Offers Now Work Differently
The Invoicing section used to raise a lot of questions: it was easy to mix up an offer and an invoice, paying an offer meant the client had to register, and card payments weren’t an option.
Now it’s simpler and clearer.
The essentials, in short
- Clients no longer need to register with the service — just a quick verification.
- An offer for unfinished work is now called a Secure Deal, and lives in its own tab.
- An offer for finished work now merges into Invoices.
- Card payments are back.
Your existing deals have already been sorted into their new places, there’s nothing you need to do. Fees haven’t changed.
What’s Changing
For Freelancers
Your active deals have already been sorted the same way. The one for unfinished work became a Secure Deal — open it as usual, nothing’s missing. The one for finished work moved to Invoices.
Mandatory client registration is gone — it used to be the main reason deals never made it to payment. Instead, clients complete a verification in a couple of minutes, compared to the several days registration used to take.
Clients can also pay by card again, alongside the standard bank transfer. The fee for card payment is 8%: 5% (Mellow fee) + 3% (card processing fee). As before, you decide who covers the Mellow fee — you or the client. The card processing fee is always paid by the client.
You can turn off card payment when creating a deal or invoice — the client will then only see the bank transfer option. Card payment will work if the deal or invoice amount is €3,000 or $3,000 or less.
For Clients
Card payment and Apple Pay are back too, alongside the standard bank transfer. The fee for card payment is 8%: 5% (Mellow fee) + 3% (card processing fee). As before, the freelancer decides who covers the Mellow fee — them or you. The card processing fee is always paid by you.
You won’t always see this option: freelancers can turn off card payment when creating a deal or invoice, and it’s temporarily unavailable for clients in Cyprus and Turkey. Card payment also isn’t available if the deal or invoice amount is over €3,000 or $3,000.
A personal account is no longer required to manage a deal. Verification, work status, payment, accepting the result or requesting revisions — it all happens on one page, through the link the freelancer sends you. But you can keep working from your personal account as before — all deals, invoices, and statuses show up there too.
The payment guarantee in a Secure Deal still works the same way: funds are frozen before work begins and are credited to the freelancer’s balance only after you accept the result.
How It Works
The video walks through the whole process end to end: what the deal page looks like, what the client sees, and how a Secure Deal and an Invoice differ in practice.
Secure Deal or Invoice — How to Choose
One question: is the work already done? No — Secure Deal: a payment guarantee, funds wait for your approval of the result. Yes — Invoice: payment with no extra steps.
Why We Replaced Registration with Verification
Registration confirmed that the company was real and let Mellow hold its money for the deal guarantee. Verification solves the same problem faster — just a quick check that takes a few minutes, instead of setting up a full account, which used to take a couple of days. You only need to do it once: if the company’s already verified, there’s no need to go through it again.
Is the Fee Changing?
No. It stays the same: 5% for a bank transfer, 8% for a card payment. What’s changing is how the card fee splits — the 3% card processing cost is now always paid by the client, while the remaining 5% still goes to whichever side you choose.
The Fee
- for bank transfer5%You decide which side of the
deal covers the fee - for card payment5%You decide
who pays+3%Always paid
by the client
Answers to Your Questions
No. Bank transfer stays at 5%. Card payment stays at 8%: 5% (Mellow fee) + 3% (card processing fee). You still decide who covers the Mellow fee; the card processing fee is always paid by the client.
It’s under Invoicing, in the Invoices tab. Open it and work with it as usual.
No, they were renamed automatically. If your offer was for unfinished work, you’ll find it under Payments, in the Secure Deals tab. If it was for finished work, look under Payments, in the Invoices tab.
No, not if they’ve already completed verification before.
A Secure Deal is for work that isn’t done yet: payment waits for your approval of the result. An Invoice is for finished work: a shorter form, payment right away.
Yes, but the choice is simple: work isn’t done and you need a guarantee — Secure Deal; work is done — Invoice.
You don’t have to. You can keep working from your personal account, just like before.
Use an Invoice. That way you get paid upfront, before the work begins.
There are three possible reasons: the freelancer turned it off when creating the deal, the deal or invoice amount is over €3,000 or $3,000, or card payment isn’t available in your country yet — currently that’s Cyprus and Turkey.