Legal
TabiTots Provider Rules
Version v1.2. These Rules form part of the In-Home Operator, Independent Sitter and Independent Guide agreements. Published in parallel with the Japanese version; where the two differ, the Japanese version prevails, as in those agreements. Last updated 2026-10-05.
These Rules set out how bookings work in detail for providers who signed one of these agreements with TabiTots:
- the In-Home Operator Agreement (a company whose carers are listed — "the Operator");
- the Independent Sitter Agreement (a sitter listed in her own name — "the Sitter");
- the Independent Guide Agreement (a guide listed in her own name — "the Guide").
In these Rules, "the provider" means whichever of these signed. The Rules form part of that agreement. Where the Rules and the agreement differ, the agreement prevails.
How the Rules change. TabiTots publishes each new version here and emails every provider at least 30 days before it takes effect. A change takes effect sooner only where it adds an optional feature a provider is free not to use, where it costs providers nothing and adds no obligation to them, or where the law requires it. A change applies to bookings made after it takes effect. The Rules cannot change what an agreement itself says: commission, who is paid and who is refunded, the grounds for ending an agreement, and liability change only by amending the agreement.
Part A — Home-visit bookings (Operator and Sitter)
A1. Requests
How a booking arrives. Depending on how far ahead a family books, a booking arrives either as a request to be answered or as a confirmed booking that may still be declined within the review period TabiTots shows.
Where a request is not answered. For an Operator's carer: where the named carer has not answered by the halfway point of the acceptance window, TabiTots notifies the Operator, which may accept the request itself or offer another carer. Where a request is still unanswered when the window closes, it expires and the family is told.
A2. Meeting first (a hello) — Operator and Sitter
A provider TabiTots has approved for home visits may ask for a hello before a family's first booking with it: a short meeting, in person or online, of the length and in the time windows the provider sets. Where it does, a first-time family's first booking waits until the hello has taken place, and is declined if the family does not arrange one in time. The provider may exempt families it already knows. A provider that does not ask for a hello needs none.
A3. Siblings
The rate is for the first child. For siblings of the same family cared for in the same visit, the provider may set an additional amount per hour for the second child and a different one for the third, within the cap in the agreement. Where it sets no amount for the third, the second child's applies; where it sets none at all, siblings are included in the rate. Families see the figures before they book. Where a family asks for more than one child, the request comes to the Sitter, or to the Operator, as an explicit decision with the rule shown, and it is theirs to make.
A4. Travel
Where the provider sets a travel charge, the family sees it before they book, and the provider receives it in full: any commission TabiTots takes on travel is paid by the family on top. Where the charge is set per kilometre, the family sees an estimate and the most it can be, and their card may be held for the most. The provider confirms the actual amount, no higher than that, before the family is charged, and may only lower it after that. If the provider does not confirm it, the family is charged the estimate. Travel is charged per journey: one visit is one journey however many children and however many carers attend.
A5. Paid parking at the family's place
Where a carer needs a parking space, the family is asked before booking whether parking at their place is free or paid, and is shown the answer's consequence before they commit. Where the family answers free, nothing is charged. Where the family answers paid, the provider enters what parking actually cost after the visit and attaches the receipt, and TabiTots charges the family that amount plus TabiTots's commission and the payment-processing cost on top, so the provider receives what it paid in full. The charge is made without asking the family to accept it, because the family agreed to it before booking; the family is emailed and is shown the receipt. There is no charge for parking at all unless the family was asked and answered paid.
A6. Named fees and optional extras
The provider may add named fee lines to a visit — materials or insurance, for example — and may offer optional extras the family chooses and pays for. Each is shown with its own name and amount before the family books, and again on their payment breakdown. A fee is charged either once for the booking or for each booked day, and either for each child or once for the family; the booking screen states which. An optional extra is charged only where the family has chosen it. Where a fee is shown as up to an amount, that amount is the most it can be: the family's card may be held for the most, the provider sets the actual amount after the booking, and it is never exceeded. Where the provider does not set it, that fee is not charged.
An optional extra is not a meal. A carer declares no meal service and stands behind no allergen list, so an extra is any other priced addition the family chooses. For an Operator's carer, the Operator sets these; a carer does not set her own.
A7. The cancellation cutoff, and when the family is charged
The cutoff. The provider chooses its free-cancellation cutoff: 24 hours, 3 days or 7 days before the booked start. Where it chooses none, the cutoff is 24 hours.
When the family is charged. TabiTots saves the family's card at confirmation and charges it when free cancellation closes, at the provider's cancellation cutoff. Before that charge TabiTots may place a hold on the card for the amount, and where a booking is made close to its start the hold may be placed when the booking is made.
A8. Extra time and the late fee
Extra time — any provider. From the free-cancellation cutoff until the booked end, a family may ask to extend a booking by 30, 60, 90 or 120 minutes, one request at a time, and not past the latest time the provider's listing allows. The provider accepts or declines; a request not answered in time lapses, and nothing is charged unless the provider accepts. Extra time is priced at the booking's own hourly rate, including its night and sibling rates, and the family's card is charged when the provider accepts. Commission applies to it as to the booking.
The late fee. Where the booked end passes and the family has not returned, so the carer stays on, the late fee is calculated from the booking's hourly rate, measured from the booked (or extended) end to the time the visit is recorded as finished in TabiTots. Where that recorded time is within 10 minutes of the booked end there is no charge; where it is more than 10 minutes later, the fee is prorated per minute at 1.5× the hourly rate over that whole measured period, the first 10 minutes included. Those 10 minutes are a threshold below which nothing is charged, not an allowance deducted from a chargeable overrun. The multiplier is set by TabiTots and is not adjustable by the provider. Commission and the service fee apply to it as to the booking.
Where no finish is recorded, nothing extra is charged and the booking is treated as having ended on time. TabiTots does not remind anyone, telephone anyone or contact the family about a missing record. A missing record costs the provider the fee, never the family.
A9. Substitution (Operator)
TabiTots puts the Operator's proposed substitute to the family with the substitute's profile. A carer's name, face and profile are not put to a family until that carer has accepted the booking herself.
A10. Costs that arise after booking — any provider
Ask first. After booking, the provider may ask the family to pay for something the booking does not include — an entry fee, a fare, something the family asked for on the day — stating the amount and what it is for. The family is charged only if they accept. A request not answered within 24 hours (the hours from 21:00 to 08:00 do not count) lapses, and nothing is charged. Commission and the service fee apply to it as to the booking.
Small costs, up to the family's limit. The provider may set a small-costs limit of up to ¥5,000 per booking. Where it has one, the family is shown it before they book. During the booking the provider may then pay for something the child needs — nappies, wipes, a fare — enter what it actually cost and attach the receipt, and TabiTots charges the family that amount plus TabiTots's commission and the payment-processing cost on top, without asking the family to accept it, because they agreed before booking. The family is emailed and shown the receipt. What is charged this way on one booking never exceeds the limit the family was shown; a cost above it is a request under Ask first. Where the provider has no limit, every such cost is a request. A changed limit applies only to bookings made after the change.
For an Operator's carer, the Operator makes these requests and sets the limit; a carer does not.
Part B — Carers and listings
B1. Adding a carer
The Operator adds a carer by entering her email address. Nothing of hers is published until she has accepted, and TabiTots then publishes her listing only once the Operator has approved it. Either the Operator or the carer may unpublish or archive a listing alone, immediately, without the other's agreement and without giving a reason.
B2. Who writes the listing
A carer writes her own listing, and the Operator may write its content as well — her introduction, her photographs, her languages, the ages she takes, her areas and her skills. The Operator may also set her availability. The Operator may not publish a listing; whether a listing is published is decided by the accept and approve steps above. The Operator writes nothing about a carer that it would not be willing for her to read, because she may read all of it.
B3. What the family sees
A carer's qualification and training status is shown on her profile. A qualification is shown as checked only where TabiTots has checked it itself: against its issuer, a register, or, for a 保育士証, a photo of the certificate that the carer sent. TabiTots compares it with her name by hand and deletes the photo once it has decided.
B4. What an independent Sitter shows
A Sitter shows a family her qualifications and training status, and her declaration that she is not subject to a suspension order. TabiTots publishes her verified qualification and training status on her profile.
B5. Proof of the filing (Operator)
Proof of the filing means proof that the notification was made — the 受理通知, or the submission record showing the receipt number and the 設置者 — and does not require the Operator to wait for anything further. TabiTots does not require the 指導監督基準を満たす旨の証明書, which is a different document obtained after a 立入調査, and does not ask for it. A carer may choose to send TabiTots a photo of her 保育士証, which TabiTots checks by hand.
Part C — Guide bookings
C1. Pricing a driving day
Price the day, not the transport. A Guide who drives may say so as a feature of her listing; the price does not move. A bigger day that only works by car is its own programme at its own price, and its content, not the car, is what justifies that price.
C2. Extra time
As A8.
C3. When the family is charged
As A7: the card is saved at confirmation and charged at the Guide's own cancellation cutoff, and a hold may be placed before that, or when the booking is made where it is made close to its start.
C4. What the family sees
TabiTots publishes, where each applies, the Guide's verified credential and her driving status on her profile.
C5. A missing finish record
Where nothing is recorded as finished, TabiTots does not remind the Guide or telephone her about it.
C6. Costs that arise after booking
As A10.
Part D — Reviews
Families may review a provider after a booking. Each review is checked automatically before it is published: it must come from a completed booking with that provider. TabiTots may also remove a review that is abusive, discriminatory, identifies a child, contains contact details, is about something other than the service provided, or that TabiTots has reason to believe is not from a family who booked. Reviews and complaints about an Operator's carer reach the Operator, and are shown with her listing.