Using a Prepaid Balance to Improve Print Processing in a Team Environment

[Updated 12 October 2026]

Introduction

If your team prints documents for others, a prepaid balance on printMe1.com lets team members place print orders without anyone handing out a credit card or purchasing card number. We call it a Topup.

A prepaid balance is a payment made in advance by the printMe1.com account holder. The amount is charged to their credit card and stored as a Balance on their printMe1.com account. When someone logs in to that account and places an order, the balance can be used to pay for it at checkout.

That means a group leader can delegate print ordering to team members without sharing card details and without reimbursing anyone who paid on a personal card. Every Topup and every print purchase is recorded in the account, so you have a record of each transaction.

The two main benefits for teams are a smoother print workflow and better cost control. We cover both below, along with step by step instructions.

How it Works

Our prepaid balance is built on the Topup feature of Stripe, our credit card processor. To create a balance, log in or create a free printMe1.com account, then add funds, which are charged to your card. When an order reaches the payment page, those prepaid funds can pay for it instead of a credit card.

Because the balance belongs to a printMe1.com account, the person placing the order needs to be logged in to the account that holds the funds. Teams usually set this up in one of two ways.

Option 1: Team members use the account holder's account. The account holder funds a balance on their own account and gives the team member the login. The team member places orders, and the balance pays for them.

Option 2: Each team member has their own account. The card holder logs in to the team member's account and uses their card to Topup that account's balance. The team member then orders from their own login. This option works well for companies that prefer not to share logins.

The prepaid balance also works with our PDF Hosting service, so a PDF Hoster can let recipients receive prints at no charge to them. That is covered in its own section below.

The Benefits for Teams

A better print workflow

The card holder can let team members place print orders without giving out the card number. That reduces the risk of the card being misused and removes the card holder as a bottleneck for every order.

Better cost control

Companies that normally reimburse employees for printing can cut down on reimbursements and keep print spending in one place. Team members can order directly against the prepaid balance, or the account holder can set up a Hosted PDF paid from the balance to distribute prints to many recipients.

Every transaction is tracked:

• Each Topup generates a receipt.
• Each print order paid from the balance generates a receipt that shows the source of the funds. We use the account holder's email address as the account name, so the receipt lists the email of the account the funds came from.
• Receipts for both are emailed to the account owner and stored in the account, where each one can be downloaded as a PDF.

Getting Started

To set up a prepaid balance, you just need a major credit card, and a login to your account on printMe1.com

To set up an account on printMe1.com: If you need to set up an account, just click "Login" in the top right of the site (when viewing on a computer browser, or click the 3 lines in the upper right of a phone browser and then click "Login".). Then Create an account and follow the instructions to set your password and then click the verification email.

To login to your account on printMe1.com: Click "Login" just click "Login" in the top right of the site (when viewing on a computer browser, or click the 3 lines in the upper right of a phone browser and then click "Login".)

How to Topup

Once you login, click "Balance" in the account overlay window:

Then, to add funds, click the blue "Topup" button. If you already have funds on your account, they will appear here, as will any recent transactions and receipt.

Then, type in the Topup amount. This is the amount of funds you want to add. They will be charged to your credit card or purchasing card. Then input the card account number. The amount charged will appear in the account activity table, and has a downloadable receipt.

That's it! You just did a Topup!

Next, we'll show you how to use that to pay for printing on printMe1.com.

How to Pay Using a Prepaid Balance

For this tutorial, we'll pick up typical process after you have already gone through the steps to get to payment on our site. If you are using a prepaid balance to pay for a hosted PDF, we'll cover that separately.

The main thing to do if you want to pay using a balance on your account is to be sure to Login before placing your order. To close the account overlay, click the little "X".

So, if you have logged in, and then have gone through the steps to place a print order: uploaded your PDF, set your printing & binding details, input your billing and shipping details, you get to the payment page. The page is titled "Your Order".

To use a balance, type the amount of your balance you want to use for payment, then click "Update price". Also, if you can partially fund the payment from your prepaid balance and then use a credit card for the remainder. This is useful for situations where you want to close out your balance.

Then to complete the order, click "Complete Order". Do this even if the payment is "$0".

This completes the transaction and the order goes into print processing.

The receipt will indicate the amount charge to a balance, and show the email address of the account used. If you split the payment between a balance and a credit card, the receipt will breakout those amounts.

Using a Prepaid Balance with PDF Hosting

If many people need prints of the same PDF, our PDF Hosting feature stores it on our server ahead of time. Combined with a prepaid balance, it lets recipients order prints themselves while you pay for them. Here the recipient starts the order by clicking the link to the hosted PDF and entering their shipping information.

This works well when the PDF Hoster wants to cover prints for employees, staff, clients, students or program registrants. To set it up, upload the PDF into "Hosting" in your account, then open the admin page for that hosted PDF and check "Pay for prints using my account balance."

When someone places an order, the cost is paid from your balance right away. If the balance is too low, you are notified by email and the order is held. Once you Topup enough to cover it, the order is released into print processing automatically.

For more oversight, you can also check "Require approval before paying and printing." You then receive an email for each order and can approve or reject it before anything is charged to your balance.

For more on PDF Hosting, see The Big How To Guide for PDF Hosting for Printing.

When a Central Office Does the Ordering

Some organizations prefer to have one person or office place every order and ship documents out to teams in different locations. That works from a single account, with or without a prepaid balance. Using our CSV feature, you can print and ship one PDF to many addresses, or specific PDFs to specific addresses, in a single transaction. See How to Print and Ship Specific PDF's to Specific Addresses in the Same Transaction for details.

Conclusion

A prepaid balance lets a team leader delegate print ordering without handing out a card number, while every Topup and every order is tracked with a receipt. Paired with PDF Hosting, it lets recipients order their own prints at your expense, with optional approval of each order.

Whichever way your team orders, printMe1.com is a PDF printing service built on our patented print production process, and orders are ready to ship in 2 business days or less.