Payout methods and getting verified for withdrawal

Before you can withdraw anything you need a payout method that is set up and verified. This is the step most often left until the day someone wants their money, which is the worst day to discover it takes a couple of days.

Do it in your first week.

The three routes

Bank transfer. Available in most countries and usually the cheapest route for the money. Direct to your account.

Stripe Connect. Available where Stripe supports payouts to your country. Generally the fastest, and handles some currencies particularly well.

Payoneer. Covers a number of countries where direct bank payout is impractical. If the other two are unavailable to you, this usually is.

What you can use depends on where you are, and the options offered to you reflect that. If none appear available, contact support rather than assuming you cannot be paid — there is usually a route.

You can hold more than one method and set a default. The default is what the automatic payout uses, so make sure it is the one you actually want money going to.

Setting one up

Add it under Earnings. You will need the ordinary details for your route: account number and sort code, IBAN, or the equivalent, plus the account holder name and your address.

Two things to get right the first time, because both cause failures that surface days later:

The account holder name must match your Open Lance account. Banks reject transfers where the names disagree, and the rejection comes back after the transfer has already been attempted. If your bank has you as "Jonathan" and Open Lance has "Jon", fix one of them before withdrawing.

Use your legal name. For compliance the name used is the legal one, not a display name or a trading name. If you are paid into a business account, the business details need to be right and consistent.

Verification

A new payout method is verified before it can receive money. Two mechanisms:

Micro-deposit. A tiny amount is sent to the account and you confirm it. Requires you to look at your bank statement in a day or two and report what arrived.

Review. Someone checks the details you supplied against the documents on your account.

Neither is instant. Plan for a couple of days.

You are notified when it completes, and the method shows as active. Until then it cannot be used, and a withdrawal attempt against an unverified method is refused.

Withdrawing once you are set up

Request from Earnings. Three things govern it: the method must be verified, the amount must be above the minimum, and a flat fee is deducted per request.

The minimum exists because the fixed cost of sending money makes very small transfers uneconomic. The fee is flat rather than a percentage, which means one withdrawal a month costs materially less than four for the same total.

The full detail of balances, clearance and the automatic payout is in How and when you get paid.

If your account is not in US dollars

Your balance is held in US dollars and converted at payout.

Before confirming you are shown what you will receive in your own currency. That figure governs, and it already accounts for the cost of making the conversion, so nothing separate appears afterwards. Estimates shown before a live rate is available are deliberately conservative, so the final amount is more often slightly better than estimated than worse.

Your bank may still apply a receiving fee at its end, which is between you and them and varies enormously. Worth checking once so it does not surprise you monthly.

What goes wrong

Name mismatch. The most common failure by a distance, and it costs days because the rejection is asynchronous.

Wrong account details. A transposed digit produces either a rejection or, occasionally, a transfer to someone else's account, which is very difficult to unwind. Check them.

Closed or dormant account. Update the method before withdrawing.

Held for review. Some withdrawals are held for a manual check. This is a routine anti-fraud control, not an accusation, and it clears.

Rejected. You are told the reason and the money returns to your wallet. It is not lost.

If a withdrawal fails, the money comes back to your available balance. It does not vanish and it does not sit in limbo.

Changing your payout method

Add the new one, verify it, set it as default, then remove the old one if you want to. Do it in that order — removing the only verified method leaves you unable to withdraw until a new one clears verification.

If you are moving country or bank, do this before you need the money rather than after.

What Open Lance cannot do

Send to an account in someone else's name. Payouts go to the person who earned the money. This is a compliance requirement, not a preference, and there is no exception for a spouse, a friend or a business partner.

Recover a transfer sent to details you supplied incorrectly. Once money reaches a real account at a real bank, retrieving it depends on that bank's goodwill. Check your details.

Advance money before it has cleared. Clearance exists because card payments can be reversed weeks later.

Timing your withdrawals

Two small habits that save money and irritation.

Withdraw less often. The platform fee is flat per withdrawal, so one withdrawal a month costs a quarter of what four cost for the same total. Unless you need the money weekly, monthly is the sensible rhythm.

Withdraw early in the week. Bank transfers process on business days, and a request made on a Friday afternoon often does not begin moving until Monday. Nothing is wrong; it is simply how banking works.

Also worth knowing: the automatic payout runs regardless, so if your balance is above the threshold you may find a payout has already been generated for you.

Keeping records for accounting

Your withdrawal history is the record of what left the platform and when: the amount requested, the fee, what was sent, and the destination.

Together with your earnings ledger, which shows what came in and what commission was deducted, that is normally everything an accountant needs from the platform side.

Anything you bought from Open Lance — bid packs, a subscription — produces a proper invoice and receipt separately. See Invoices and receipts.

If you move country

Update your country on your account, then add a payout method for the new location and verify it before removing the old one.

Do it in that order. Removing your only verified method leaves you unable to withdraw until the new one clears, and verification takes days.

Your currency preference and the payout options available to you both follow your country, so expect some things to look different afterwards.

What to do the very first time

Because the first withdrawal is where most problems appear, a specific sequence:

1. Add the payout method well before you need it. Ideally in your first week on the platform.
2. Check the account holder name matches your Open Lance name exactly.
3. Start verification and complete whatever it asks — confirming a micro-deposit means looking at your bank statement in a day or two.
4. Wait for it to show as active. Do not attempt a withdrawal before this.
5. Withdraw a modest amount first if you are able to, so any problem surfaces on a small transfer rather than on everything you have.

Freelancers who do this in week one never think about it again. Those who leave it lose several days at exactly the moment they wanted the money.

Business accounts

If you are paid into a company account rather than a personal one, get the setup consistent from the start.

The account holder will be the company, so the details on your Open Lance account need to reflect the entity that is actually receiving the money. Business verification is generally the right level to be at. See Verification levels.

Mismatches between a personal account name and a company bank account are one of the more common causes of a rejected transfer, and they are entirely avoidable by setting it up properly once.

A note on receiving fees

Some banks charge to receive an international transfer, and some intermediary banks deduct along the way. This is outside the platform and varies enormously by country and bank.

It is worth checking once with your own bank so you know what to expect, and worth comparing routes if you have a choice — a route that looks slower on paper is sometimes cheaper in practice once receiving fees are counted.

Common questions

Can I withdraw to PayPal? The available routes are bank transfer, Stripe Connect and Payoneer, depending on your country.

How long does a withdrawal take to arrive? After approval, it depends on the route and your bank, typically a few business days.

Can I cancel a withdrawal? Only before it is dispatched.

Why was my withdrawal held for review? A routine anti-fraud check. It is not an accusation and it clears.

Related

• How and when you get paid
• Verification levels
• Contacting support