Stop paying DocuSign $2 for an e-signature • Hacker News Board

Re: Stop paying DocuSign $2 for an e-signature

#51

Post by ClumsyPilot » Wed, Nov 17, 2021, 6:55 PM UTC

nojito wrote: post #36

krmmalik wrote: post #22

I will never understand why so many products offer saas pricing when it is of no benefit to the consumer. I don't want to be paying $10/month for something I might only use a few times a year. Just let me pay as I go. I'm relieved to see that model here. Finally. I signed up and I hope other services will follow suit in the same way and relieve us of saas pricing fatigue. Interestingly a startup I helped with some BI…

Pay as you go doesn’t scale. It’s chasing short term growth in lieu of long term stability.

Well, you can't have it. If I need a service once a year, I won't pay a monthly subscribtion.

Re: Stop paying DocuSign $2 for an e-signature

#52

Post by mdavis6890 » Wed, Nov 17, 2021, 6:55 PM UTC

Subscriptions are a good model for things that you use often and regularly. PAYG is better for things that have high value when you need them, but you don't need often.

I can see services like this offering both, and customers choosing one or the other based on their usage pattern.

You see this with movies already, and I think it works well: You can subscribe to the monthly and watch whatever, whenever. Or just rent movies when you occasionally want to watch one. Both are cool.

Re: Stop paying DocuSign $2 for an e-signature

#53

Post by djrogers » Wed, Nov 17, 2021, 6:55 PM UTC

EGreg wrote: post #38

I read the ESIGN Act and I think other laws are probably similar. All the is required is a few components for a digital signature to be considered valid. Why do we need images of pdfs and docusign to make agreements? Wouldn't it be so much better to have people click to e-sign something on our own site, where we control the entire process AND make it easy to understand what things mean? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/…

Because for pennies per signature (at scale) you (as a small business owner/realtor/someone with no technical background) don't have to worry about:

a) Document storage b) Securing said storage c) various and sundry potential legal issues

Those types of worries are the perfect market for a SaaS.

Re: Stop paying DocuSign $2 for an e-signature

#54

Post by jackconsidine » Wed, Nov 17, 2021, 6:55 PM UTC

EGreg wrote: post #38

I read the ESIGN Act and I think other laws are probably similar. All the is required is a few components for a digital signature to be considered valid. Why do we need images of pdfs and docusign to make agreements? Wouldn't it be so much better to have people click to e-sign something on our own site, where we control the entire process AND make it easy to understand what things mean? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/…

Signature attribution is a bit tricky. Interestingly, many esign providers use email as the authorization mechanism: you must have access to X email if you only can receive the secure link from this email. That makes the attribution component functionally as secure as your customers' email client.

Re: Stop paying DocuSign $2 for an e-signature

#55

Post by paxys » Wed, Nov 17, 2021, 6:56 PM UTC

When two parties are signing any non-trivial contract the $2 service fee is insignificant. Reducing it to $0.25 or whatever else isn't going to convince anyone to switch over. It's the brand that matters, and Docusign has successfully built it.

Re: Stop paying DocuSign $2 for an e-signature

#56

Post by itisit » Wed, Nov 17, 2021, 6:57 PM UTC

nojito wrote: post #36

krmmalik wrote: post #22

I will never understand why so many products offer saas pricing when it is of no benefit to the consumer. I don't want to be paying $10/month for something I might only use a few times a year. Just let me pay as I go. I'm relieved to see that model here. Finally. I signed up and I hope other services will follow suit in the same way and relieve us of saas pricing fatigue. Interestingly a startup I helped with some BI…

Pay as you go doesn’t scale. It’s chasing short term growth in lieu of long term stability.

Cloud providers are pay-as-you-go, and as far as I can tell, they scale!

Re: Stop paying DocuSign $2 for an e-signature

#57

Post by Spooky23 » Wed, Nov 17, 2021, 6:57 PM UTC

whatever1 wrote: post #27

jonas21 wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

DocuSign exists because there are various federal and state laws that regulate electronic signatures. Companies are required to make disclosures, collect affirmative consent, retain records, provide access to them to the person who signed, etc. It's easier for most companies to outsource this to DocuSign than to do it in-house (and as others have mentioned, they're not paying $2 per signature at scale).

A signed document sent from my email address has the same properties.

So does an “ok” button on a website.

The “value add” of docusign is that they provide a workflow and auditable record of the event. Whether it’s worth the $0.25-$10 depends on the risks of dispute/litigation/etc.

I had to do something the other day that required a notarized wet signature. That stamp has no magical powers - but it provides evidence from a disinterested party that someone presenting my ID in fact appeared before them and wrote a mark on a page.

Re: Stop paying DocuSign $2 for an e-signature

#58

Post by paxys » Wed, Nov 17, 2021, 6:57 PM UTC

whatever1 wrote: post #27

jonas21 wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

DocuSign exists because there are various federal and state laws that regulate electronic signatures. Companies are required to make disclosures, collect affirmative consent, retain records, provide access to them to the person who signed, etc. It's easier for most companies to outsource this to DocuSign than to do it in-house (and as others have mentioned, they're not paying $2 per signature at scale).

A signed document sent from my email address has the same properties.

Okay how do I capture the IP address of the person who signed the document over email?

Re: Stop paying DocuSign $2 for an e-signature

#59

Post by vmception » Wed, Nov 17, 2021, 6:58 PM UTC

nojito wrote: post #36

krmmalik wrote: post #22

I will never understand why so many products offer saas pricing when it is of no benefit to the consumer. I don't want to be paying $10/month for something I might only use a few times a year. Just let me pay as I go. I'm relieved to see that model here. Finally. I signed up and I hope other services will follow suit in the same way and relieve us of saas pricing fatigue. Interestingly a startup I helped with some BI…

Pay as you go doesn’t scale. It’s chasing short term growth in lieu of long term stability.

Yes rip offs scale

Stop scamming people

Re: Stop paying DocuSign $2 for an e-signature

#60

Post by borski » Wed, Nov 17, 2021, 6:58 PM UTC

davzie wrote: post #16

whatever1 wrote: post #14

Docusign exists because the mobile os makers decided that the file system must be hidden from the user. In my Mac/pc it would take 30” to open a pdf attachment, sign it and send back the copy. On my phone it’s painful to do the same task. So we did it to ourselves. Don’t complain now, pay up.

My experience on mobile is: Open PDF Attachment > Trigger “Markup” > Sign > Save > Send Back I’m on iOS. It’s done quite nicely to be honest.

I do this too, but for actual legally-binding docs we always used HelloSign or DocuSign just to be safe, when doing business. It captures more info, provides disclosures, etc.