Last updated: September 25, 2026
This page explains how money moves on Mraav, in plain language. It is the companion to the payment sections of our Terms of Service, which is the governing document if the two ever differ.
Mraav is operated by Nine Labs LLC; references to "Mraav," "we," or "us" on this page mean Nine Labs LLC. Payments are processed by Stripe. When you book a Sitter, your card is charged at the time you submit the request, and the funds are held by Mraav until the visits are complete.
Mraav's service fee is built into the price you see when you book, so no further amount is added at checkout. It is made up of Mraav's 25% platform fee, which covers support and running the platform, and the cost of card processing. The Sitter's listed rate is what they take home, and the price you pay is that rate with the service fee built in.
The price in your Booking is the entire amount you owe for that care. A Sitter may not ask you for any further payment, in any form. That includes:
If the work genuinely changes, the way for a Sitter to be paid for it is to agree a change to the Booking, which reprices it through the platform and keeps you both covered. The only amounts you ever owe beyond the Booking price are a tip you choose to send, the cost of veterinary care you have authorized, and the cost of alternative care if a cat is left without it.
Asking for money outside Mraav is a serious breach of our Terms. We may remove a listing, withhold a payout, and suspend or close the account. If you are asked to pay anything outside Mraav, you are under no obligation to pay it, and we would ask you to report it to hello@mraav.com.
Each Sitter chooses one of four cancellation policies, shown on their profile and again at checkout. If you cancel a Booking, your refund depends on that policy and how far in advance you cancel. The part that is not refunded goes to your Sitter for holding the dates.
Three cases give you a full refund whatever policy your Sitter set:
Ultra-flexible
Flexible
Moderate
Strict
The payment processing fee (a small fixed amount per transaction) is not refundable. Cancel through Mraav: the date of cancellation is the date it is recorded here.
If a Sitter declines your request or cancels a confirmed Booking, you receive a 100% refund regardless of the cancellation policy. The policy only applies to cancellations you initiate. A Sitter who repeatedly cancels accepted Bookings without justification may have their account closed.
Occasionally a Booking goes wrong in a way that neither side's rules cover. Where a Cat Parent and a Sitter are in a dispute we cannot resolve, or where we believe a Booking should not go ahead for the safety of a cat or a person, Mraav may cancel it. We may do that before a sit begins or partway through one, and we will tell both of you as soon as we have.
A cancellation by Mraav is its own category. It is not a cancellation by the Cat Parent and it is not one by the Sitter, so neither the Sitter's policy nor the automatic full refund for Sitter cancellations applies to it.
What happens to the money. The amount already collected is held: it is neither refunded nor paid out automatically. We then decide how it is allocated between you, on the facts of the case, and we tell you both what we decided and why. The things we weigh include how much of the care was actually delivered, what each of you did to resolve the problem before it reached us, whether either of you caused the cancellation or made it unavoidable, whether a Sitter withdrew for a genuine safety reason, and the record here on Mraav. The money may go entirely to one of you, entirely to the other, or be split.
Because this is a judgement about who was in the right, there is deliberately no fixed formula, and we do not promise one in advance. What we do promise is to decide it on the facts, and to tell you the outcome and the reasons for it. Section 9.14 of the Terms sets this out in full.
One thing worth saying plainly to Sitters: guidance from us about what would happen under a different set of facts, such as what you would receive if a Cat Parent chose to cancel, describes that situation and no other. It is not a promise about a Booking that ends some other way, including one we cancel ourselves.
Every Booking made and paid through Mraav is backed by the Mraav Pledge: if your cat is injured or your home is accidentally damaged because of a Sitter's verified negligence, Mraav will reimburse eligible costs up to $5,000 per Booking.
The Pledge is secondary coverage. It applies only to eligible amounts not covered by other available insurance, including the Sitter's own insurance, your pet insurance, and any homeowner's or renter's policy. You file with those first, and the Pledge covers the eligible remainder. A $500 deductible applies per incident and is the Sitter's responsibility.
To be eligible: the Booking must be made and paid through Mraav, the meet & greet must be completed, your cat's profile and vet contact must be complete, and the incident must be reported within 48 hours of the last visit.
Not covered: pre-existing conditions, sudden or natural illness, the cat's own behavior, theft, injuries to Sitters, and any Booking involving an outdoor or indoor-outdoor cat.
The Mraav Pledge is a voluntary, discretionary program that Mraav funds itself. It is not an insurance policy and not an admission of liability, and it does not modify or expand the limits in our Terms of Service. Sitters are independent service providers responsible for their own insurance; Mraav does not insure Sitters or cover injuries to them.
After your visits are done, you can leave your Sitter a tip from your bookings page. Tips are optional, go 100% to your Sitter, and Mraav takes no service fee on them.
Sitters receive their full listed price, plus any tips, through Stripe, paid out to the bank account they connect during setup. Mraav's service fee, including card processing, is included in the price the Cat Parent pays and is never deducted from the Sitter's earnings. Payouts are released about 24 hours after the last visit day and then transferred on a rolling schedule. Sitters who connect an eligible debit card can also cash out an available balance instantly for a fee, shown before they confirm; standard bank payouts are free. Sitters can view their balance and payout history in their Mraav dashboard.
We may hold a payout where there is a reasonable suspicion of fraud involving the account, or where it is necessary to protect Mraav, our users, or someone else's rights.
Sitters are independent service providers, not employees of Mraav, and are responsible for their own taxes on the income they earn. Stripe handles tax reporting for payouts: if you meet the IRS reporting thresholds in a calendar year, Stripe will issue you a 1099 form directly, by mail or electronically. Keep your contact and tax details up to date in your payout settings so the form reaches you. Mraav cannot give tax advice; please consult a tax professional about your situation.
A dispute is a disagreement between a Cat Parent and a Sitter about a Booking that the two of you have not been able to settle between yourselves. Care that was not delivered or not delivered as agreed, a cat that was harmed or a home that was damaged, a home or cat that turned out to be materially different from how it was described, or one of you refusing to continue the sit. A question about a charge or a refund that the cancellation policy already answers is not a dispute on its own.
Raise it with us at hello@mraav.com, and raise it promptly. Timing matters: a Sitter's earnings are released about 24 hours after the last visit day, and once the money has moved, what we can do about it narrows sharply.
We will read the Booking, the message thread, and the visit updates, and ask each of you what happened. Where the facts warrant it, we can cancel the Booking, issue a full or partial refund, hold a payout, or allocate a held payment under Section 6. We decide on the record as it exists here on Mraav, which is a good reason to keep the conversation and the arrangements on the platform. We are not a court, and once a Sitter's earnings have been released, a continuing disagreement about them is between the two of you.
Chargebacks. Come to us before disputing a charge with your card issuer. A chargeback filed instead of a conversation freezes the Booking's funds with our payment processor, takes several weeks, and produces an outcome neither of us controls. We may suspend an account or hold funds while one is outstanding. Chargebacks are ultimately resolved by the payment processor and your card issuer, not by us.
Questions about payments or refunds can go to hello@mraav.com.