How does Useme work?
Useme can be described as a financial service, but we don’t like being called this way as we believe we are more than that.
Useme is a space for both employers and freelancers. The former can offer jobs to freelancers here while the latter can choose the ones they like best. However, we also do much more than that:
- We handle all the financial and paperwork issues connected with remote work
- We protect our freelancers’ work and their money
- We make sure that freelancers’ work won’t be used until it’s paid for
- We enable freelancers who don’t run their businesses to invoice their clients
The whole process is simple: On behalf of an employer, we sign a contract for specific work with a freelancer. We issue an invoice for the client, and at the same time, we take all his duties: we register the contract, we take an advance income tax, we pay the freelancer for the job done, and – when the time comes – we provide an annual tax declaration.
Useme for Freelancers
A work contract makes it fully legal to choose Useme for financial settlements. To enter into a contract with a freelancer, we only need some basic personal data, which a given tax office requires. All the data provided by a freelancer are fully protected and used only for financial purposes.
Useme for Employers
It’s Useme that becomes an employer according to the contract. Therefore, all the responsibilities for correct settlement and all other duties and formalities that result from the contract lie with Useme. Here you can read an interview with a lawyer who explains how it works from the legal perspective.
An invoice from a freelancer without a business – how does it work and why is it safe?
There are two ways a freelancer can invoice a client at Useme:
- A freelancer has already completed his or her project, the client saw it and accepted. At this point the only thing left is payment. In such a case go to Invoice a client, complete the data, and we’ll take care of the rest.
- A freelancer and an employer are about to start their cooperation and they both want to feel protected. In such a situation, you go to Sign a contract online. The employer confirms that he or she wants to start a contract and transfers the freelancer’s remuneration to Useme account. The freelancer completes his work and uploads the file on Useme, where the employer can have a look at it. Once the work is accepted by the employer, the money is transferred to the freelancer’s account.
Useme protects both parties of the contract. The employer gets access to the project after the freelancer’s remuneration is protected at Useme account. This way, provided that the work is done on time and according to the specifications, the freelancer is guaranteed that he will be paid for his job. If the freelancer doesn’t fulfill the terms of the contract, the employer will get a refund of the deposit and a corrected invoice.
Getting paid with Useme – What does a freelancer need to remember about?
If you’re a freelancer, we sign a contract for specific work with you. Therefore, it’s we who calculate your tax and pay it to the tax office. We need three things to do that:
- Your personal data to sign the contract and report it to the tax office.
- The proof that you’ve completed the project – that’s why we ask you to send us the finished work, no matter if your client already has it.
- The information about the amount of tax we have to pay; therefore, if you decide to transfer copyright, we need a protocol with your sign, place, and date.
It doesn’t matter that you’ve already provided your client with the completed project and protocol – by law, it’s we who hire you, so we need those things to handle your finances.
How long does it take to settle an invoice with Useme?
It usually takes from 24 to 36 hours to settle an invoice with Useme, and partially, it depends on you how quickly we’ll deal with it. What makes the whole process faster?
- The type of settlement you choose: If you go to Sign the contract online, your client has seven days to accept the project from the moment you upload it at Useme – and we can’t make it shorter. You will get your payment once the client collects your work. If he doesn’t take any action, which is that he neither accepts nor rejects your work, we need to wait 7 days until you can get paid. There is no seven-day waiting for the payment if you go to Invoice a client. In this case, the client pays the pro forma invoice, which also means that the attached work is accepted by the client.
- Copyright: If a contract requires copyright transfer, we have to wait for the payment until the freelancer uploads a scan of the protocol with a sign, place, and date on it.
- Correct personal data and bank account number: We can withdraw from your contract if we have some doubts concerning the accuracy of the data. We require to sign a contract and issue an invoice.
Invoicing when you don’t run a business: safety aspects
At Useme, transactions between a freelancer and a client might sometimes be problematic. That’s why we offer you a settlement that protects both parties of the contract.
Use this solution, especially when you start your cooperation. As a freelancer, don’t start working until your client pays the deposit. Don’t start your project until we let you know that your money is protected in our account.
You will get an e-mail notification about the client’s payment and we’ll remind you about the time left for the work to be completed. Once you finish, upload it to Useme and wait for the client’s acceptance. If the client doesn’t ask for any corrections, you will get your payment within 24 hours.
As a freelancer, you can also use our safe transfer of files when it comes to finished and accepted projects. The client can’t get access to the files until he or she pays the deposit to our account.
Invoicing with Useme: Good practices
Our mission is to protect your cooperation and make sure you get paid quickly and smoothly. We want your experience with Useme to be the best, so please, remember a few good practices:
- When discussing financial matters concerning the contract, always use our Useme mailbox. As the correspondence between the users is registered, it always helps to establish the scope of the contract. It becomes your protection in case of some misunderstandings or disputes.
- We know that sometimes it’s easier to discuss the details of the contract by phone, but if you’re an employer, do not ask freelancers to provide you with their full contact details when you answer their first offer, and you have no intention of accepting it. If you do so, you might be suspected of attempting to extort sensitive data, which we don’t approve of.
- As an employer, protect the payment for a freelancer at the Useme account. This way, you will get the invoices from us, and you can be sure that if a freelancer fails to comply with the contract, we will send you back your deposit.
- Price your work fairly. Useme is unique in the job market – the bids in the offers can be seen only by you and your potential client, so you don’t have to bid down to attract the client’s attention. The rate from the offer will be the basis for signing a contract. Be careful, though, because if the contract is worth 5 pounds, according to our service fee, we will charge for it 5 pounds, which means that you will work for free… for sure, your work is worth more than that.
- We can hold your contract or money withdrawal if we lack some essential data, so make sure you complete all the form fields and that you give us as many details as possible about the work done or ordered. The less often we ask you for some missing information, the faster you get paid.
- The highest quality of the services we provide is our top priority, and we believe you will also follow a few rules. Before you start using our services, have a look at our regulations.
We make every effort to constantly improve Useme so that it becomes even more user-friendly. You only have to remember these good practices for smooth invoicing and quick payments.
If you have any questions or concerns, contact us at info@useme.com.
