Last updated: October 29, 2026
The service
First Mate is a service of Harborfolk LLC, a Massachusetts limited liability company, 82 County Rd, PMB #57, Mattapoisett, MA 02739 ("we," "us"). First Mate lets fishing charters and guides ("captains") build and host websites, collect trip requests and bookings, and connect third-party booking services. By creating an account you agree to these terms.
Your account
You are responsible for your account credentials and for the accuracy of the business information you publish. You must be at least 18 and authorized to represent the business you list.
Your content
You own the content you add: your photos, text, reviews, trips, and business details. You give us the license needed to host and display that content on your site and, where you enable it, to sync it to connected services. You are responsible for having the rights to what you upload and for complying with the laws that apply to your business, including licensing, safety, and advertising rules.
Acceptable use
No unlawful content, no infringing content, no impersonating another business, no spam, and no attempts to break or overload the platform. We may suspend accounts that do these things.
Bookings are between you and your customers
We provide tools that pass trip requests and bookings to captains. We are not a party to any charter transaction, we take no commission, and captains are solely responsible for their trips, pricing, cancellations, refunds, safety, and legal compliance. Third-party booking services you connect are governed by their own terms.
Legal page templates
The platform offers sample privacy-policy and terms templates for captain websites. These are provided as a convenience, are not legal advice, and should be reviewed by your own attorney.
Billing
Paid plans are monthly subscriptions. When you subscribe you authorize us to charge your payment method the plan price shown at checkout (currently Captain $29 per month, plus $15 per month for each additional business site you add, and the optional AI chat add-on at $19 per month per site, or $15 per month on the founding Captain price), and the subscription renews automatically each month on your billing date until you cancel. You can cancel at any time from the Billing page in your dashboard (Manage subscription, then Cancel plan); cancellation takes effect at the end of the current billing period, you will not be charged again, and your site continues on the free plan with your content kept. We do not offer refunds for partial months except where required by law or at our discretion. Free trials do not require a payment method and do not convert to a paid plan unless you subscribe. If you subscribe during a free trial, the trial continues and your first charge is on the day it ends (or right away when it ends within two days). We may change prices with at least 30 days notice by email before the change applies to your next renewal. Payments are processed by Stripe under its own terms.
AI chat answers
If you add the AI chat add-on, an automated assistant answers anglers in your website chat using only what is on your site, marks its answers as automated, and hands anything it can't answer from your site to you. It can be wrong. You are responsible for keeping your site's trips, prices and policies accurate, and your own confirmation governs any booking, price or date. You can switch AI answers off, or remove the add-on, at any time in Messages.
Text messages
If you text our business line, (774) 425-7527, or tick a "Text me" box on one of our forms, First Mate, a service of Harborfolk LLC, may reply by text about your inquiry, website or account. Message frequency varies. Message and data rates may apply. Reply STOP to opt out at any time, or HELP for help, or email support@firstmatesite.com. Agreeing to texts is not required to use First Mate. We do not send marketing texts. Carriers are not liable for delayed or undelivered messages. See our [Privacy Policy](/privacy#text-messages) for how we handle your number.
Disclaimers and limitation of liability
The service is provided "as is" without warranties. To the fullest extent permitted by law, First Mate is not liable for indirect, incidental, or consequential damages, and our total liability for any claim is limited to the amounts you paid us in the twelve months before the claim. Nothing in these terms limits liability that cannot be limited under applicable law.
Termination
You can close your account anytime. Cancelling a paid plan is not closing your account: your site stays on the free plan with your content kept. To close your account, delete it from the Account page in your dashboard. Deleting is immediate and permanent: your sites, their content and your login are removed right away and cannot be restored by you or by us, so download a backup from Backup & export first. Deleting cancels any paid plan at the same time, with no refund for the rest of the billing period. We may suspend or terminate accounts that violate these terms; where practical we will give you a chance to export your content.
Changes
We may update these terms and will post changes here with a new date. Continued use after a change means you accept it.
Contact
support@firstmatesite.com