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Last Updated: October 2026
This Guide Agreement ("Agreement") is between Guidecall LLC ("Guidecall," "we," "us") and the individual or entity registering as a guide, charter captain, or service provider ("Guide," "you"). It governs your listing and provision of services through the Guidecall marketplace (the "Platform") and supplements Guidecall's Terms of Service, which you also agree to. Services offered through the Platform include in-person guided excursions such as fishing charters and boat trips ("Trips"), real-time video or audio consultation sessions ("Calls"), and on-demand consultation sessions ("On-Call" sessions). Individuals or entities who book or receive services from Guides through the Platform are referred to as "Customers." If this Agreement conflicts with the Terms of Service with respect to your activities as a Guide, this Agreement controls. If you do not agree, do not register as a Guide.
You are an independent contractor. Nothing in this Agreement creates an employment, agency, partnership, or joint-venture relationship between you and Guidecall. The payment arrangement described in Section 5 is a limited payment-processing authorization and does not create an agency or any other fiduciary relationship. You alone control how, when, where, and whether you provide your services, the vessel and equipment used, your pricing (for Trips and scheduled Calls), and your business operations. You are not entitled to any employee benefits. You are solely responsible for your own federal, state, and local taxes, including self-employment taxes; Guidecall does not withhold taxes and will issue tax forms (such as IRS Form 1099) as required by law.
You represent, warrant, and covenant, on an ongoing basis, that:
Guidecall will identify the specific credentials you must upload based on the states, species, vessel capacity, and fishing types in your profile, and you must keep those credentials current. Where the Platform lets you list more than one vessel or add another captain, Guidecall may also require registration and insurance documents for each vessel and license documents for each captain, and may withhold a vessel’s Trips from sale, or stop Trips on different vessels from overlapping, until the required documents are verified. Regardless of which documents Guidecall requests, you remain solely responsible for holding all licenses, permits, and insurance required by law in every jurisdiction where you operate.
You are responsible for the accuracy of your listings, including service descriptions, capacity, location, availability, and any representations about catches, conditions, or amenities. Guidecall reserves the right to edit, suspend, or remove any listing that is inaccurate, misleading, or non-compliant with this Agreement or applicable law. You set the price for your Trips and scheduled Calls. On-Call sessions are offered at a default price published by Guidecall, which you agree to by enabling On-Call availability. You will honor confirmed bookings and keep your availability current.
You may set a minimum number of guests for a per-seat Trip, together with a decision time you select. Seats on a Trip with a minimum are instant-book: Customers may join without your prior approval, and they are not charged until the Trip is confirmed. The Trip is confirmed, and every booked Customer is charged in full, automatically as soon as the minimum is met — but never earlier than 14 days before departure. Before the minimum is met, you may confirm the Trip early once within 14 days of departure. If the minimum is not met by your chosen decision time, the Trip is released and no Customer is charged. By setting a minimum, you commit to run the Trip once it is confirmed, except where you must cancel for weather, safety, or another reason permitted under Section 6. Until the Trip is confirmed you may remove a Customer or call it off. Bookings made under a minimum hold your vessel’s availability for that departure until it is confirmed or released. Where the Platform lets you allow a private group to request a departure that has not met its minimum, and you accept that request before the departure is confirmed, the seats held on that departure are released and those Customers are not charged.
You will perform services professionally, safely, lawfully, and as described in your listing. You are solely responsible for the conduct and safety of your Trips, including weather and water judgment, vessel seaworthiness, required safety equipment, and the wellbeing of Customers and passengers.
Commission. Guidecall retains a commission from the price of services booked through the Platform: 7% (capped at $75 per Trip) for Trips, or 5% (capped at $50 per Trip) for a Trip booked by a Customer attributed to your own referral link, and 30% for Calls and On-Call sessions. Guidecall may adjust commission rates upon thirty (30) days’ notice to you; your continued use of the Platform after the adjustment takes effect constitutes acceptance of the new rates.
Referral programs. Guidecall may offer optional referral programs under which you receive a personal referral link. When a Customer saves your profile through that link and their first booking on the Platform is with you, Guidecall retains a reduced commission on that booking (and every later booking that Customer makes with you) instead of the standard Trip commission above. The reduced rate in effect is published to you on your dashboard. The reduction applies only to that Customer's bookings with you; bookings the Customer makes with other guides are unaffected. Customer attribution is first-link-wins and permanent: a Customer already attributed to another referral link cannot be re-attributed to yours.
Referral program integrity. Referral links are personal and non-transferable. Guidecall may decline, reverse, or revoke referral benefits it reasonably believes result from fraud or self-dealing — including saving your own profile through your own link, attributing Customers with whom no genuine referral occurred, or promoting a link through coupon or deal-aggregation channels. Participation in a referral program does not give you any rights in Customer relationships or Customer data beyond Section 11, and does not modify Section 12 (Non-Circumvention).
Pricing authority. You set the price of your Trips and scheduled Calls. The default price of On-Call sessions is published by Guidecall and agreed to by you when you enable On-Call availability.
Customer service fee. Guidecall does not charge Customers a separate service fee.
Tips. Customers may add optional gratuities for Trips; you receive every tip, less standard card-processing costs.
Appointment of Guidecall as limited payment-collection agent. You hereby appoint Guidecall as your limited agent solely for the purpose of collecting payments from Customers on your behalf for services booked through the Platform. You agree that a Customer’s payment to Guidecall is treated as payment made directly to you and fully satisfies and extinguishes the Customer’s payment obligation to you for the booked service, whether or not Guidecall subsequently remits your share to you. Guidecall is solely responsible to you for remitting amounts owed under this Agreement. You will not separately bill or collect from a Customer any amount the Customer has paid through the Platform. You will cooperate promptly with Guidecall and its payment processor in responding to any chargeback, payment dispute, or fraud investigation, including by providing documentation and evidence of service rendered. Where Guidecall’s dashboard offers a way to respond to a payment dispute directly, you will do so by the deadline shown, or accept the dispute. If you do not respond in time, or the dispute is decided against you, the disputed amount and the processor’s dispute fee (currently $30 per dispute event) are recovered as described in the Offsets and clawbacks paragraph below.
Payouts. Guidecall pays your share by ACH bank transfer to the U.S. bank account you designate, in regular payout batches. A session becomes payout-eligible after a hold that allows refund disputes to be opened. Guidecall pays out only from settled customer funds. Before your first payout you must provide accurate bank-account details and a completed IRS Form W-9, and keep both current. Guidecall may extend a hold, suspend a payout, or cancel a payout in the event of suspected fraud, severe policy violations, or an open refund ticket, and will notify you promptly of any such action and the reason therefor. Any such extended hold will not exceed one hundred eighty (180) days unless a legal proceeding, regulatory investigation, or active chargeback dispute remains pending.
Offsets and clawbacks. Refunds and chargebacks relating to your sessions, and any other amounts you owe under this Agreement, may be deducted from held funds or offset against your current or future payouts. If a refund or chargeback arises after you have been paid for the related session and no upcoming payouts are available to offset it, Guidecall may invoice you for the amount, payable within thirty (30) days; unpaid amounts will bear interest at the lesser of 1.5% per month or the maximum rate permitted by law, and you will reimburse Guidecall’s reasonable costs of collection, including attorneys’ fees. Guidecall may waive recovery at its discretion.
Processing costs. Guidecall's payment processor bills you directly for card and bank processing on Platform transactions (approximately 2.9% + 30¢ on a card charge, or a flat $1.00 on a bank/ACH charge), deducted from your payout alongside the commission above.
Yearly card-security form. Our payment processor requires every business that accepts card payments through the Platform to sign a short card-security (PCI) form once a year. Guidecall will email you when your form is ready, and you can review and sign it from your dashboard. If the form is not signed within ninety (90) days after it is issued, the processor charges a late fee (currently $35 for each 30-day period the form remains unsigned), which is your cost and may be recovered as described in the Offsets and clawbacks paragraph above.
Taxes. You are responsible for all taxes on your earnings and for any taxes you are legally required to collect, except to the extent Guidecall collects and remits tax as a marketplace facilitator as required or permitted by applicable law.
You will comply with the cancellation and refund policies applicable to your services, including Guidecall’s Trip cancellation policy. Refunds approved under those policies may reduce or offset your payouts as described in Section 5. You will promptly communicate cancellations (including weather and safety cancellations) and rebook or refund as applicable.
You authorize Guidecall to disclose Guidecall’s Trip cancellation policy to Guidecall’s payment processor as the refund policy applicable to your sessions, for underwriting and disclosure purposes on your merchant account with that processor.
For a Trip with a minimum number of guests: the Trip is confirmed, and Customers are charged, automatically as soon as the minimum is met — never earlier than 14 days before departure — or, if the minimum is still not met by your chosen decision time, the Trip is released and no Customer is charged. If you call the Trip off before it is confirmed, the Trip is likewise released, no Customer is charged, and the release is not treated as a cancellation by you. The same applies when held seats are released because you accepted a private group’s request for that departure under Section 3. Once a Trip is confirmed, the ordinary cancellation policy applies, including that a Customer’s cancellation within the periods stated in that policy is non-refundable, and you will promptly communicate any weather or safety cancellation and refund as required.
If a Customer asks to move a Trip, the Customer’s payment is held while you respond. Each side may suggest up to two dates per request, and every date either side suggests must be a date on which the Trip runs and has room for the Customer’s party. If you decline the request, or do not respond within three (3) days, the Customer is refunded in full. If the Customer ends the request — by declining your date, not responding within three (3) days of your reply, or withdrawing — and the request was made within 14 days of the Trip, the Customer’s payments are non-refundable and are paid to you after a 48-hour hold; if the Customer asks Guidecall to review during that time, the payout pauses while it is reviewed. A request made more than 14 days before the Trip refunds the Customer as a cancellation would. A Customer may move a booking up to three times if each request is made more than 14 days before the Trip, with each new date within nine months of the original Trip date; a booking moved on a request made within 14 days of the Trip may be moved only once, and a Customer’s cancellation after that move, or after the third move, is non-refundable. Moves you offer, including a reschedule you offer because of weather or safety, do not count toward these limits. You may choose in your account settings not to accept reschedule requests made within 14 days of a Trip; if you do, Customers cannot ask to move a Trip within 14 days of it, their only options are to keep the date or cancel, and, except where weather or safety terms apply, a cancellation within 14 days is non-refundable and you keep the payment. A Trip with a minimum number of guests cannot be rescheduled at a Customer’s request.
Calls conducted through the Platform may be recorded (audio and/or video) for quality assurance, safety, and dispute resolution, including as evidence in payment disputes. You consent to such recording. Customers are required to affirmatively consent to recording through the Terms of Service and in-product consent flows before a Call begins. Recordings are retained for a limited period (currently approximately 120 days) and handled in accordance with Guidecall’s Privacy Policy. You will not separately record Customers except as permitted by applicable law.
You are solely responsible for the safety of your services. You will: comply with all maritime, boating, fishing, and safety laws; carry and maintain all legally required safety and emergency equipment; exercise sound judgment regarding weather and water conditions; and refuse or cancel service when conditions are unsafe. These obligations apply to every Trip offered under your account, including a Trip captained by someone you engage. Guidecall does not supervise, inspect, or control your services or vessel.
You will maintain the insurance described in Section 2 throughout the term of this Agreement and provide certificates of insurance on request. Where you offer Trips on more than one vessel, that insurance must cover each vessel and each person who captains a Trip on your behalf; one policy may cover several vessels if it schedules each of them.
You agree to indemnify, defend, and hold harmless Guidecall and its owners, members, and affiliates from any and all claims, liabilities, damages, losses, injuries, deaths, and expenses (including reasonable attorneys’ fees) arising out of or related to: your services or Trips; your conduct or that of your crew or guests; your vessel; your breach of this Agreement or any law; your tax obligations; or any assertion that you are an employee rather than an independent contractor; provided, however, that the foregoing indemnification obligation shall not apply to the extent a claim is directly caused by Guidecall’s own gross negligence or willful misconduct.
You will protect Customer personal information and any non-public information about Guidecall’s business, pricing, or Platform operations (“Confidential Information”), use Customer information only to fulfill bookings, and comply with our Privacy Policy and applicable privacy laws. You will not use Customer information or Confidential Information for any other purpose or disclose it to third parties.
For twelve (12) months after a Customer first books or contacts you through the Platform, you will not solicit, encourage, or knowingly accept payment from that Customer for comparable services outside the Platform. Any such off-platform transaction during this period is presumed to circumvent Guidecall’s fees, and you will owe Guidecall the commission that would have applied had the transaction occurred on the Platform.
You consent to Guidecall verifying your information and credentials. You grant Guidecall a non-exclusive, royalty-free, worldwide, sublicensable, transferable license to use, reproduce, modify, and display your listing content, business name, likeness, and images to operate, promote, and market the Platform, which license will survive termination of this Agreement. You will not manipulate reviews or ratings.
You represent and warrant that all information you provide is accurate; you are legally able to provide the services; you hold all required licenses and insurance; and your services and vessel comply with all applicable laws.
Either party may terminate this Agreement upon seven (7) days’ written notice; provided that Guidecall may suspend or remove your account immediately for violations, safety concerns, or legal risk. Upon any termination by you, you remain obligated to fulfill or properly cancel all confirmed bookings existing at the time of notice. Upon termination, Guidecall will pay out amounts owed to you for completed, undisputed sessions in the ordinary course. Obligations that should survive termination — including indemnification, confidentiality, non-circumvention, offset and repayment obligations, and payment of amounts owed — will survive.
The Platform is provided “as is.” To the maximum extent permitted by law, Guidecall will not be liable for indirect, incidental, special, consequential, or punitive damages, and its total liability to you will not exceed the commissions Guidecall retained from your bookings in the six (6) months before the event giving rise to the claim. The limitations in this Section 16 do not limit your indemnification, insurance, or payment obligations under this Agreement.
This Agreement is governed by the laws of the State of New Jersey, without regard to its conflict-of-laws principles. Any dispute arising out of or relating to this Agreement is subject to the dispute-resolution, arbitration, and class-action-waiver provisions of the Guidecall Terms of Service, which apply equally to this Agreement.
We may update this Agreement from time to time; material changes will be posted or sent to you at least thirty (30) days before they take effect. If you do not agree to a material change, you may terminate this Agreement before the change takes effect. Your continued use after the changes take effect constitutes acceptance.
Questions about this Agreement? Email admin@guidecall.app.