How Care Requests & Pricing Work

Pet owners come to Vet Receipt to understand costs and find care. When someone near your clinic asks for help with a procedure you offer, their request becomes an care request: an anonymized summary — the care they need, the pet, rough distance, urgency, and a ballpark of their existing estimate when they have one.

Care requests appear in your dashboard inbox and by email. You see the summary first; the full case opens when you accept.

A limited number of clinics (usually the first 3 to accept) are connected with each owner. Accepting unlocks the full case: the owner’s situation in their own words, the itemized care plan from their estimate (standardized line items — never the other clinic’s name or prices), and anything they choose to share, like photos or records. You reply directly in a private conversation thread and can propose appointment times right in the chat.

Accepting is a commitment, not a reservation. Reply to the owner within 24 hours (4 hours for urgent cases) or your spot reopens to other clinics. A short first reply counts — two sentences with your general range and availability beats a perfect reply tomorrow.

Passing is always free and takes one tap. Not every case fits every clinic — passing on the wrong ones is exactly how the system is meant to work.

Owners stay anonymous until they engage. Their first name appears when they choose to continue with your clinic; their full name and phone number unlock when they book an appointment with you. All earlier communication happens in the conversation thread — which is also where most bookings happen.

• Your practice page — photos, team, hours, services, your own listed prices.
• Appearing in the Vet Receipt directory and city pages.
• Reading and replying to reviews.
• Seeing every care request near you, and passing on any of them.
• Messaging with owners you’re already connected to, and everything after — appointments, follow-ups, repeat visits.
• Messages and appointment requests from your current clients on your clinic page — rebooking your own clients is always free.

During launch, accepting care requests is free. Your dashboard shows your free accepts; as you use them, completing your page keeps more available — clinics with complete profiles convert better, so this works in your favor twice.

After the launch period: $60 when a new patient books with you. That’s the entire model. To be precise:

• $60 is charged only when a new patient’s booking is confirmed — an owner who wasn’t already your client, with an appointment on your calendar.
• Seeing care requests is free. Passing is free. Accepting is free. Replying and quoting are free. Only a confirmed new-patient booking costs anything.
• Your first two booked connections are free — the first automatically, the second once your page is complete (description, hours, a photo, and your services).
• 24-hour grace: if the appointment is cancelled within 24 hours of booking, the fee is credited automatically. After that the fee stands — no-shows and later cancellations are between you and the client, like any booking your clinic takes.
• No subscription. No monthly minimum. No charge for your page, the directory, or reviews — ever.
• You will never be billed without adding a payment method yourself, and we’ll give clear advance notice before the launch period ends.

One booked dental or surgical case typically covers the fee many times over — and because you only pay on a confirmed booking, a conversation that goes nowhere never costs you a cent.

Verified practices can also take messages and appointment requests straight from their clinic page. Setup lives in your dashboard under Practice page → Booking setup and takes about a minute — one tap copies your regular hours into request times, and you can add one-off extra openings (a free Saturday morning, a cancellation-day afternoon) for specific dates. A pet owner picks one of your times and you confirm it with one tap from email. Nothing books without your confirmation.

• Current clients are always free. We ask every requester whether they’re already a client of yours — rebooking your own clients never costs anything.
• New-patient bookings follow the same model as care requests: your first two booked connections are free, then $60 per confirmed booking (with the same 24-hour cancellation grace). A direct request is someone who specifically chose your clinic — no competition, no broadcast.
• Taking new patients? Answer with one tap and owners searching nearby see “Accepting new patients” on your page and in the directory, with the date you confirmed it. It stays until you change it — we check in every couple of months — and answering “not right now” pauses new booking requests from your page.
• Requests expire if unanswered (24 hours, sooner for near-term times) and the pet owner is pointed to other options — an unanswered request is never charged.
• Repeated unanswered requests temporarily hide the buttons on your page; opening your dashboard turns them back on.
• You can switch messages or requests off anytime under Booking setup.

Spots are limited and owners are watching their inbox. Clinics that reply quickly win cases, better review momentum, and (soon) earlier access to new care requests in their area — first look is earned by being responsive, never sold. On your clinic page, your response speed shows publicly as a “usually responds within X hours” badge — fast replies compound.