What you pay, and when

The parts of a quote

Base price

Set per service. It covers a stated amount of time or quantity — 17 of our 26 services are priced by time booked, and 9 are a flat price for the visit.

Time beyond what's included

Charged in whole blocks, not by the minute. A job that runs a minute into a block is charged for that block, because a helper's time is booked rather than metered.

Quantity or crew

Only where the service has them: extra dogs, extra parcels, extra helpers. Each is a stated amount per unit, shown on the service's own page.

Service fee of $4.50

Flat, once per booking, whatever the job costs. We chose a flat fee over a percentage so a small errand is not penalised against a large booking.

Tip

Optional, decided after the job is done, and never added for you. Presets are offered but none is pre-selected, choosing an amount and sending it are separate taps, and 100% of a tip goes to the helper.

Distance

Nothing. Distance does not change the price, there is no surge pricing, and there is no peak-hour or holiday markup.

Which currency you are charged in

The number is the same in both areas; the currency is the one your booking is in. A base price of 25 means CA$25 on a Vancouver booking and US$25 on a San Diego one — we do not convert between them, so the figure you see is the figure charged.

• Vancouver, BCCharged in CA$ (Canadian dollars). What we cover there
• San Diego, CACharged in US$ (US dollars). What we cover there

Four real examples

Generated from the same pricing rules that quote your booking, so these cannot drift from what you are actually charged.

When money actually moves

1. You review the quote. Nothing is charged, and nothing has gone to a helper yet. Browsing and quoting cost nothing and need no card.
2. A helper accepts. Your card is authorised for the total — held, not charged. Your bank may ask you to confirm it; if so, the booking will tell you.
3. The job is marked complete. The authorisation is captured. This is the point at which you are charged.
4. If the booking is cancelled before that, we release the card hold. Your bank may continue to show it as pending for a short time — that is the hold clearing, not a charge. Nothing has been taken.
5. Releasing a hold is not a refund. A hold that was never captured is released and the money never leaves your account. A payment already captured — a completed job — is refunded instead, which does appear on your statement and takes several days to clear.
6. A tip is a separate charge, made after completion if you choose to add one, and it is final once sent.

What the fee pays for

Helpers keep 80% of the service price and 100% of any tip. Helpward keeps 20% of the service price and the flat $4.50 fee, which funds support, payment processing and building the platform. There are no subscriptions, no setup fees and no membership tiers.