Got a job offer tonight for a partial claim, 40 pages to print, 60 plus miles roundtrip, and I needed to bring a witness. For the grand total of $20. I have seen some really low offers in the past month or so, but that was by far the most ridiculous offer yet. I just laughed and said nope. Who actually takes these signings? Obviously, somebody is or they wouldn’t keep sending them out.
Why would anyone take that at $20? Ridiculous.
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@takenotenotaryservices Concur 
percent with your assessment: “ridiculous.”
Once the new business owner creates their own individualized, custom Schedule of Fees (review this thread) it’s easy for them to see how much money they’ll lose by accepting these Low-Ball types of Signing Orders [SOs].
NOTE: For those Notary Cafe members who’d like to create their own Schedule of Fees, review the thread referenced above.
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Those aren’t anywhere near proper wages! We should all be rejecting these types of offers!
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@loricnotary22 Concur percent! 
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For anything like this I look at the stipulations, are the papers ready at the venue? Are they providing the witness? Even so, $20 is not sustainable and I will counter with a more acceptable fee. The 60 mile drive is already a deal-breaker. Even if you have another job nearby, if that one falls through you are obligated to attend the other one. The only exception for me is if I am providing gratis services, there are occasions when I don’t charge.
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Today was an especially heavy day for incoming orders from one of the big mortgage intermediaries (you’d know them immediately if I revealed the name 
). I elected to not take any of them. Some were close, some farther away. Amazingly, one was for $100, a real rarity, let me tell ya. Most were $40-$60 and ranged from 135 to 190 pages (times 2, mind you) and all required scanbacks. Again, I passed on them all.
As cNsa5 so often implores, notaries who take this job seriously MUST calculate their breakeven point and then ascribe a percentage or dollar amount to the margin they wish to achieve. Anything less is financial suicide (if I may be so bold as to use that awful term).
I decided to let those orders I mentioned above keep coming through for the odd $100 job that may actually be profitable for me. The cost is having to put up with those endless email/text offers that I’ll never accept. Soon I’ll make up my mind as to whether I’ll counter those weak offers or contact the sender about deleting me from their list.
In the meantime, y’all, find your financial pivot points and don’t chase the junk offers. Learn something about “cash flow” and margins and resist the $30, 22 mile round trip, 140 page 2x deals that you’ll grow to hate after you run your numbers and see what you’re losing. It ain’t worth it, kids.
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@Bobby-CA At the numbers proffered by that business entity, the direct out-of-pocket expenses likely aren’t covered by those Fees ; i.e., gasoline, paper, toner, etc.
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Your identified actions mirror the actions I take each & every day with that same business entity. ===>>> Long ago it became quite obvious that a counteroffer of any Fee would be rejected if there was a disparate ‘gap’ between the proffered Fee & the counteroffered Fee.
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Thank you for sharing your critical thinking skills, decision process, and how to operate a successful Professional Signing Agent [PSA] business.
Appreciate your insights & direct experience.
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There should be a way to setup an AI agent to view and accept/reject/counteroffer the endless email/text offers for you.
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That’s Bull. Because people keep taking this offers, they keep doing it.
I’m sorry I got my notary license, these offers are embarrassing, you basically break even. Fees barely cover, paper, gas and your time. I don’t even answer , and the people doing these low ball offers, this must be their only job accepting anything
@leonwooden Mmmmmm . . . probably not ‘break even’ once the out-of-pocket expenses are paid, the Federal & State (if applicable) Income Taxes are paid, etc., etc., etc.
Plus, there is no $ left over to cover the cost of your time . . . 
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It’s truly a losing proposition in every facet.
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Need more information to elucidate the details & calculations?
Review this thread created on Notary Cafe.
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When you go to an auction, many auctioneers open the bidding at a ridiculously low number which then gets bid up by $5 or $10 increments at a time. I look at these low ball offers the same way. You are basically trapped by the phone for possibly hours at a time in a back and forth bidding war. This is just as much a time suck as accepting a low ball offer in the first place. When I see this happening, my first counter offer is going to be $999. You would think it might sink in that I am not interested in the job, but the offers continue and are still raised at only $5 or $10 more. Why bother with these people? Disrespect is a two way street.
<<<Got a job offer tonight for a partial claim, 40 pages to print, 60 plus miles roundtrip, and I needed to bring a witness.>>>
Non-refundable travel fee - 30 miles one way = $55
Print 40 pages plus client copy = $40
*Non-refundable witness-only fee - (pre-paid via Zelle) = $25
Grand Total - $120
*Will use Notary Cafe directory to secure someone for a witness-only signature, using the zip code of the signing location (residence or coffee shop). I will forward $25 fee to witness.
Pay a coder to write it and there’s a way for sure.
My only rule for price negotiation is to ask more than I an willing to settle for.
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