At some point, every growing high-ticket dropshipping business hits the same wall. You’re handling email, scheduling calls, managing supplier follow-ups, uploading content, responding to customers, and trying to do actual strategy work, all at once. The business is working. You’re the bottleneck. That’s the moment a virtual assistant stops being an optional luxury and starts being a practical necessity.
Time etc is one of the most established premium virtual assistant services operating today. Founded in 2007 in the UK by entrepreneur Barnaby Lashbrooke, Time etc says it has assisted people in 22,000+ companies, and the counter on its US site reads 2,162,122 hours saved by entrepreneurs so far. Their model is built around one core idea: match you with a single, dedicated, highly experienced assistant who learns your preferences, your business, and your working style over time. On the .com site every plan card sells a dedicated US assistant, and the footer says 100 percent US based virtual assistants. Time etc runs a separate UK site at timeetc.co.uk which sells the same four tiers in pounds.
This is an independent review covering how Time etc works, the four pricing plans, what types of tasks VAs handle, who this is genuinely right for, and where offshore alternatives make more financial sense.
What Is Time etc?
Time etc (timeetc.com) is a virtual assistant company that connects entrepreneurs and business owners with dedicated, experienced US-based remote assistants. Unlike pool-based VA services where tasks get routed to whoever is available, Time etc matches you with one specific assistant who becomes your ongoing resource. That assistant tracks time to the second and works from a home office. Time etc says being US based means the assistant will be available during your working hours, but it publishes no specific hours or days anywhere on its site.
The vetting is where Time etc differentiates itself. Its meet-our-assistants page publishes four numbers: 2% of applicants approved, 471 assistants represented, 12 average years of relevant experience, and a 93% average client happiness rating. In prose the same page says: “We’re so thorough that 98% don’t make it in.” It also says it requires a minimum of 5-8 years of relevant experience and prefers a college education, and that many assistants have worked at companies like AOL, Apple and Virgin. Time etc’s about page says its founder built the service after meeting Penni Pike, who had been Sir Richard Branson’s closest assistant for many years, and its assistant page credits her with designing the selection criteria. These aren’t entry-level workers learning on your time.
How Time etc Works
Step 1, free consultation: You speak with a Time etc team member who listens to your needs and what kind of assistant would be the right fit.
Step 2, VA matching: Time etc suggests a matched assistant. You review their profile and speak with them before committing.
Step 3, free replacement guarantee: If the suggested assistant isn’t the right fit for any reason, Time etc will keep working until they find one that is, at no additional cost.
Step 4, task delegation: Submit tasks via email, through the platform, or by phone. No rigid format required.
Step 5, transparent time tracking: Your assistant tracks every task to the second. Check the running total through your dashboard at any time.
Step 6, monthly renewal: Plans renew automatically each month. Change your plan, add hours, or cancel with one email or call. The pricing page says there is no notice period, though clause 14.2 of the terms requires a full billing period of notice, which is covered below.
Pricing
Time etc uses a prepaid hours model. You buy a block of hours each month at a set per-hour rate. More hours = lower per-hour cost.
10 hours/month, $390 ($39/hour): Entry plan. The ten hour card on the Time etc plans and pricing page carries the same Unused hours rollover line as the other three tiers, so unused hours do roll into the following month on this plan. An earlier version of this review said the entry plan had no rollover. That was wrong and it is corrected here. Good for testing the service or very light ongoing support.
20 hours/month, $760 ($38/hour): Unused hours roll over to the following month. Suitable for ongoing admin support alongside a growing business.
40 hours/month, $1,480 ($37/hour): Unused hours roll over. Covers approximately 10 hours per week of dedicated VA support. The right plan for entrepreneurs committed to consistent delegation.
60 hours/month, $2,160 ($36/hour): Unused hours roll over. Approximately 15 hours per week of dedicated support. For entrepreneurs with established operations and consistent recurring delegation needs.
One caveat on rollover that Time etc does not spell out. Every page that mentions it says hours roll into the next month, and no page says what happens to hours still unused after that. The terms and conditions contain no rollover clause at all. I went through where each of those statements sits in my full breakdown of Time etc pricing.
Larger plans: Available by consultation for higher-volume requirements.
All plans include: dedicated same assistant (not a pool), NDA protection and bank-grade encrypted information exchange, free VA replacement if your assistant isn’t the right fit, dashboard with running time totals, and Client Happiness expert support throughout.
Free trial: Time etc’s pricing page says you send in your first task and an assistant will do it for free, and that no credit card is required. It publishes no trial credit figure. An earlier version of this review described a $50 trial credit, which I could not find on any page of timeetc.com and have removed.
First month discount: Time etc publishes $150 off your first month for running its task ideas wizard, which appears on its get-started page. That takes the ten hour plan to $240 and the twenty hour plan to $610 in month one only.
Guarantee: The Time etc home page promises: “If you’re not 100% happy that we’re the right service for you, we’ll give your money back.” It describes that as covering the lifetime of your account and states no time window. Clause 8.2 of the terms and conditions says something narrower: “Refunds are at the sole discretion of Time Etc.” Clause 8.1 gives you a redo or a credit of the time charged, at Time etc’s option, which is not the same as money back. Both halves are published and you should read both before you rely on either.
Setup fee: None. The pricing page says there is no setup fee and that you just pay for your first month to get started.
What Tasks Can a Time etc VA Handle?
Administrative and calendar management: Email inbox management, calendar scheduling, travel research and booking, appointment coordination, document organization. For entrepreneurs buried in email, this is often the first and highest-value delegation.
Research and data tasks: Competitor research, market research, data entry, list building, contact research, content research. For high-ticket niche validation and supplier prospecting, a VA doing structured research saves hours of your time.
Marketing coordination: Social media content scheduling, caption writing, image sourcing, blog post formatting and uploading, newsletter coordination. A VA handles execution while you handle strategy.
Customer support: Email and chat support, FAQ management, order tracking follow-ups, customer communication. For a dropshipping store with consistent order volume, delegating customer email management removes a time-consuming task that doesn’t require you personally.
Basic web tasks: WordPress content uploads, page updates, image editing and resizing, Squarespace updates. Simple CMS updates and content management within scope.
Writing and editing: Article drafting, press release writing and editing, email drafting, document creation.
Project coordination: Managing recurring tasks, following up with contractors, organizing project files, coordinating between team members.
What Time etc VAs are NOT suited for: Deep specialist work such as bookkeeping, graphic design, software development, legal research, or technical SEO. Time etc’s own article on what you cannot offload names five exclusions: bookkeeping and accounting, cold outreach and sales calls, live inbound call answering, business strategy, and errands needing somebody physically present. Note that its ecommerce landing page separately lists bookkeeping and website development as things its assistants do help with, so get the scope confirmed in writing. Time etc’s strength is experienced, professional general business support, not technical depth.
Time etc for Ecommerce Entrepreneurs
Freeing time for high-leverage work: The early stages of building a dropshipping business require your personal attention on product selection, supplier relationships, and store strategy. A Time etc VA handles the operational and administrative tasks that don’t require you, so you can spend your limited hours on the things that actually grow the business.
Supplier communication follow-ups: After making initial contact with suppliers, a VA can manage follow-up emails, track response status, and keep your outreach pipeline organized.
Customer service management: For stores generating consistent orders, delegating customer support email management to a US-based VA with professional experience provides a quality-of-service level that offshore alternatives often can’t match. Your high-ticket customers spending $1,500+ expect professional, prompt responses.
Content and marketing execution: Scheduling posts, uploading blog content, formatting email newsletters, and sourcing images are all tasks a Time etc VA can handle weekly, keeping your marketing active without requiring your personal time for execution.
Business operations foundation: As your store grows, the operational workload grows with it. A dedicated VA who learns your systems and preferences builds institutional knowledge that compounds over time, and they get faster and more autonomous as the relationship develops.
What Real Clients Say
According to Virtual Assistant Assistant’s in-depth Time etc review, Time etc holds a strong reputation among US and UK-based VA providers. Specific assistants are repeatedly praised by first name in client reviews: Chloe (“we have achieved so much together”), Keeley (“consistent support, adaptability, and remarkable productivity”), Sara (“signing up with Time etc is transforming my business”), and Angie (“she is fantastic and the company is wonderful to work with”). The review highlights the free trial and the money-back guarantee as meaningful risk reducers for first-time outsourcers. Note that Time etc’s own pages publish no trial credit figure, so treat any specific dollar amount you see attached to the trial in third-party reviews, including older versions of this one, as unverified.
According to VA Picker’s independent Time etc review, Time etc’s dedicated assistant model is its clearest competitive advantage over pool-based services. Assistants who work with clients for months or years develop deep familiarity with preferences, communication style, and recurring tasks, dramatically reducing instruction overhead over time. VA Picker identifies Time etc as the right fit for entrepreneurs with variable monthly workloads who need consistent quality without a full-time commitment, and flags that full-time VA needs are better served by purpose-built alternatives. On Time etc’s own published rates, 160 hours at the best rate of $36 comes to $5,760. VA Picker compares that against BELAY, but BELAY publishes no price on its own site, so I have not carried a BELAY figure across.
An earlier version of this review also cited a third review, at shadindigital.com. When I checked that URL on 16 September 2026 it no longer served a review. It redirected to a click-tracking link on another domain entirely, so I have removed both the citation and the claims that rested on it rather than leave readers pointed at somebody else’s ad funnel. On the substance it raised, the free trial and the guarantee, Time etc’s own pages state no 30 day window and describe the guarantee instead as covering the lifetime of your account.
Pros and Cons
What I like about Time etc:
A published 2% approval rate with an average of 12 years of relevant experience is not just a marketing claim. It shows up in client reviews where VAs are praised for proactivity, quality output, and operating without constant supervision.
Dedicated single assistant model. You work with the same person every time. They learn your preferences, your business vocabulary, your working style. Fundamentally different from pool-based services where you’re constantly re-explaining context.
A free first task with no credit card required. Genuine low-risk entry point. Test with real work before committing to a plan.
A published money-back promise with no time limit attached, which is unusual in this category. Read it alongside clause 8.2 of the terms, which puts refunds at Time etc’s discretion, and treat the marketing line as the starting point of a conversation rather than a contractual right.
Unused hours roll over to the next month on all four plans, including the ten hour entry plan.
NDA protection and bank-grade encryption for all information exchange. Important for business owners sharing sensitive operational details.
US-based VAs on the .com service, communicating in your language, with professional work standards from recognized corporate backgrounds. Time etc undertakes to align to your working hours, though it publishes no specific hours.
What I’d flag:
The pricing page and the contract disagree about leaving. The pricing page FAQ says cancelling is easy and that there is no notice period. Clause 14.2 of the terms says: “Either party may terminate a Brief or the agreement constituted by these Terms or both at any time by notice of not less than one full Monthly Subscription Charge period.” Budget for one further month’s charge after you decide to stop, which is $390 on the entry plan.
Clause 7 of the terms restricts you from hiring your assistant directly. If you want to take them onto your own payroll you either give Time etc a nine month notice period or pay a transfer fee of 50 percent of the annualised gross fees that assistant billed through Time etc in the previous year. On the forty hour plan a year of fees is $17,760, so that fee is $8,880.
Premium pricing vs offshore alternatives. A VA hired directly in the Philippines works out at roughly $3 to $13 an hour on the monthly bands I pay. Time etc costs $36 to $39 an hour. The gap is significant. For entrepreneurs on tight budgets or with execution-heavy tasks, offshore alternatives deliver more hours per dollar.
Not suited for full-time VA needs. At 160 hours per month, 160 times the cheapest published rate of $36 comes to $5,760. Services built for full-time cover that for far less. Stellar Staff publishes $1,999 a month for a full-time assistant at 160 hours, which is about $12.49 an hour, and MyOutDesk publishes a starting price of $1,988 a month for one person working eight hours a day, five days a week. BELAY publishes no price at all, so the figure of about $2,100 a month that an earlier version of this review gave for BELAY was not sourced to BELAY and has been removed.
Working hours are vaguer than they should be. Time etc’s how-it-works page says that being based in the US means they will be available during your working hours, and its California page says it matches you with assistants who work in your preferred time zone. It publishes no specific hours anywhere, and I checked all 343 URLs in its sitemap. The only Monday to Friday statement on the domain sits on the careers page and describes Time etc’s own head office staff in Birmingham, not the assistants. So whether you can get weekend cover is unanswered, and clause 6.7 of the terms says you are not entitled to impose any specific time of day on a freelancer. Ask before you buy.
No specialist capabilities. For bookkeeping, graphic design, software development, or technical SEO, specialist providers serve you better.
First-time outsourcers may find the onboarding requires more self-direction than expected. How you structure delegation, brief tasks, and communicate priorities is up to you. A learning curve for entrepreneurs who’ve never worked with a VA before.
Time etc vs Alternatives
| Service | Published rate | VA location | Model | Full-time option |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Time etc | $36 to $39/hr | US | Dedicated same assistant | Not cost-effective |
| Boldly | $65/hr flat, $79/hr specialist | US employed | Dedicated premium | Ask, up to 160 hrs |
| BELAY | None published | US | Dedicated | None published |
| Stellar Staff | $1,999/mo for 160 hrs | Not stated on pricing page | Dedicated full-time | Yes |
| MyOutDesk | From $1,988/mo | Not stated on pricing page | Dedicated full-time | Yes |
| Wishup | Not verified, see note below | Not verified | Dedicated | Not verified |
| Fancy Hands | $35, $55 or $125/mo for 3, 5 or 15 requests | Not stated on pricing page | Task pool | No |
| Offshore (Philippines) | You negotiate it | Philippines | You hire directly | Yes |
What I verified in that table, and what I did not. I read the live pricing pages of Boldly, Stellar Staff, MyOutDesk and Fancy Hands on 16 September 2026 and every figure in their rows came off those pages. For BELAY I pulled its sitemap of 1,596 URLs and opened every page whose URL contained pricing, cost, fee, rate or plan, and there is no pricing page, so the cells say so. Wishup is the outstanding debt. Its plan cards render only in JavaScript, so a plain fetch returns no prices, and the only figures in the page source sit in its meta description rather than on the page a reader sees. I am not publishing numbers a reader cannot check, so those cells stay marked unverified until somebody reads them in a browser.
Time etc sits in the premium US-based dedicated assistant tier alongside Boldly and BELAY, and it is the cheapest of the three to start with because the others have much higher floors. For entrepreneurs whose priority is cost per hour and whose tasks do not require a US-based assistant, hiring directly or going offshore delivers dramatically more hours per dollar. I worked through the whole category in my guide to the best Time etc alternatives.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Time etc?
Time etc (timeetc.com) is a virtual assistant company founded in 2007 that matches entrepreneurs with dedicated, experienced US-based assistants on its .com site. Its published approval rate is 2% of applicants. VAs average 12 years of relevant experience. Four pricing plans: 10hrs/mo ($390, $39/hr), 20hrs/mo ($760, $38/hr), 40hrs/mo ($1,480, $37/hr), 60hrs/mo ($2,160, $36/hr). Unused hours roll over to the next month on all four. The trial is one free first task with no credit card required, and Time etc separately publishes $150 off the first month through its task ideas wizard. Its money-back promise carries no stated time window, while clause 8.2 of its terms puts refunds at its own discretion.
How does Time etc match you with a VA?
Time etc starts with a free consultation call to understand your needs and task types. They suggest a matched assistant. You review the VA’s profile and speak with them before committing. If the suggested assistant isn’t the right fit, Time etc will rematch you at no charge. This repeats until you have an assistant you’re satisfied with.
Is Time etc worth the cost vs offshore VAs?
It depends on your priorities. Hiring directly in the Philippines, the monthly bands I pay work out at roughly $3 to $13 an hour depending on the role, against Time etc’s $36 to $39. The case for Time etc: US-based professional experience, 12+ average years in roles at recognized companies, the same dedicated assistant learning your preferences over time, and professional communication standards consistent with a US business context. For entrepreneurs whose tasks require professional-level judgment and communication quality, meaning customer-facing work, research and executive admin, the premium can be justified. For execution-level tasks like data entry or social scheduling, offshore alternatives deliver more hours per dollar.
What tasks can a Time etc VA handle?
Administrative tasks (email, calendar, travel booking), research and data (competitor research, list building, market research), marketing coordination (social media scheduling, content uploading, newsletter coordination), customer support (email, chat, order tracking), basic web tasks (WordPress/Squarespace updates, content uploads), writing and editing (articles, press releases, email drafts), and project coordination. Not suited for: bookkeeping, graphic design, software development, or technical SEO.
Can I cancel Time etc at any time?
Time etc’s pricing page FAQ says cancelling is easy, that there is no notice period, and that one email or call is all it takes. Clause 14.2 of its terms says the opposite: “Either party may terminate a Brief or the agreement constituted by these Terms or both at any time by notice of not less than one full Monthly Subscription Charge period.” Both are published, so plan for one further month’s charge. Unused hours roll over to the next month on every plan, the ten hour one included.
How experienced are Time etc virtual assistants?
Time etc publishes an average of 12 years of relevant experience and a stated minimum of 5-8 years, and says it prefers a college education. Its published approval rate is 2% of applicants, through a six stage process of screening, testing, assessment, video interview, identity verification and onboarding. It represents 471 assistants. What Time etc assistants are paid is not published anywhere on its site, so any hourly pay figure you see attributed to it, including in an earlier version of this review, is unverified.
My Verdict on Time etc
Time etc earns an 8.0/10 for entrepreneurs and business owners who need reliable, ongoing, professional-level virtual assistance from a dedicated US-based assistant without committing to a full-time hire.
The case is strong: sub-2% acceptance rate with 12+ years average experience, the dedicated single-assistant model that builds institutional knowledge over time, a free first task with no credit card required, $150 off the first month through the task wizard, a published money-back promise with no time limit on it, and client reviews that consistently name specific VAs and praise the quality of ongoing work. For high-ticket ecommerce entrepreneurs who need a professional handling customer communication, research, and business administration to a US standard, Time etc delivers that.
The honest deductions: premium pricing makes offshore alternatives significantly more cost-effective for budget-conscious entrepreneurs or execution-heavy task loads, Time etc publishes no working hours or weekend policy for its assistants, the terms require a full billing period of notice despite the FAQ saying there is none, clause 7 charges a transfer fee if you ever want to hire your assistant directly, and first-time outsourcers need to invest their own effort in learning how to delegate effectively. Full-time VA needs are better served by purpose-built services at much lower monthly costs.
The right Time etc customer is an established entrepreneur generating consistent revenue who needs to reclaim 10-40 hours per month of their own time, has tasks that benefit from US-based professional experience and communication quality, and values the consistency of working with the same dedicated assistant month over month.
Build your ecommerce business with these free resources from Ecommerce Paradise:
- My complete guide to high-ticket dropshipping
- Time etc Pricing 2026: Every Plan and What It Actually Costs
- Best Time etc Alternatives in 2026
- How to Hire and Onboard a VA for Ecommerce Customer Service
- Free Mini Course
- Free High-Ticket Niches List
- Supplier Directory
Or if you want personalized guidance on building your ecommerce business, check out our private coaching program or join the Ecommerce Paradise community. I wish you guys the best of luck out there.
Trevor Fenner is an ecommerce entrepreneur and the founder of Ecommerce Paradise, a platform focused on helping entrepreneurs build and scale profitable high-ticket ecommerce and dropshipping businesses. With over a decade of hands-on experience, Trevor specializes in high-ticket dropshipping strategy, niche and product selection, supplier recruiting and onboarding, Google & Bing Shopping ads, ecommerce SEO, and systems-driven automation and scaling. Through Ecommerce Paradise, he provides free education via in-depth guides like How to Start High-Ticket Dropshipping, advanced training through the High-Ticket Dropshipping Masterclass, and fully done-for-you turnkey ecommerce services for entrepreneurs who want a faster, more hands-off path to growth. Trevor is known for emphasizing sustainable, real-world ecommerce models over hype-driven tactics, helping store owners build scalable, sellable, and location-independent brands.
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