From application to your first paying customer.

Fill in the application at /groomer/apply. Takes about ten minutes. You need your SA ID, proof of address (a utility bill or bank statement from the last three months), and either a CIPC certificate (if you trade as a CC or Pty Ltd) or nothing extra (if you’re a sole proprietor). Three customer references — names and phone numbers we can check.

You can save and resume the form mid-way. We don’t charge anything for the application.

Our verification team reviews every application within 24–48 hours. We check that your documents are real, your references vouch for you, and that you’re actually operating in the region you said.

If something’s off, we tell you exactly what we need before approving. If you’re a real working groomer, you’ll be approved.

The moment you’re approved, we drop a welcome unlock onto your account. Pick any lead in your area — 3-, 5-, or 8-slot, doesn’t matter — and unlock it free. No card on file. No commitment.

When a pet owner submits a booking through Mobile Pet Groomers, they pick how many groomers can ever see it — three, five, or eight. Their booking is matched to groomers who serve their suburb. You get notified by email immediately (WhatsApp + SMS coming soon).

Until you unlock, you see the pet, the breed, the service, the suburb, and the time — but not the owner’s contact details. That’s the privacy promise we make to pet owners on the booking side.

Tap unlock. The unlock fee debits from your wallet at the lead’s captured price. Now you see the owner’s name, phone, email, full suburb, and any notes. Call them, WhatsApp them, whichever works.

Each lead has a slot cap. Once it’s reached, the lead closes and no more groomers can unlock it — even if you forwarded the URL to a friend.

A dispute is for a lead that was wrong from the start — not one that just didn’t turn into a booking. Same owner and pet showing up twice? Address outside the region you cover? Contact details that don’t work, or a customer who says they never submitted the request? Open the lead, tap Raise a dispute within 7 days of unlocking, pick the category, and tell us what happened — numbers you tried, dates you called, addresses you checked.

An admin reviews every case; there’s no automatic refund. Duplicates and out-of-area leads usually refund, and we investigate dead contact details and consent issues. What doesn’t refund: the customer chose another groomer, said your price was too high, or simply didn’t book in the end — winning the job is the part that’s on you. When a dispute is approved, the slot is freed and the unlock fee returns to your wallet as credit.

Wallet getting low? Top up via PayFast — instant card payment, no minimum. Pricing is per-region, set by the admin team, and visible on your dashboard before you unlock anything.

There’s no expiry on wallet balance. Stop using the platform for six months, come back, your balance is still there.