Why did I get an invoice from Ruul?

Someone you worked with invoiced you through Ruul, so the invoice arrived from a company you may not have dealt with before. That’s how it’s meant to work, and this page explains the whole thing: why it comes from Ruul, whether it’s real, and what to do next.

Why the invoice comes from Ruul

Many independent professionals don’t have a registered company of their own, so they invoice through Ruul instead. Ruul acts as their Agent of Record, the legal counterparty for the transaction. Ruul issues the invoice in its own name, collects the payment, and then pays them.

For you, that means you receive a real, compliant commercial invoice from a registered company, with the correct VAT or GST treatment for the transaction, instead of an informal request for payment. It’s the version your accounting team can actually file.

Is this legitimate?

Ruul is a global invoicing and payment platform used by more than 240,000 freelancers, with over $1.18B in transactions processed, including payments from teams at organizations like the UN, McKinsey and Toyota. Payments are processed to international financial-compliance standards.

One sensible check before you pay anything: if you weren’t expecting an invoice, confirm it with the person or company you worked with. That’s good practice with any invoice, not just this one. If they can’t account for it, contact Ruul before paying.

How to pay

You’ll have received an email from Ruul with a secure payment link. Open it and you’ll be asked to confirm your email address first: enter the address the invoice was sent to, and Ruul emails you a short code to type in. That step is there so only you can open the payment page.

Then choose how to pay:

• Bank transfer. Use the account details shown on the page and put the reference number in the transfer description, otherwise the payment takes longer to match to your invoice.
• Card. Pay directly on the secure checkout page.

You don’t need a Ruul account for any of this. If your company already uses Ruul to pay contractors, the invoice is also waiting in your dashboard under Payments. See how to pay an invoice for that route.

If it’s a subscription rather than a single invoice

Sometimes what arrives isn’t a one-off invoice but a subscription: ongoing work like a monthly retainer, charged every period.

It works the same way, with one difference. You approve it once and save a card, and each period is then charged automatically, so you don’t have to do anything again. Before you approve, you see the amount per period, how often it’s charged and how long it runs.

You can cancel at any time, and payments already made aren’t affected. If you’re managing one that’s already running, see received a subscription from a contractor.

What happens after you pay

Once your payment reaches Ruul and clears standard compliance checks, Ruul releases the payout to the person who did the work, usually within one business day.

You receive a copy of the compliant commercial invoice by email for your records. If you have a Ruul account, it’s also on the payment’s details page.

If this is the first time your company has paid through Ruul, there’s a one-time check on your company details that can add a little time. You’ll be emailed if anything is needed from you.

Still unsure?

To understand what the platform actually does, see what Ruul is and how it works. If something about the invoice doesn’t look right, start a chat with the Ruul team rather than guessing.