Signing design contract electronically?

Okay, everyone says to have a signed contract before doing work. But the problem is that it takes a long time to get a signed contract. First the clients has to "get around to reading and signing" it. And then they have to postal mail it back to me (assuming that they didn't put the wrong address and get lost in the mail).

Also some clients get "cold feet" or intimidated when they read all the legal jargon like ...

- they will be billed extra for work out of scope.
- designer is not liable for anything.
- anything client give designer is within their copyright and authority.
- they have to pay for the postal stamp

etc...

It can take weeks to get a signature. And for a small job that takes hours. Is it really worth it? Is there an easier way to get a signature from them digitally. (Assume that they don't have a scanner).

What I'm asking is if it consider a binding contract if I email them a PDF of the contract, and they email me back saying "sounds good"? And I keep the email as evidence.

fax machine.

an email reply won't count for anything. there's no way to prove who sent it. it could have been anybody who has access to the computer, which hypothetically is anyone.

no signature, no deal.

How I've done it in the past is to print a digital copy of a contract, sign it, then used a scanner to make a signed digital copy which then gets emailed to whoever. In that case, you also get to keep the 'original' signed documents.

yeah but he's talking about getting the signature back from the client, assuming they don't have a scanner.

when they get it and sign it, they're only really got 4 options - scan+email, fax, snail mail, or grab a digital camera.

When clients request I sign an NDA I use my tablet to add a digital signature to the document. Easy peasy.

Otherwise I use my FAX machine or do as Salathe mentioned

hmm. never thought about using a wacom. good idea.

I've a copy of my sig saved, just paste it on and send.

Depends on where you are actually. Some courts allow for email confirmation to work as binding contract agreement. Why email them a pdf when online fax is just the same. I regularly sign contracts with my wacom and then fax them off.

Cheers,
Jeff

I'm in California. Yes, it would be nice if courts allow emails confirmations to be binding.

How about getting the client to digitally sign the bottom of the agreement "I agree" or "FULL NAME" then sign the document with public/private keys.

Just my 2p.