Most platforms tell you they're great. We'd rather tell you exactly how we operate — every fee, every protection, every limitation. If you're still interested after reading this, we'll know it's a fit.
When a booking comes in, it goes out to every notary who actually matches — verified, offering that service, in range, and available. Whoever claims it first has it. The claim is atomic: the moment you take it, it's yours.
No dispatcher picking favorites. No waiting your turn behind someone who's ignoring their phone. No one deciding you don't get work.
They pick the service — mobile or loan signing — tell us where, choose ASAP or a scheduled date and time, and leave their contact details. That's the whole form.
Matching is a filter, not a ranking: a verified commission, that service switched on, and in range — your service radius. Available means your live "available now" toggle for ASAP jobs, or your weekly schedule for scheduled ones. If you match, you see it. No rotation, no queue position, no one choosing for you.
The card shows the service type, the city and state, when it's needed, and how long the offer stays open — no signer details until you claim. Claiming is atomic: the first notary to take it gets it.
No one else can take it after you. You get the signer's name and contact details plus the where and when, and you arrange the visit with them directly — no in-app middleman, by design. The job lives in My Bookings until you mark it complete with the acts you performed.
First-claim cuts both ways: if another matching notary is faster, that job is gone. During hours you're set as available, being close to your phone pays.
You set your travel fee and charge your state's notarial act fee. On mobile bookings you keep 100% of both — our booking fee (15% of the travel fee) is added to the signer's total, never deducted from yours.
Loan signings work the same way — your price, with the booking fee added to the signer's total. Travel surcharges you set (beyond your included radius, evening/weekend) are part of your travel fee — all yours.
The first ten notaries to join Smoothquill lock in a booking fee of 8% for life instead of the standard 15% — charged to the signer, not you, and it doesn't expire if you take a break and come back later.
Stripe Connect handles all payments. You'll set up a Stripe Express account during onboarding (takes about 10 minutes). After every completed job:
Not next week. Not net-30. No invoicing, no waiting on a signing service's check run.
You're an independent contractor responsible for your own taxes. Your Stripe account holds your payment records.
Every completed job shows the signer's total, our booking fee (paid by the signer, on top), your travel fee, the act fee, and your net. You keep 100% of your travel.
You tell the system: which days you're available, what hours those days, which zip codes you'll travel to, and which job types you'll accept (general mobile, loan signings, remote, hospital, bedside). You can change any of this at any time, and it takes effect immediately for new job offers.
Important note on availability vs. obligation: Setting your hours as available doesn't mean you're obligated to take every job that appears during them. Open bookings are there to claim or let pass — take the ones you want.
If you need to pause entirely (vacation, illness, busy season at your other work), flip your "available now" toggle off — you're offline until you flip it back. No notice required, no minimum activity to maintain status.
If a signer charges back a completed, documented signing, we handle the dispute for you — we respond to the card network with the job records (timestamps, location, documents notarized, signer e-signature confirming the appointment). If the funds are reversed, Smoothquill bears that loss, not you. We can't control the card network's decision, but on a properly-documented job you don't eat the chargeback. This doesn't cover fraud or misconduct, jobs missing the required records, or work not performed per our terms — see our Terms.
Every client gives their name and direct contact details before requesting a notary.
Smoothquill is not your E&O insurance carrier. You should maintain your own errors-and-omissions insurance (typically $200-400/year). We can recommend providers during onboarding but the policy is in your name.
Because the trade goes both ways, here's the honest list of what gets you removed from the platform:
Late means more than 10 minutes past the agreed time, without proactive communication to the client. Once is a mistake. Three times is a pattern.
Skipping ID verification, completing certificates with incorrect dates or venues, signing without the principal present. These aren't platform rules — they're state law. We enforce them firmly.
If a client you met through Smoothquill needs a second signing, they should book it through Smoothquill. Off-platform side deals to avoid the booking fee will result in removal.
If your commission expires, you can't legally notarize. We need at least 30 days notice before expiration to update your profile and pause new bookings. Signing without an active commission is a serious legal matter and gets immediate removal.
You don't need to learn a complicated app. The Smoothquill notary interface is a simple web dashboard that works on your phone or laptop. Most notaries do everything they need from their phone browser — no app to install.
What's in the dashboard:
What's not in the dashboard: anything you have to learn. If something requires a tutorial video, we've designed it wrong.
No contracts. No commitment terms. No "founding member" lock-in. If Smoothquill turns out not to be what you wanted, stop taking jobs and walk away — flip your availability off and that's it.
If you come back later, you're welcome back on the same terms you left with — including the founding-cohort rate, if you had it.
If we have to lock you in to keep you, we've already failed. The whole platform should be worth choosing every day. That's the bar we want to be measured against.
The founding cohort is capped at ten notaries. Reading this whole page is roughly the level of consideration we'd expect from someone who fits.