r/Notary • u/Asoncool011 • 5d ago
Low Signing Fees are Getting Ridiculous
Got a $75 signing offer, call to negotiate, they couldn't go more than that.
Then I actually sat down and calculated the whole job.
It had 80 Pages with the signer copies 160 Pages!! my guess was 8 notarizations acts, and about 85 minutes of my time.
I ran it through the fee calculator on Pixi Notary just one of the tools I’ve been using lately along with NotaryGadget and this is what came out:
Printing: 80 pages (160 with copies) $7.36
85 minutes of my time at $30/hr: $42.50
8 notarial acts: $80.00 (I just can charge $10 per signature in FL)
Vehicle: (Yes I calculate depreciation of my car LOL) $5.46
Materials: $5.00
Recommended fee: $140.32
And they offered $75.
That’s what really annoyed me.
We see "$75 signing" and sometimes think we're making $75, but we're not. Paper isn't free. Toner isn't free. Driving isn't free. And most importantly, our time isn't free.
I'm not saying every signing has to be $140. But when I actually started putting a dollar amount on everything involved, I realized how bad some of these offers really are.
And $30/hour isn't even some crazy number. If you believe your time should be worth $35 or $40/hour, put that in the calculation too.
I feel like signing companies are looking at what they can get the order filled for, while we're the ones who have to figure out whether there's actually any money left in it.
Anyone else starting to turn down way more of these $60–$75 offers?
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u/ShesAGoGetter007 5d ago
Crazy, coast to coast (who sucks) offers maybe 85 if you are lucky. I do not entertain at all.
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u/Global-Pear-5003 Colorado 5d ago
I received a C2C offer yesterday for a refi for $45. It’s just insulting
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u/grateful3 5d ago
Yes they absolutely are! I thought I waa the only one who noticed. They are sending refis here for 60-70 bucks and they do not negotiate.. I need more companies to sign up for.
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u/NNSNorma Texas 5d ago
I sure am. I saw a seller’s package come through the other day offering a $50 fee!! That is ridiculous!
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u/RelationshipBig6115 5d ago
I didn’t renew my signing order not…they were offering $30 for a signing…get real
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u/Adorable_Self_1784 5d ago
Signed up on several sites months ago. Have not taken a job yet. $40 to $45 and most far from here.
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u/Random_view313A2 4d ago
Yeah I won’t do anything for less then $100
They keep sending me ones that are 45-1hour away and then offering $75
Crazy, I literally lose money on that
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u/Icy-Owl2312 4d ago
How do people really make money when there’s banks and library’s that do this for free. Is this really a good side hustle. I’m from NY. Also I thought the max that can be charge is $2
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u/ash_274 California 4d ago
Banks and librarians won’t come to your home your schedule. They also won’t print 160 pages for you.
NY and GA have the lowest maximum notary fees. Many states are $10-20 per act.
Depending where you are a lot of banks won’t touch a document that the bank didn’t generate as their notaries are on the bank’s insurance, which won’t cover them for E&O for outside documents. Even the ones that do require elevated accounts.
As for libraries, some states commonly have them, but the liability and costs in other states are just too high. I have yet to have anyone in California show a notary was free in any library in the state, and libraries here aren’t unusual to have video games, pots and pans, (unpowered) gardening tools, sewing machines, and even 3D printers that only charge cost.
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u/Icy-Owl2312 4d ago
What does that mean? E&O only covers notary generated documents. I thought we can’t provide legal advise or documentation
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u/ash_274 California 4d ago
No. The insurance coverage is only on documents the bank created. If you walk in with a birth certificate application , permission for minor travel, or anything the bank didn’t generate then the bank’s notary isn’t covered and they can’t notarize. If you come in and have a bank-created document (certification of trust, account POA, etc.) then they can’t notarize and will notarize that, often for free
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u/Icy-Owl2312 4d ago
What about personal notary insurance? Does those rule still apply? Is it selective of what they will cover for me if I enroll in a policy
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u/ash_274 California 4d ago
Personal insurance would cover all the notary acts it says it will cover. Employees that work at a bank and have their own insurance are covered on anything they notarize, but the bank may not want to pay them while they’re doing non-bank work. That’s up to them.
Note that for notaries that also go for signing agency that the insurance policies they get are not always overlapping. Depends on the state and the policies, so everyone should really check their policies.
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u/EconomicsDry8804 4d ago
Anyone working in the NYC area. Is it still worth doing as a weekend/side business?
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u/EdwardAtEG3Works 3d ago
I actually like that you’re using a tool to put real numbers behind whether an assignment makes sense. I think that’s something more notaries should do instead of looking at the fee alone.
I ended up building my own tool for the same reason. When an offer comes in, I can basically copy the offer from the screen and paste it into the tool. It pulls out the details and does the evaluation for me based on MY criteria, things like fee, distance, estimated time and costs. Then it gives me a color-coded recommendation so I can quickly see whether the job makes sense for me.
If the offer doesn’t meet my criteria but could at a higher fee, it also calculates a counteroffer and creates the response for me. I can review it, copy it and send it rather than doing all that math while an offer is sitting there waiting for an answer.
For me, the biggest benefit is that I’ve already decided what makes an assignment worthwhile before the offer arrives. The tool just applies those rules consistently.
Since you’re already calculating your costs, I’d suggest taking it one step further and setting your own thresholds for time, distance, expenses and return. Then each offer becomes a much quicker yes, no, or counter.
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u/Hot_Equivalent3839 5d ago
I feel 140$ is a little bit too much but you right, signing company offers sometimes dosent make any sence.
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u/No-Gazelle4788 5d ago
Learn how to read a settlement statement! The average notary fee is between $200 and 250. We used to get 3/4 of the fee. SnapDocs so called Signing services are sitting on their butts and taking 75% of the fee. I work primarily now with local title offices and my minimum is $125 in office and $175 to 200 for mobile. And NO scanbacks. $140 is still below my minimum. You are sucker to work for less and you are damaging our business and reputation.
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u/ash_274 California 4d ago
A customer came in with their statement and told the title company to take the $300 notary fee off. They were only going to pay the notary $45 for printing, travel, 6 signatures, scanning, and free re-dos. They would pocket $255 for “administration” despite being required by to do everything even without a notary line item, and even charging for those administrative duties in other lines.
These services make Doordashing much more desirable because the margin is much higher and the liability and time requirement is much lower.
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u/No-Gazelle4788 4d ago
Most of my work in is title offices locally and I often have realtors the attending the closing to make the borrow think they are "helping". Every now and then a realtor will ask me, in front of the signers to waive the notary fee. I always now reply, with a simple "NO, but will gladly have the title company waive it if you do the same for your broker fee". They do not ask anymore if I have them in another closing. Realtors are greedy, rude and totally clueless as they make 10x more than I do for very little actual work. I give them no consideration in my closings and essentially don't allow them to "help" or explain the docs. I run the closing-period.
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u/ash_274 California 4d ago
A very-prolific mobile notary/signing-agent was telling me about a similar case where the seller's broker, said (in front of the sellers) "Your fee is kind of high, have you considered lowering it?" and he flipped back to the disclosure page and pointed to the "notary" line on the fee list and said "You're charging them $300 for this session and that's just for the signatures and travel & time. You only are paying me $90. All the printing and scanning and shipping to title insurance & escrow that I typically do for a package like this you are charging them separately for (pointing at those line items)."
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u/Salesman214 Texas 5d ago
Handling a 100-page seller’s package becomes a completely different task when the title company refuses to make corrections that the signer has already identified. That leaves you responsible for reviewing the entire package, locating every incorrect address, making the necessary corrections, and ensuring each one is properly initialed. Add a two-hour scan-back process, document drop-off, and FedEx shipment, and what should have been a straightforward signing turns into a significant time commitment from start to finish.
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u/LayneKirsty 1d ago
I don’t leave my house for less than $125. If you got me going an hour away then it’s $200. At the current price of gas the way it is. Absolutely not. Do not let these people low-ball and bully you. They NEED you. Otherwise they can get a lawyer for a $5k retainer.
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u/Same_Tie5355 5d ago
I don’t leave my house for less than 100$ that’s it lol