How does Payment setup work?

On Useme, you can pay each freelancer separately. But if you have many projects, it's easier to settle them all at once.

That's what the Payment setup feature is for. You don't need to fill out the same form again and again. Just upload a file with a list of the freelancers you want to pay, and our system will process the payment for each of them. You’ll get an invoice, and your freelancers will get paid. You can track everything on your dashboard.

Want to skip the reading? Book a call, and we'll walk you through Payment setup live and turn it on for your account.

Book a call

Step 1: Book a call

Step 2: Generate deals
Step 3: Freelancers accept the terms
Step 4: Pay deposit requests
Step 5: You get invoices
What should your CSV file look like?
Instructions for freelancers
Why teams switch to Payment setup

Step 1: Book a call

Payment setup is off by default. To turn it on, book a video call with us or email us at employer@useme.com. We'll turn it on and explain how it works.

If you don’t want to do any manual work at all, you can also create deals in bulk through our API. To set it up, email us at employer@useme.com.

Step 2: Generate deals

Log in to your Useme account.
Go to Deals in the menu and open Payment setup.
Upload the CSV file with freelancers’ email addresses and project details. Check how to prepare the file.
Click "Send file."
Our system will check your file and show you any errors. Fix them, click "Upload again", and send the corrected file.
If your file has no errors, you'll see a list of deals ready to be created.
Click "Create deals."

Done! Your new deals are now on your dashboard, in the All deals tab.

Step 3: Freelancers accept the terms

The freelancers you pay get an email from us with a form. They fill in their details, confirm they’ve done the work, and accept the terms of the contract.

They don’t need to log in to Useme. They only give their details the first time.

This guide will help them do it.

Step 4: Pay deposit requests

After a freelancer accepts the deal terms, our system will verify the deal. Once it's verified, we'll email you a payment link. You can also find it on your dashboard when you open the deal you want to pay for.

You can pay for each deal separately or use group payments. With group payments, you make one transfer to Useme, and we split it between the freelancers you choose. This option is off by default. We can turn it on for you during the same call where we turn on Payment setup.

Step 5: You get invoices

Here, you also have two options. We can send you a separate invoice for each project in your CSV file, or one combined invoice for all of them. It's up to you how many documents you want to handle in your accounting.

Combined invoices are off by default. We can turn them on for you during the same call where we turn on Payment setup.

What should your CSV file look like?

You can create the file in Excel or Google Sheets and then save it as a CSV. Here's a sample file.

Each row is one deal. Each column is a piece of information we need to create that deal.

Required columns

Your CSV file must include these columns.

Column	How you fill it in
email_freelancer	The freelancer's email address. We'll send the deal details to this address. If the freelancer already has a Useme account, enter the email linked to it. If they don't have an account, we'll create one for them.
title	The deal title. It appears on the invoice. Max 250 characters, including spaces.
amount	The net amount. It can't be 0. Don’t use spaces or commas.
subcategory_id	The number assigned to your freelancer’s work. Check it here or ask your account manager for it.
currency	The payment currency code. Enter USD, EUR, GBP, or PLN.
copyright_transfer	How you manage copyright. Enter: license if the freelancer should grant you a license, protocol if they should transfer the copyright to you, without if neither applies.

Optional columns

You can add these columns, but you don't have to.

Column	How you fill it in
description	A description of the work. Max 2048 characters, including spaces.
freelancer_language	The communication language for new freelancers. It's English by default. Enter PL if you want us to contact them in Polish.
amount_type	It tells what the amount in the "amount" column means: If you enter invoice_net or leave it blank, "amount" = the net invoice amount. If you enter freelancer_net, "amount" = the net amount the freelancer gets.

Instructions for freelancers

Your client uses Payment setup on Useme. Each time they want to pay you, we'll email you a link to a form where you'll fill in your details (only the first time) and accept the deal terms.

If you live in Poland, in some cases you’ll also see a field in the form where you upload a file to confirm you’ve done the job.

After you fill in the form, we may also email you to ask you to:

add your bank account number so we can send you your payout,
verify your identity.

Why teams switch to Payment setup

With Payment setup, you create all your Useme deals from one file. Here's what that means for you.

1. You save time

Fill in one simple spreadsheet with basic details instead of a separate form for every project.

2. Your documents stay organized

Name your projects however you like. Each deal title also appears on the invoice, so it's easy to match invoices to projects. You stay in control: Before any deals are created, our system checks your file for errors.

3. Less work for your team

You can get one invoice and make one payment for all the projects in your file. That takes a load off your finance and accounting teams.

4. Easy for your freelancers

Freelancers don't need to log in to Useme. They get an email with your deal terms, accept them, and that's it. Every freelancer goes through the same form, so there's less back-and-forth about paperwork.

5. You can connect through our API

If you use your own system, connect it to Useme through our API. Your deals are created in the background, and you track their status in your own system.

6. We handle the formal side for you

Payment setup speeds up the process, but we handle the formalities just like we do for any other deal on Useme:

We sign the contract with the freelancer, so you don't have to.
We keep every deal compliant with the law.
You follow one process for every freelancer, whatever their country or currency.
We verify freelancers' identity and run sanctions and anti-money laundering checks.
We can transfer copyright to you automatically.
You get a professional invoice in English from an EU company.