If you’re tired of using email or fax to get agreements signed, you may be interested in a new service, Online Sign Off.

This is a bit of what Online Sign Off says about their service:

“Tired of faxing contracts? Clogging up your clients email boxes with design mock-ups? Never sure if a client has received what you sent them? Let Online Signoff manage this and more. Create a document, attach files, include your terms and conditions and send it to your client…Know exactly when a document is first looked at. See which documents have been accepted, which ones have been declined and which ones you are still waiting on.”

The document creation or upload process is as straightforward as it gets and the other party (and it does appear to be just one party per send) is notified automatically by email, with a link to your document and the option to accept or deny; they can also leave comments. It looks efficient enough, but I have a couple of immediate concerns:

• In my test of the system, there was no proof of the signatory’s identity with the exception of a security code included in the email sent to that person. I can’t help but wonder what mess ensues when an unintended recipient (say, on a shared home computer) approves a contract…Of course, the same could be true of any faxed or emailed document.
• You’d want to be sure to print out a copy of the accept/decline page in the event Online Sign Off goes belly up one day. That page, though, doesn’t include the actual document, just a reference to it.

I found this in my search of the site for information on document security: “Onlinesignoff.com uses stringently tested technologies to ensure the security of information transmitted via our web site and maintained in our possession. When you place your order “checkout” you will see a lock icon appear on the status bar of your browser. This indicates that the data that is submitted is encrypted while in transit and so cannot be viewed by anyone other than us. In addition, when we receive that data, it is stored on a separate location to the web server so that it can only be accessed by us.”

It’s in beta and free, with immediate beta accounts available if you want to give it a spin with up to 30 documents. After beta, it looks like you’ll be able to send 5 documents a month for free and more with other account levels. I haven’t tried it yet except for sniffing around the site with a user account, so can’t attest to its quality. If you’re an ADR professional or attorney who’s tried Online Sign Off, please leave a comment to share your experience.

Tip o’ the blog to Download Squad.

Copyright © 2007 by Tammy Lenski. All rights reserved.