Two jobs in a single day and more than $160 extra that nobody had to ask for out loud. The real numbers, and why that tip never shows up when you get paid with Zelle or cash.
One of the people using the app finished two cleanings on the same day. Both were paid by sending the invoice from the app. By the end of the day, on top of about $900 of work, there was more than $160 in tips.
Nothing special was done to earn them. Nobody asked, nobody brought it up, nobody left a jar on the kitchen counter. The only difference was how the bill went out.
The day, job by job
These are the two payments from that day, exactly as they landed:
| The job | The tip |
|---|---|
| Big cleaning$750 of work | $13518% |
| Regular cleaning$150 of work | $2718% |
| That day$900 of work | $162 |
Both customers left exactly 18%. Neither of them typed that number.
Why they both left 18%
Here is the part almost nobody sees, because it happens on your customer's screen and not yours. The invoice the app sends is not just a pay button. Before paying, your customer goes through a moment we designed with one intention: to make leaving a tip the easiest thing on the screen.
A lot of work went into it, in details that sound small until you see what they do:
- It comes up at the best possible moment: the customer has just seen a spotless house and has not paid yet
- The amounts are already worked out on the job total, so nobody has to do any math
- One of them comes suggested, so leaving a tip is confirming rather than deciding from scratch
- It is written as thanks, not as an extra charge that needs justifying
- Leaving nothing is available, and it is one tap, but it is a decision the customer makes
That is the real difference: the tip does not depend on you working up the nerve to ask. The screen asks, at exactly the right moment, in the right words.
With Zelle or cash, that question never gets asked
Zelle works. It is free and the money arrives fast. But when you send a message that says “it's $750”, your customer sends $750. Nobody offered them anything else, and hardly anyone adds 18% on their own.
Cash is the same. The customer pulls out what you agreed on, and if they brought exact bills, that is the end of it.
It is not that your customers are cheap. It is that nobody ever asked them.
It was not luck: it happens 8 out of 10 times
That day could have been a fluke. It was not. Across every paid payment in the app that had tips turned on:
- 8 out of 10 customers leave a tip
- The average tip is $31
- Added up, tips come to around 12% on top of what was charged for the work
That 12% does not come out of your pocket and it does not mean raising anyone's price. It is money that today simply is not being asked for.
The tip grows with the job
Look at the two payments again. The $150 cleaning brought $27. The $750 one brought $135. Same 18%, and that is why a percentage works better than a flat amount.
If that big invoice had asked “want to add $5?”, the customer would have added $5. Because it is worked out on the total, the tip climbs on its own when the job is big.
And yes, the fee applies to the tip too
So it does not catch you off guard: the Cobros fee is calculated on the full amount you collect, tip included. Out of that $135 tip you keep about $130.
We would rather put it plainly: $130 that used to be $0.
What you never have to do
- You never have to ask for a tip
- You never have to bring it up with the customer
- You never have to work out a percentage
- You never have to chase anyone to get paid
Two cleanings. One day. More than $160 that were not in the quote.
