How to Sign a Bill of Sale Online (and When It Needs a Notary)

You can sign a bill of sale online by opening the document in a browser-based signer, adding your signature and the date, and downloading the signed PDF to send to the other party. Before you do, check one thing: whether the bill of sale needs to be notarized. If it does, do not sign it in advance. The notary has to watch you sign.

For a lot of private sales, such as a used bike, a piece of furniture, a laptop or camera equipment, a signed bill of sale is simply a record that both sides agree on what was sold and for how much. For vehicles, boats and trailers it is often part of the paperwork a registration office will look at, and that is where local rules start to matter. This guide walks through signing the document itself, getting both signatures on it, and the situations where an electronic signature is not enough.

First, check whether a notary or wet signature is required

Requirements vary by state, country and the type of item being sold. In the US, many private sales need nothing more than both parties' signatures, but some motor-vehicle offices ask for a notarized bill of sale, and some want original ink signatures on specific forms. The same variation exists elsewhere.

Ask the office that will process the transfer, usually the motor-vehicle registration office for a car, what it accepts. Three answers are possible:

• Signatures only, electronic is fine. Sign online and send the PDF. This is the easy path.
• Notarization required. Leave the signature lines blank until you are in front of a notary, either in person or through a remote online notarization service if your state allows it. Signing beforehand can mean starting over.
• Their own form, signed in ink. Some offices only accept a specific official form with original signatures. Use that form as instructed.

Electronic signatures are recognized for most everyday agreements under laws such as ESIGN and UETA in the US and eIDAS in the EU, but transfers of certain kinds of property, and documents a government office specifically requires in another format, are exceptions. This is general information, not legal advice.

How to sign a bill of sale online, step by step

Here is how it works on Docsigns, which is free, needs no account and adds no watermark to the signed file.

1. Fill in the bill of sale first. Make sure the buyer's and seller's names, the item description, the price and the sale date are complete before anyone signs. For a vehicle, the description usually includes the make, model, year and VIN.
2. Upload the document. Docsigns accepts PDF, DOC and DOCX files.
3. Create your signature. Draw it with a mouse, trackpad or finger; type your name and pick one of six cursive fonts; or upload an image of your handwritten signature.
4. Place it on the seller or buyer line. Drag it into position and resize it so it sits on the line without covering any text.
5. Add the date. Place a date beside your signature, choosing the date format that matches the rest of the document.
6. Download the signed PDF and open it to check that everything landed where you intended.

If you want a quick overview of the signing flow before you start, the how it works page covers the three steps.

Getting both the buyer's and the seller's signatures

A bill of sale usually needs two signatures. Docsigns does not send signing requests or track who has signed, so the simplest approach is to pass the file between you:

1. The seller signs and dates their line, downloads the PDF and sends it to the buyer by email or message.
2. The buyer uploads that signed PDF, adds their own signature and date on the buyer line, and downloads the final copy.
3. The buyer sends the fully signed copy back, so both sides hold the same document.

If you are completing the sale in person, it is even easier: open the document on one phone and let each person add their signature in turn before downloading.

A note on privacy and file types

A bill of sale contains names, sometimes addresses and a vehicle identification number, so it is fair to ask where the file goes. With Docsigns, a PDF is signed in your browser and is not uploaded. A DOC or DOCX file is different: it is converted to PDF on a server first, and then signed. If you would rather the document not be converted server-side, save it as a PDF from your word processor before you upload it. The privacy policy has the details.

What a bill of sale usually includes

Templates differ, but most contain the same core details. Check that yours has them before signing, because a signature on an incomplete document is not much use to either side.

Section	What goes in it	Why it matters
Parties	Full names (and often addresses) of buyer and seller	Identifies who agreed to the sale
Item description	What was sold; for vehicles, make, model, year, VIN and often odometer reading	Ties the document to one specific item
Price and payment	Sale price and how it was paid	Records the agreed amount
Date	The date of the sale	Marks when ownership changed hands
Condition terms	Often an "as is" statement	Sets expectations about the item's condition
Signatures	Buyer and seller, with dates	Shows both parties agreed

Common mistakes that cause problems later

• Signing before the details are final. If the price or the item description changes after one person has signed, start again with a corrected document rather than editing around the signature.
• Mismatched copies. When the file goes back and forth, make sure the buyer signs the version the seller already signed, not an older unsigned copy from an earlier email.
• Missing dates. A signature without a date leaves the moment of sale unclear. Add the date next to each signature.
• Signing a notarized form early. If the office requires notarization, a signature added in advance usually has to be redone in front of the notary.
• Typos in the VIN or serial number. Compare the number on the document with the one on the item itself before anyone signs. A single wrong character can cause trouble at registration.

What to do after signing

• Both parties keep a copy. Save the final PDF somewhere you will find it later, with a clear file name that includes the item and the date.
• Handle the official transfer separately. For a vehicle, the bill of sale is usually one piece of the process; the title transfer and registration have their own forms and steps.
• Keep payment records. A bank transfer receipt or other proof of payment sits well alongside the signed document.

What an online signature can and cannot do here

Docsigns adds an electronic signature to your document: your drawn, typed or uploaded signature placed on the page. It is not a qualified digital signature backed by a certificate from a trust service provider, and it does not notarize anything. For most private sales, where both parties simply need a signed record, that is all the document calls for. When an office specifically requires notarization, a qualified signature or its own ink-signed form, follow its rules instead.

If you have other paperwork to deal with, the Docsigns blog covers signing leases, invoices, NDAs and more, and about Docsigns explains what the tool is built to do.