How Care.com works for providers: flat lead fees and no refunds

Care.com publishes profiles for caregivers and care businesses, spanning child care, senior and home care, pet care, and housekeeping, and connects families searching for care with providers through the platform.

A basic profile is free to create. The paid product, which Care.com calls Marketing Solutions, is a separate agreement built around lead delivery: a family requests information about a provider or their services, and Care.com forwards that request to the provider as a lead under a signed contract.

Care.com's own general Terms of Use also cover background checks, which the platform can help facilitate but does not itself guarantee, a distinction that matters for any care business relying on Care.com's screening as part of its own hiring or client vetting.

Care.com's own Marketing Solutions terms describe leads as information about a family's request that Care.com then delivers to the paying provider, but the terms do not state that a single request is sent to one provider only. Care.com's own listing model, where a family can browse many providers in one search, points toward a family reviewing and contacting several providers on their own initiative, in addition to whatever leads a provider receives through the paid product.

Separately, and importantly, Care.com's own terms give the company broad discretion over lead delivery itself: it can withhold leads from a paying provider for any reason, at its sole discretion. That means the flow of leads is not something a provider can fully predict or guarantee from the contract alone.

A provider paying the flat monthly lead fee is paying for the right to receive leads Care.com chooses to forward, not for a fixed count of exclusive contacts.

Care.com's Marketing Solutions Terms of Service set two charges. First, a one-time subscription fee applies to each new location a provider adds to the service. Second, a flat monthly lead fee applies per location, billed in arrears rather than in advance.

The flat monthly fee is not tied to how many leads actually arrive. Care.com's own terms state the full amount is due for every month of the contract term, including any partial month, regardless of whether the provider receives any leads in that period.

This is a materially different shape from a pay-per-lead or per-click model: a provider commits to a recurring fee for lead access generally, not a price attached to each individual enquiry received.

Care.com's own terms are direct about refunds: subscription fees are stated as non-refundable, and if the agreement ends for any reason, the provider is not entitled to a refund of fees already paid, even for services not yet used.

Canceling requires contacting Care.com's marketing solutions support address directly rather than a self-service cancel button, and the contract automatically renews for another equivalent term if a provider does not cancel before the current term ends. That auto-renewal is worth watching, since it means inaction carries a new charge.

Care.com's broader Terms of Use also commit disputes to binding arbitration rather than a courtroom, and block claims from being brought as a class or group action. A user can still opt out of that arbitration requirement, but only by mailing written notice to Care.com's legal department within 30 days of agreeing to the terms.

Care.com's own Terms of Use require a provider to grant Care.com a broad, irrevocable, non-exclusive license to use, copy, adapt, and distribute any content the provider posts, including profile details and photos. The provider keeps responsibility for that content, but Care.com can edit or remove it at its own discretion, and the license to use it does not end just because the provider leaves.

Care.com's own terms also allow the company to terminate a provider's account immediately, with or without notice, for any reason it considers a risk to its reputation, which is a wide standard set entirely by Care.com.

What a provider keeps, regardless of the platform relationship, is any client contact information they collect and retain themselves once a family becomes a direct, ongoing client, separate from Care.com's own systems.

Care.com fits a care provider or small agency that wants steady visibility to families actively searching by care type and location, and that is comfortable paying a predictable flat monthly fee rather than a fee tied to each individual lead.

It suits a business testing a new location or service line, since the model is a location-based subscription rather than a large upfront build, and it can be added or dropped location by location as a business expands.

A provider who wants a guaranteed lead count, a refund if a month underperforms, or full control over how and when their profile content is used is better served by a channel that publishes those specific commitments, since Care.com's own terms explicitly reserve broad discretion to Care.com instead.