eSignature

What are some ways of allowing clients to sign electronically?

Thanks,

Samuel

You can do it in a PDF client such as Adobe/Nitro, or you can use an online service such as DocuSign.

You can also use and online service such as EchoSign, which has a free option.

I’m not sure what volume of contracts you are looking at, but if it’s less than 5 a month the free option should do the trick for you.

Thanks Guy! I’m curious, what do you all use?

I use NitroPDF

Hi, samg914. I like to use Adobe PDF, but Nitro PDF is fine, too. Some people are used to online services. It is up to you. You just need to test it by yourself, to compare all advantages and disadvantages of these programs. Then, everything will be clear for you.

I have tried EchoSign, it is more convenient and i do not need to install other softwares

One more to add to the list is SignNow. I’ve not used it myself, but I see that it is free (unlike some of the others mentioned here).

Mike

And here is the legal answer:

By law, a faxed signature is as good as an original because the fax machine creates a receipt.

The law has not yet addressed .pdf signatures, however, I can tell you lawyers use it everyday in practice. What we do is say in the document that an electronic signature (or sometimes more specificly a signed .pdf document) will be considered an original signature by the parties.

PDF’s aside, a quick Google search produces tons of legal discussion and legislation related to electronic signatures. It it really true that the law hasn’t addressed this issue? Certainly it’s new technology and there isn’t settled case law for 100 years going back, but there is a lot discussion about it and I’m pretty sure some legislation has been passed.

I’ve used EchoSign and was overall pretty happy with its simplicity.

NitroPDF is also very handy and helpful to me!