E-signatures for sales quotes and order forms

Why a signed quote beats a "go ahead" email

A quote accepted by email leaves room for argument later: which revision the customer meant, whether the discount covered the renewal, whether delivery was included. A signed quote or order form answers those questions, because the signature is tied to one exact file.

With Attest, the customer signs with a passkey, a cryptographic key only the signer controls, unlocked with Face ID, Touch ID, Windows Hello or the device PIN. The passkey signs a statement that names the quote's fingerprint (a SHA-256 hash, a short code calculated from the file's contents) and everything the customer entered, such as their purchase order number. Revision 3 and revision 4 of a quote have different fingerprints, so the signed copy shows which one was accepted, and the time the customer signed is part of the signed statement. The completed order is anchored on Horizen, a public blockchain. Change one byte of the document, of any signer's entries or of the signed pages, and verification fails.

You and the customer download the same sealed PDF, which carries its own evidence and an open-source verifier. Their accounts payable team, or yours, can check it for free at attest.datahubz.com/verify, with no account.

Set it up the way quotes work

A few settings match how a quote behaves:

• An expiry that matches the quote. Set Expires (optional) to the quote's last valid day, up to a year ahead. If it isn't signed by then, it closes, no one can sign it, and every party is emailed; the customer's link then opens on "This document expired".
• Reminders. Counted from when you send the quote, Attest reminds the customer every 3 days by default, or every day, every 2 days or every week, at most 5 times, and each reminder states the expiry date. Remind emails the link again whenever you choose; it restarts the automatic reminders' clock and doesn't count toward the 5.
• Your countersignature. Check Add me as a signer (sign in-app, no email), pick In order under Signing order, then next to I sign choose Last: the customer signs first, and you countersign the same document. You get no email for your turn: once the customer has signed, the quote moves to Action needed, with a Sign button on its row.
• What the customer fills in. Besides signature, initials, date signed and full name fields, a Text field asks for anything else: set What to enter to "Purchase order number" and make it required or optional.
• A note. The Message (optional) appears in the invitation email and on the signing page, a good place for "This quote is valid until March 31."
• More than one approver. A document can have up to 20 signers, so the buyer and their finance approver can both sign.

When the deal changes

• Before the customer signs: click Void on the old quote, confirm with Void agreement, and send the new one. The customer is emailed that the quote was withdrawn, their link says so if they open it, and a document voided before anyone signed is given back to your allowance.
• After it's signed: send the change as its own order form or change order that names the original. Each one is a separate signed record with its own fingerprint and anchor. Trades businesses can see quotes, estimates and change orders for contractors.
• If the customer says no: they can click Decline to sign, which closes the quote for everyone and emails you.

Know where every quote stands

The dashboard sorts your documents into tabs, Action needed, Waiting on others, Completed, Drafts and All, and each document shows its signers, its steps and its Activity: every step with its time, in your time zone. (The audit trail inside the signed copy is a separate record, in UTC, up to completion.) A quote you aren't ready to send waits as a draft with Save as draft.

Keep your pricing private

Discounts, margins and custom terms are exactly what a competitor would like to see. Attest encrypts every quote in your browser before upload, and only you and the customer can open it, in your own browsers; Attest stores it only as ciphertext it can't read. We compared 21 e-signature services in October 2026, Attest and 20 others, and Attest was the only one that end-to-end encrypts every document, for every signer, by default.

Attest does see the information around a document, such as its title, file name, note and the signers' emails and names. Number your quotes ("Quote 1042") rather than putting the customer and the discount in the title, and choose Private under Verification if you don't want a public certificate showing the title and each signer's name, among other details.

Attest or a proposal tool such as PandaDoc

Some teams build quotes inside a proposal tool. PandaDoc, for example, includes a quote builder, pricing tables and a product catalog on its Business plan, at $65 per user a month, or $49 per user a month billed annually; its Starter plan is $35 per user a month, or $19 per user a month billed annually (prices as published in PandaDoc's help center on October 12, 2026). PandaDoc says "Data is encrypted when traveling and at rest", as published on October 12, 2026.

With Attest, the customer signs the PDF your accounting, CRM or quoting software already produces: $5 a month for 20 documents, with every quote end-to-end encrypted, the customer's own passkey signature, and a signed copy that verifies even without Attest. See Attest vs PandaDoc for the full comparison.

How to send a quote for signature

1. Export the quote or order form as a PDF of up to 8 MB.
2. Open Documents in the menu (it reads Agreements on accounts that use every Attest tool) and click New agreement.
3. Give it a Title such as "Quote 1042", click Attach the document to be signed and choose the PDF.
4. Under Signers, type the customer's email address. To countersign, check Add me as a signer (sign in-app, no email), pick In order under Signing order, and choose Last.
5. Set Expires (optional) to the quote's last valid day and choose the Reminders interval. Add a Message (optional) if you like.
6. Click Next: place the fields, place the customer's signature and date signed fields, plus a Text field for their purchase order number, and click Create and send.
7. If the customer is new to Attest, Attest emails you once they have set up their key. Click Unlock it for … in that email (or open the agreement in Attest), confirm, and approve with your passkey: your browser releases it to them, never Attest.
8. When the customer has signed, the quote moves to Action needed (you aren't emailed for your own turn). Click Sign on its row and approve with your passkey, then click View the signed copy and Download signed copy.

What it costs

Your first 2 documents are free, in total. After that, the Signing plan is $5 a month for 20 documents sent for signature, and you can cancel any time. Customers never pay, on any plan. If you send more than 20 quotes a month, Pro is $49 a month with 10,000 records, one per document you send.