking, messaging and saving favourites require one. One account per person; keep your details accurate and your login private, and tell us promptly if you think someone else has access to it.
At launch nesti operates in Massachusetts only. If you use it from outside our service area, some features will not work and we may decline to provide service.
3. Verification and background checks
Every sitter completes identity verification and a background check before they can accept a booking. Identity verification matches a government photo ID to a live selfie. The background check is run by a third-party consumer reporting agency and covers a national criminal-records search and the sex-offender registry. Sitters consent to it in writing under the Fair Credit Reporting Act, and receive a copy of any report that leads us to decline them.
The date each check was cleared appears on the sitter's public profile. We store the outcome and the date; the ID image and identifying numbers stay with the provider.
What a check cannot tell you. A clear background check is not a guarantee of anything. It reflects records available at the time it was run and does not predict future behaviour. Read reviews, meet the sitter first — a free meet and greet is available on every profile — and use your own judgement.
4. Bookings
A booking is formed when a sitter accepts your request and payment is authorised. Until then nothing is reserved. Sitters have four hours to respond, after which the request expires and no money moves.
You are responsible for giving the sitter what they need to care for your pet properly: feeding and medication schedules, behavioural issues, bite history, vet and emergency contacts, and any condition that affects their safety or your pet's. Withholding this is grounds for a sitter to cancel without penalty, and for us to suspend your account.
5. Prices and fees
Sitters set their own rates per service, and may add charges for puppies, additional pets or travel beyond their stated radius. Every charge is itemised before you confirm — there are no fees added afterwards.
| CHARGE | WHO PAYS | AMOUNT |
|---|---|---|
| Service fee | Pet parent | 9% of the booking subtotal |
| Platform fee | Sitter | 15% of the booking subtotal |
| Additional pet | Pet parent | Set by the sitter, per pet per unit |
| Travel fee | Pet parent | Set by the sitter, beyond their radius |
| Tips | Optional | Passed to the sitter in full, no fee |
Fees are exclusive of any applicable tax. We may change our fees, but never for a booking already confirmed, and we will tell you before a change takes effect.
6. Payments and payouts
Payments are processed by Stripe. We do not store your full card details. When you confirm a booking we authorise the full amount and hold it; the sitter is paid after the care is complete. This protects both sides — you are not paying in advance for care that has not happened, and the sitter is not chasing an invoice.
Sitters choose a payout schedule in the app — weekly or monthly — and are paid by direct deposit for bookings completed in the preceding period, less the platform fee. Tips pass through in full. Sitters are responsible for their own taxes; we issue the tax forms required by law and provide an earnings record in the app.
7. Cancellations and refunds
Plans change. These windows are measured from the booking's start time, and apply unless the sitter has published a stricter or more generous policy on their profile.
| WHEN | IF THE PET PARENT CANCELS |
|---|---|
| More than 7 days before | Full refund, including the service fee |
| 2 to 7 days before | Full refund of the care, service fee retained |
| Within 48 hours | 50% of the first night or visit is paid to the sitter |
| After it has started | Completed nights or visits are paid; the rest is refunded |
If a sitter cancels. You are refunded in full, including the service fee, and we will help you find a replacement for the same dates. Sitters who cancel confirmed bookings late or repeatedly may lose their listing.
No-shows and emergencies. If a sitter does not arrive, contact support and you will be refunded in full. Where a booking cannot go ahead for reasons outside anyone's control — serious illness, injury to the pet, a natural disaster, a death in the family — we will waive the cancellation charge on request and evidence.
8. Vet protection
Every booking made and paid for through nesti includes up to $5,000 towards emergency veterinary treatment for an injury or illness that arises during the sitter's care, and access to a 24-hour line staffed by veterinary nurses.
To claim, tell us within 72 hours of the booking ending and provide the invoice and the treating vet's notes. We may ask for your pet's recent medical history.
It does not cover pre-existing or chronic conditions, routine or preventative care, anything arising from a condition you did not disclose, breeding or pregnancy, behavioural treatment, or care arranged outside nesti. It is not pet insurance and it is not a substitute for it.
9. Photos, messages and location
Sitters send photos and notes during a booking, and share a live map while walking. Location is shared only for the duration of an active service, only with the pet parent on that booking, and stops when the sitter checks out. Route maps are kept for 90 days so you can look back at a walk, then deleted.
Messages sent through nesti are stored so support can help with a dispute. Keep your conversations to the booking; do not use them to arrange payment or care off the platform.
10. Conduct
Both sides agree to behave decently: turn up when you said you would, communicate honestly, respect people's homes and their pets. Harassment, threats, and discrimination on the basis of race, religion, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, disability, age or national origin are not tolerated, and result in permanent removal.
You may not misrepresent who you are, create multiple accounts, manipulate reviews, scrape the platform, or interfere with how it works.
Taking bookings off-platform. Moving a booking off nesti to avoid fees removes every protection that comes with it — verified payment, vet cover, support and dispute resolution — and is grounds for removing both accounts.
11. Reviews and content
You keep ownership of the photos, reviews and profile content you post, and grant us a licence to display and promote it in connection with nesti. Reviews must describe a real booking and your own honest experience. We do not remove a review for being unflattering; we do remove content that is false, defamatory, discriminatory, or that reveals someone's private information.
12. Privacy
Our Privacy Policy explains what we collect and why. In short: we collect what a booking needs and what the law requires, we do not sell personal data, exact addresses are shared only once a booking is confirmed, and you can request a copy of your data or its deletion from the app at any time.
13. Suspension and removal
We may suspend or close an account that breaks these terms, that we believe puts a pet or a person at risk, or that is being used fraudulently. Where we can, we will tell you why and give you a chance to respond; where there is an immediate safety risk, we will act first. You may close your account at any time — any confirmed bookings still stand, and outstanding payouts are still paid.
14. Liability
nesti provides the platform. We do not control how care is delivered and we are not liable for the acts or omissions of sitters or pet parents. To the fullest extent the law allows, our total liability arising out of your use of nesti is limited to the greater of the fees you paid us in the twelve months before the claim, or $500 — except for the vet protection described in section 8, and except where liability cannot lawfully be limited.
We do not exclude liability for death or personal injury caused by our negligence, for fraud, or for anything else that cannot be excluded under law. The platform is provided as it is; we do not warrant that it will be uninterrupted or error-free.
15. Disputes
Start with support. Most disputes about a booking — a refund, a no-show, damage, a disagreement about what was agreed — are resolved by our team within a few days, and we would rather sort it out than argue about it.
If we cannot resolve it, these terms are governed by the laws of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Any claim will be brought in the state or federal courts sitting in Suffolk County, Massachusetts, and both sides consent to that jurisdiction. Nothing here prevents either of us from seeking relief in small claims court.
16. Changes to these terms
We will update these terms as the product changes. If a change materially affects your rights we will give you at least 30 days' notice in the app and by email, and it will not apply retroactively to bookings already confirmed. Continuing to use nesti after a change takes effect means you accept it.
17. Contact
Nesti LLC. Support is available through the app seven days a week, and by email at hello@nestipetcare.com. Legal notices should be sent to legal@nestipetcare.com.