Compare
A FishingBooker alternative with no commission
FishingBooker and Gillie do different jobs. Here’s the short answer, then the detail.
The short answer
- FishingBooker is a marketplace. It finds you anglers and keeps a share of each booking, between 10% and 30%.
- Gillie is your own booking website. Anglers book you directly, and the whole price is yours, less the card fee.
- You can use both: the marketplace for new anglers, your own website for regulars and anyone who finds you on Google.
Free to start, no card needed.
Side by side
- What it is
- FishingBooker: A marketplace where anglers compare many charters.
- Gillie: Your own booking website, under your name.
- Who finds the angler
- FishingBooker: FishingBooker, through its site and its own ads.
- Gillie: You: your website on Google, your socials and your regulars.
- Cost to join
- FishingBooker: A free profile, with no subscription.
- Gillie: Free to start, with 10 online bookings a month. Pro is £29 a month, with no booking limit, your own domain and your team. Neither takes commission. Compare the plans.
- Commission
- FishingBooker: Between 10% and 30% of the trip price, chosen by you in steps of 5%.
- Gillie: None, on either plan.
- How anglers pay
- FishingBooker: A deposit the size of the commission when they book, which FishingBooker keeps once the trip has run. With its online payments, the whole price, and the rest is sent to you after the trip.
- Gillie: Into your own Stripe account: the full price, a deposit, or on the day. Your choice.
- Bookings on your own website
- FishingBooker: In the US, FishingBooker Direct: a commission-free booking page you link from your website, for captains taking online payments on a listing.
- Gillie: Your whole website takes bookings, in the UK, the US and Australia.
- Your prices
- FishingBooker: Its Best Price Guarantee means the same trip can’t be cheaper anywhere else online.
- Gillie: Set by you.
- Your anglers
- FishingBooker: They book through FishingBooker.
- Gillie: They book with you, and stay in your customer list with their trips and your notes.
- Reviews
- FishingBooker: On your FishingBooker profile.
- Gillie: On your own website, from anglers who booked, beside reviews you bring from Google, Facebook or Tripadvisor.
What we say about FishingBooker comes from its own help centre: What is the cost of listing on FishingBooker?, What is the commission?, What is FishingBooker Direct?, How does FishingBooker enforce the Best Price Guarantee?. FishingBooker is a trademark of its owner, who has nothing to do with Gillie.
Where the commission adds up
Your regulars cost the same as strangers.
A marketplace takes its share of every booking made through it, including anglers who already know you: regulars, their friends, and anyone who searched for your boat by name.
At 20%, a £600 boat costs you £120. Booked on your own website with a standard UK card, Stripe’s fee is £9.20, and the rest goes to your bank.
- FishingBooker at 20%
- £120.00
- Gillie: Stripe’s card fee
- £9.20
Gillie takes no commission on either plan.
When FishingBooker is worth it
It brings anglers who have never heard of you, looking for a trip in your area. When your dates are empty and nobody knows your name yet, that’s worth paying for.
Using both
FishingBooker asks that the same trip isn’t cheaper anywhere else online, so keep the same prices on both. Let the marketplace bring new anglers, and give everyone who comes back your own website’s address.
Bringing your regulars across
Everyone who books on your website stays in your customer list, with their trips and your notes. Add reviews you already have from Google, Facebook or Tripadvisor, and new ones come from anglers who book with you. See what Gillie does for a charter.
Questions
Before you start.
- Is Gillie a marketplace too?
- No. Gillie doesn’t list you beside other skippers or send you anglers. Your website, your name on Google and your regulars do that.
- Do anglers need an account?
- No. They book with their name and email, and manage their booking from the link in their email.
- How long does it take to set up?
- Answer three quick questions and your website is made, with your first trip on it. Card payments come next, through Stripe.
- What does it cost?
- Free to start, with 10 online bookings a month. Pro is £29 a month, with no booking limit, your own domain and your team. Neither takes commission. Compare the plans.
Keep every booking you earn.
Add a trip and a date, and your website can take bookings today.