Guide

Paying participants

Fund a paid study from your Finance balance, then review and approve submissions.

Studies can be volunteer or paid. A paid study is funded before it opens: you add money to your Finance balance once, then fund each study from it. Only a study’s owner can fund it.

Fund a study

  1. 1

    Add money

    Open Finance and click Add money . GST is charged when you add money, and a tax invoice appears under Invoices. The balance can’t be withdrawn or refunded.

  2. 2

    Choose how participants are paid

    Under Studies, click Fund study . Pick VibeMyExpt pays them (participants stay anonymous to you) or You pay them directly (UPI or bank, INR, participants in India).

  3. 3

    Set places and reward

    Enter the number of new places, the reward per person, the currency and the auto-approve window. The summary shows the rewards plus the platform service fee.

  4. 4

    Pay from balance

    Click Pay from balance . If the balance is short, Add it fills in the difference for you.

Review submissions

  • The project’s Submissions tab lists completed runs. Approving pays the reward; rejecting returns it to the study’s funds and reopens the place.
  • Submissions you don’t review approve automatically after the auto-approve window.
  • Every study has a time limit (set in Settings, or a default). A run that finishes late frees its place and is paid only if you approve it.

Paying directly

With You pay them directly , each participant consents to share their name and UPI ID or bank account with you. The project’s Submissions tab lists who to pay: pay each one by UPI or bank transfer, then record the transaction reference (UTR). The participant then signs a receipt you can download for your institution.

A direct payment left unpaid for 14 days shows on your public record and blocks publishing new studies you pay directly.

Leftover money

When a study is done, unpublish it and click Move unused funds to balance in Finance. Rewards for places nobody took go back to your balance; the platform fee isn’t returned.

In a lab, studies are funded from the lab’s balance instead. See Labs.