FAQ
Straight answers on e‑signatures, waivers and evidence.
The questions people ask before they sign up, answered without a sales call. If yours is not here, write to us and we will answer it and add it.
The basics
What is SignSealer?
SignSealer is e-signature software for waivers, rental agreements and contracts, built as an evidence store first. Consent to sign electronically is recorded as its own step, a fingerprint of the exact text is written into every event, the finished PDF is sealed, and every completed agreement gets a certificate anybody holding the document can check.
Do signers need an account or an app?
No. A link by text or email opens one page on any phone. There is no account to make, no app to install, and the page loads no script from anybody else. The tablet app is for the business's own counter, not for the signer.
Is an electronic signature legally binding?
In the United States, under the ESIGN Act and UETA, an electronic signature is enforceable when you can show five things: intent, consent to do business electronically, association with the record, attribution to the person, and retention of an accurate copy. SignSealer records evidence for all five and seals it. This is not legal advice, and whether a particular agreement is enforceable where you are is a question for your own counsel.
Can I try it before paying?
Yes. The free plan needs no card, and the live demo lets you sign a short waiver as a guest and then countersign it as the business, so you see both sides and the certificate at the end.
Evidence and verification
What is recorded when somebody signs?
The time, the network address, the browser, and a SHA-256 fingerprint of the exact text they were shown, on every event: sent, viewed, consented, signed, completed. Consent is recorded before the signature as a separate event, so the record can show it came first rather than assert it. The trail is append-only and hash-chained, and nobody at SignSealer can edit it.
What is the certificate, and who can check it?
Every completed agreement gets a certificate with a code. Anybody holding the document can check it at signsealer.com/verify with no account and no call to us. It is re-derived from the record when checked, so a change shows, and the public check names the signers only to somebody who can show the document's fingerprint, never their email addresses.
Can a signed document be changed afterwards?
No. The trail of what happened is append-only: the database refuses an edit or a delete, which is a rule it enforces rather than a policy. The one exception is redaction, at the end of the retention period or at a signer's request, which removes the text and the signers' personal details and keeps the fingerprint, the certificate and the trail. The sealed PDF shows a changed byte. A published template cannot be edited either: revising it makes a new version, so nothing signed last week changes retroactively. If the record behind a certificate has diverged, the check reports it and changes nothing.
Do you verify the signer's identity?
Not against any government record, no. Attribution rests on the link being sent to a named person's own phone number or email address, the typed name being checked against who the link was sent to, and the address, browser and time recorded at each step. Those are the same facts a court weighs, and they are stronger together than any one of them alone. A business can add two things on top: a one-time passcode, sent to that phone or inbox and typed before signing, which shows the signer held it at that moment; and ID Evidence, a photo of the signer's ID kept with the record. The photo is evidence somebody held that ID up when they signed, not a check of who they are.
Do I need an AATL certificate for an agreement to hold up?
No. AATL is a trust list inside Adobe Reader, not a legal standard, and neither ESIGN nor UETA asks for one. What an agreement needs is the evidence: who signed, that they consented first, what text they saw, and that none of it has changed since.
Sending and signing
How does a document reach the signer?
Four ways, and the same record either way: your booking system or CRM starts it with one API call and hears back on a webhook; a personal link goes by email; the same link goes by text; or a tablet at the counter runs one form in kiosk mode, with a QR code for people who would rather sign on their own phone.
How does texting work, and can people opt out?
A text is only sent with a consent the record keeps, from a number registered for transactional messages. Every message leads with Sign Sealer, and says Reply STOP to opt out and Reply HELP for help. A STOP is honoured at once: it revokes the consent and suppresses the number for that business, and the record shows it. HELP is answered with who is sending and how to reach a person.
What happens when the Wi-Fi drops at the counter?
The tablet app keeps signing and catches up when the connection is back. It is honest about time: the record keeps the moment we received the signature, which is the part we can attest to, and beside it what the device says happened, marked as a claim, with the clock difference computed by us rather than sent by the device.
Can more than one person sign the same document?
Yes. A document can have several signers, in order or all at once, and a countersignature from the business. A guardian signing for a minor is recorded as the guardian's own act, with the participant named, rather than folded into one signature.
Can I use my own logo, sender name and domain?
Yes. Your logo and sender name go on every message and page, and a verified domain of your own can send the mail and host the signing links. Until you add your own domain, messages say they were sent through SignSealer, so the signer can place the address.
Pricing and your account
How is SignSealer priced?
In one unit: a completed agreement, however many people signed it. A five-party contract is one, a waiver is one, and nothing is charged for a draft, a void or a document nobody signed. The first 25 a month are free. The membership is $9.99 a month; after the 25th, each signing costs 10¢, falling to 4¢ with volume; texts and the other extras are metered at about cost. All of it is drawn from credit you add up front, and there is no per-user fee.
What happens if I close for the season?
Stop the membership. It ends when the month you paid for does, and the account goes back to Free: your templates, your team and every piece of evidence stay exactly as they are, and 25 signings a month still cost nothing. Nothing is drawn while you are away. Coming back is one button, not starting again.
How long is my evidence kept?
For your retention period: you choose it, from one year up, and it is seven years unless you change it. When a document passes it, or thirty days after you close your account, its text and the signers' personal details are redacted; you can redact one sooner yourself. The text's fingerprint, the certificate and the trail of events stay, so a redacted document can still be shown to have existed and been signed, and by how many people. The live demo's documents are redacted after a day.
Where are the terms and the privacy policy?
In the footer of every page, and written to be read: the terms of service, the privacy policy, the cookie notice, the text-message policy, and a form for asking what we hold about you.
Ready when the next guest is.
Free for the first 25 agreements a month. No card to start.