Are they worth their fee? Are there any others?
I have never gotten any orders from either or any service using NC for their biz
I have paid for premium for both since I started. I cannot say I get a lot of signings from them, however, NotaryCafe has particular signing agencies that use NotaryCafe within their order management (Notary247, Safesigning, to name a couple). I have gotten some calls who said they found me on NotaryRotary but I cannot say if I would have gotten those same calls had I not been Premium. I have heard others say they get lots of business through both by choosing premium. The other place I heard gets you calls is 123notary.com. I personally haven’t gotten many calls. I remember a place called NotaryDepot which I signed up with and gotten some general notary work from but it never paid for the $8/month I was paying at the time.
My experience - of the “Big Three” - Notary Cafe, Notary Rotary and 123, I got my best title company clients through my listing with 123 (sorry Cafe guys) - this site, I believe, is utilized more by signing services rather than title companies.
Now, that said, I believe which site produces the most calls for you is regional - if you have a lot of competition in your area and a free listing bumps you down to the bottom of the list (like NotRot) then paying for a premium listing to move your name up may be worthwhile. In my area there are not that many notaries listed in my closest zips so it’s a non-issue for me. Free works fine for me (note I’m not in the loan signing arena any longer - only general notary work - so my marketing is done more local and business cards/free newspaper ads).
I just received my 4th signing this year through NC.
You need to belong to both; Café is reasonable and I get calls from escrow companies all over the USA who say they found me there. Well worth the fee.
Notaryrotary.com an absolute must; more important than NNA. Again I have received many signings through my membership; More importantly you are able to click on an icon and see ratings (by Notaries) of signing co’s all over the country. Advice I got 8 years ago, which was good, is less than three stars leave them alone. They are hard to work with or don’t pay; you will see the rankings and can add your own to them.
When I stared I made up a short paragraph and spent evenings applying to 10-15 all over the country. They often have closings where I live. I still go in and apply to ones I missed or have not heard from when I have time. Most of my long term relationships are with companies I successfully applied to there. Good luck!
Hi GTQ,
From a fee perspective, I have the Notary Cafe Pro membership and got one order previously (could not complete it due to a conflict). I have yet to complete my first loan signing, so there’s that newbie aspect as well.
From a general user perspective, I prefer Notary Cafe to Notary Rotary. The forums are far more helpful, better designed, and more user-friendly than Notary Rotary’s forum. The Notary Rotary interface is outdated.
As a note, I was also unable to refer to “Notary Cafe” in a comment that I left on that site - seems like they have certain competitor’s phrases censored with their web programming. I was not particularly a fan of that type of censorship, as I felt it lacked taste.
Hope this helps,
Samantha
My Notary Cafe membership hasn’t produced a single call or email since I registered in September. Not one single signing. I get about 20 high-paying signings each month from Notary Rotary and 123 Notary- good signings directly through title companies. I get a lot of crap low ball offers from signing services through SnapDocs, if I’m not busy I negotiate and usually get my asking price. For five bucks a month it’s not a big deal, but for new signing agents just starting out, if every penny counts, there are plenty of free sites out there. Notary Cafe has been a waste of money, aside from the forums.
I’ve never received a signing via Notary Cafe and I’ve been a member for many years. But the annual fee is reasonable, so I stay with it. I like reading the comments by other members. The comments keep me coming back year after year. Almost all my signings come through Notary Rotary, albeit none are “high paying” ($85 on average-$100 occasionally). I average 20 signings a month. 43 signings in November! Rare these days. December was 20 something. 2 signings this week. January is a nothing burger so far. Greg, Oregon Trail Notary
2 Likes
Just signed up for both memberships, lets see how it goes for the next year.