Make An Offer FAQ

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Make an Offer Terms & Conditions

Make an Offer allows you to list unexpected availability with specific date ranges and receive direct offers from qualified charter clients. Set your base charter rate and the discount percentage you’re willing to accept, then choose your preferred operating parameters using Flexible, Shortlist, or Fixed location options. Clients submit binding offers with 5% deposit authorisation. If you accept an offer, Charter Index captures the 5% as a referral fee from the client’s deposit. Fees payable by you depend on your listing status – please see the Fees & Costs section below for full details. If you reject the offer or don’t respond within 7 days, the authorisation is automatically released. You maintain full control over which offers to accept.

Understanding the Service

How does Make an Offer work?

Make an Offer allows you to publish available charter windows and receive offers directly from serious charter clients. Rather than sending out fixed discounts and hoping for interest, clients come to you with genuine proposals backed by a 5% deposit authorisation. You retain full control – accepting, rejecting, or countering any offer you receive.

Traditional discount blasts publish a fixed reduced rate and wait for enquiries, with no guarantee of genuine interest. Make an Offer flips this dynamic – clients submit what they’re willing to pay without seeing your pricing boundaries, often resulting in more favourable outcomes than a published discount. Every offer comes with pre-authorised funds, filtering out speculative enquiries.

Charter Index acts solely as a platform that enables you to list available charter opportunities and allows charter clients to submit offers. We do not act as an agent for you or the client, nor do we directly offer, sell, or charter any yachts ourselves. We are not involved in the final contracting process and are not a party to the charter agreement between you and the client. We simply facilitate the connection.

Listing Your Yacht

You’ll need to specify the yacht, available dates, minimum charter duration, and your geographical configuration. You’ll also set your base rate and the maximum discount you’re willing to consider – this information is never shown to clients.

The Flexible configuration allows you to select a cruising region (such as the Western Mediterranean) and optionally refine it by sub-areas (French Riviera, Balearics, Corsica/Sardinia). Clients propose their own preferred pickup and drop-off locations within those geographical boundaries, giving them genuine itinerary freedom whilst ensuring you only receive operationally feasible offers.

The Fixed configuration allows you to define a shortlist of approved departure and return ports, or set a single departure and return location for a completely predetermined routing. Clients can only submit offers using your pre-approved options, giving you precise control over positioning, port costs, and crew scheduling. If you have specific operational requirements or need the yacht in a particular location by a certain date, Fixed is the right choice.

The availability window and minimum duration settings allow you to control both when and for how long clients can make offers. You set an overall availability window – for example 30 days – and a minimum charter duration, for example 7 days. If your minimum is shorter than your window, clients can position their preferred dates anywhere within it. If your window and minimum are the same length, the dates are effectively fixed and clients can only offer on that specific period.

Absolutely. This service doesn’t replace or interfere with your standard charter enquiry process. It’s an optional tool available when it makes sense – particularly for last-minute gaps or difficult-to-fill windows.

When a client submits an offer, they must pre-authorise a 5% deposit on their payment card. This isn’t charged – it’s held to demonstrate genuine intent. If you reject or don’t respond within seven days, the authorisation is released automatically with no charge to the client.

Responding to Offers

You have up to seven days to accept, reject, or counter any offer. If you don’t respond within this period, the offer expires automatically and the client’s deposit authorisation is released.

When you accept, the client’s 5% deposit authorisation is captured as Charter Index’s referral fee, and the client’s contact details are immediately released to you. You then proceed directly with the client to finalise the charter contract and arrangements.

The client receives a notification, and their deposit authorisation is automatically released – no charge to them, no further action required from you.

Yes. Instead of accepting or rejecting outright, you can counter with different pricing. The client then has the choice to accept or reject your counter offer. If they accept, a recalculated 5% deposit is captured to reflect the new charter amount.

No. Client contact details are only shared with you if you accept their offer or they accept your counter offer. This protects both parties until there’s a genuine commitment.

Fees & Costs

The fee structure for Make an Offer depends on your listing status with Charter Index. Managed Listings are subject to a 5% referral fee only. Unmanaged Listings are subject to a combined platform fee of 10%. Full details of each are set out below.

If your yacht is a Managed Listing, Charter Index’s referral fee is 5% of the accepted yacht fee. This is captured directly from the client’s pre-authorised deposit when you accept an offer. There is no additional charge to you.

If your yacht is an Unmanaged Listing, the 5% referral fee is captured from the client’s pre-authorised deposit in the same way as a Managed Listing. In addition, you will be invoiced a Non-Member Referral Fee of a further 5% of the accepted yacht fee upon acceptance, resulting in a combined platform fee of 10% of the accepted offer amount. This invoice is payable within 30 days of the invoice date.

Upgrading to a Managed Listing removes your liability for the additional 5% entirely. Details of managed listing options are available here.

The offer amount covers the base charter fee only – the hire cost of the yacht in full working order with marine insurance and crew. APA, taxes, and any additional expenses are handled separately between you and the client once the charter proceeds to contract.

Your listing status is determined by whether your yacht is registered under a paid managed listing agreement with Charter Index at the time an offer is accepted. If you are unsure of your current status, please contact us and we will confirm.

Cancellations

Charter Index refunds the client 75% of their 5% deposit and retains 25% to cover processing costs. Once the charter proceeds to a formal contract, the official charter contract terms govern cancellation policies for the remaining charter value.

If you must cancel an accepted offer, Charter Index refunds the client 100% of their 5% deposit. However, you will be invoiced for 25% of the 5% deposit value to cover processing costs. Once a formal charter contract is in place, the contract terms govern cancellation policies and any compensation owed to the client.

Force majeure events are governed by the terms of the charter contract. In such cases, Charter Index refunds the client’s deposit in full and absorbs all administration and processing fees.