How to pay contractors

Paying a contractor through Ruul takes one flow, whether you’re sending money to a single person or a whole team. This guide walks you through creating a payment from start to finish, including who pays the commission and how to set up recurring payouts.

How to create a new payment

Ruul lets you create both single and bulk payments from the same New Payment screen.

If you add one contractor, your payment is created as a single payment. If you add more than one, it automatically becomes a bulk payment.

1. Start a new payment

Go to your Business Dashboard.

Open the Payments tab from the left-side menu.

If this is your first payment, click New Payment on the empty state screen.

If you already have payments listed, click New Payment from the Payments page.

2. Fill in payment details

On the New Payment screen, start by completing the Payment Details section.

Here, you can add the payment category, project, currency, description, contractor, amount, and schedule details from a single screen.

Category and subcategory

Select the Category and Subcategory that best describe the service.

For bulk payments, category and subcategory are not applied. If you add more than one contractor, these fields will be disabled.

Project

Choose an existing project from the Project dropdown.

If you don’t have a project yet:

1. Open the Project dropdown.
2. Click Add New.
3. Enter the Project Name.
4. Click Add Project.

Payment currency

Choose the currency your contractor prefers to receive their payment in.

Description

Enter a short description of the service or work being paid for.

The description will be used in the payment documents, so make sure it clearly explains the service.

If a language requirement appears on the screen, follow the guidance shown to avoid delays in payment processing.

3. Add contractor and amount

Under Contractor, select the contractor you want to pay.

You can search by name or email, then select an existing contractor from the list.

If the contractor is not listed, click Add new contractor and complete the required contractor details.

After selecting the contractor, enter the payment amount and currency for that contractor.

Single vs. bulk payment

The number of contractors you add determines the payment type:

Payment type	How it works
Single payment	Add one contractor.
Bulk payment	Add two or more contractors.

For bulk payments:

• The payment is processed as a bulk payment.
• Category and subcategory are disabled.
• The commission can only be paid by the business.
• If the commission payer was previously set to Contractor, it will automatically switch to Me.

4. Choose who pays the commission

In the Summary section, choose who pays the commission.

You can select:

Option	What it means
Me	You, the business, pay the commission.
Contractor	The commission is deducted from the contractor’s payout.

For bulk payments, the commission can only be paid by Me. The Contractor option will be disabled.

5. Choose payment schedule

In the Payment Schedule & Details section, choose whether the payment should be one-time or recurring.

One-time payment

Select One-time payment if you want to create the payment once and complete it manually.

This option is available for both single and bulk payments.

Recurring payment

Select Recurring if you want Ruul to automatically generate this payment every month.

Recurring payments are only available when all of the following conditions are met:

• The payment is a single payment.
• Only one contractor is added.
• The selected contractor’s status is Ready to Payout.

Recurring payments are not available when:

• You add more than one contractor.
• The selected contractor is not Ready to Payout.
• You are creating a bulk payment.

In these cases, the Recurring option is disabled and you’ll need to continue with a one-time payment.

When creating a recurring payment, choose the day of the month when the payment should be generated.

You may also choose whether to send the current month’s payment immediately or schedule it for the next cycle, depending on the options shown on the screen.

6. Preview the proforma invoice

Before continuing, you can click Preview in the Summary panel to view the proforma invoice that will be generated for the payment.

Review the document carefully to make sure the payment description, amount, currency, business details, and totals are correct.

The proforma invoice is not the final commercial invoice. The commercial invoice is created after the payment is completed.

7. Continue to review

After completing all required fields, click Continue to Review.

You’ll see a review screen with:

• Payment summary
• Proforma invoice preview
• What’s next information

From this screen, you can:

Button	Action
Back to Edit	Return to the payment form and make changes.
Confirm and Continue	Create the payment and continue to the success screen.

8. Payment created successfully

After confirming, you’ll see a success screen that says the payment has been created and shared with the contractor or contractors.

From here, you can:

Option	What it does
Make Payment	Takes you to the payment screen so you can complete the payment.
Download	Downloads a copy of the payment document.
See payment details	Opens the payment detail page.

For a single payment, Make Payment lets you complete that payment.

For a bulk payment, Make Payment lets you complete the bulk payment so the related contractor payments can be processed.

For the full guide on how to pay — bank transfer or credit card — see how to complete a payment.

Notes and best practices

• Currency conversions are based on real-time exchange rates and may vary slightly.
• Ruul automatically generates proforma and commercial invoices once the payment is completed.
• Double-check the contractor, amount, currency, and commission payer before continuing to review.
• If you want to create a recurring payment, make sure you add only one contractor and that the contractor is Ready to Payout.
• If you add more than one contractor, the payment automatically becomes a bulk payment.
• For bulk payments, the business always pays the commission.
• Use Preview before confirming to review the proforma invoice and avoid mistakes.