123notary is in a huge competition with Snapdocs right now. We are looking at what they do, and what seems like a good idea versus what seems counterproductive. 123notary caters to Notaries on large budgets who pay for wide coverage. Snapdocs caters to people looking for Notaries who want a Notary with the right quality / proximity ratio or algorithm. Our priorities are not the same and hence our algorithms are not either. Snapdocs wins on convenience, but 123notary wins on knowledge.

On Snapdocs, a company searching can set a radius as wide or narrow as they like. And Notaries can only have one zip code on file.

On 123notary, Notaries who have money to spend can sign up all over the nation and a handful do. Our system of showing Notaries where they don’t live is controversial. It helps Notaries promote themselves, but might be annoying to those who want to find someone close. Hmmm.

Snapdocs has 60,000 Notaries, yet only a few hundred are people I would consider hiring. But, you can always find people really close if you want.

123notary has about 7000 online Notaries of whom I would try out at least one thousand. We tend to show Notaries who are a bit farther if we consider them to be better.

So, what is the bottom line — adjustable radius, smart customized radius, or keep it the way it is? Our radius is already customized based on what area you are in by the way, but we could customize it more intricately in the future if you like.

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What Notaries don’t like about Snapdocs
http://blog.123notary.com/?p=21246

Title companies use the top three on 123notary
http://blog.123notary.com/?p=21282

I have noticed over the last two years that the profiles of Snapdocs members have been getting more impressive. You see Notaries with more experience, a better repertoire of loans under their belt, and better looking photos of Notaries as well. If I didn’t know any better, I would think that those Notaries were the top of the line. However, I keep test scores of Notaries and have learned that the Notaries who look good on Snapdocs don’t necessarily actually know anything about how to be a notary or signing agent. They merely look good and probably respond to texts really fast.

The equation here is speed versus knowledge. It is hard to get both in one Notary. Notaries who have experience and a wide variety of jobs under their belt have experience that is worth noting. However, book knowledge versus experience rarely seem to add up. I have quizzed those who have no experience who studied and they can sometimes score a high grade on my quiz while those with twenty years of experience can fail.

The moral of the story is that in the Notary industry, it is hard to find a single Notary with purely positive attributes. Here are the attributes I consider important.

1. Getting back to people (an attribute of communication)
No matter how smart or experienced you are, if you don’t return phone calls or emails, you are basically worthless. Snapdocs capitalizes on this and in essence requires responsiveness to survive on their platform.

2. Attitude
If you are the best Notary in the world, but talk back to people and are generally rude, you will ruin everyone’s day.

3. Speed
Snapdocs seems to capitalize on this virtue quite effectively. If you get back to people fast, it is easier to work with you, even if you are not the best notary.

4. Knowledge
A well studied Notary is a lot less likely to make mistakes than one who is just winging it. This quality is more of a 123notary attribute.

5. Experience
Having experience on the street looks impressive on your resume and profile. It means you are less likely to make certain types of mistakes because you would have been put through the meat grinder many times already if you were making those mistakes. However, there are knowledge related mistakes that the most experienced Notaries make daily without even knowing it because most of them refuse to read notary manuals or study up!

6. Quality of Interaction
Some Notaries do not know how to have a professional phone call. If you read our articles on professionalism and etiquette you can see the details.

7. Maintaining a profile
Sometimes the best Notaries in the world write the worst notes sections and do not maintain their profiles.

Summary
To sum it up, Snapdocs is very good at point 1 and 3 which are at the top of my list. However, they are lacking in most other points. The reason for this is that the type of clients who use Snapdocs do not want to invest in knowledgeable Notaries as it is too expensive. After you pay Snapdocs their hefty fee and pay the Notary their low-ball fee, you will want a profit if you are a signing company.

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Snapdocs – when the texts stop
http://blog.123notary.com/?p=21163

Compilation of posts about Snapdocs
http://blog.123notary.com/?p=21531

How does pricing work for top placements on 123notary?
http://blog.123notary.com/?p=19355

Different Notaries have different experiences. I notice that some Notaries login to Snapdocs every day to gain high placement in the algorithm. Others do nothing but complain of low fees and bad offers. A few Notaries tend to negotiate higher fees and sometimes get away with it. One Notarycomplained that if he doesn’t answer texts right away, he doesn’t get any offers. But, now he says he doesn’t get any offers at all.

Snapdocs has a preference system. If you are the Notary picked, you get a text first and a few minutes to respond. If you don’t get back to them, they auto-text a handful of other nearby Notaries. The system makes sense, but the pay is still low.

So, what has YOUR experience been like with Snapdocs?

Also read:
Comments on our blog and forum about snapdocs
http://blog.123notary.com/?p=21299

Snapdocs has a good algorithm that sorts their Notaries well. The better ones are on top based on their reviews and performance and how recently they logged in. But, some of them are no longer in business unfortunately. Snapdocs lets you know if they have logged in during the last 45 days, but beyond that it is a crap shoot. There are many has beens on that site. Hmmm. The other problem is that their best Notaries are not that great and the general overall quality of Notaries on their site is dismal, but their technology is super.

I guess the various sites have different business models.

Snapdocs focuses on great technological platforms.
123notary focuses on having the best Notaries.
NotaryRotary has the closest Notaries and also has many high quality Notaries.
Signingagent.com has the best quantity of Notaries and NNA Certified, but not necessarily experienced or serious.

So, for each need, there is a niche in the market. The problem is that there are so many tens of thousands of mobile notaries, it is hard to keep track of all of them.

The other thing about Snapdocs that is interesting is that they show you Notaries who are really close to the job. Normally within 12 miles. That is great, but in areas where there aren’t so many Notaries you might not get so many good choices, and if you did, the choices would be too far. I guess it is hard to win.

123notary has the opposite problem. We list people who serve particular areas regardless of how far away they are, within reason. If they are more than 60 miles away, I generally do not list people that far unless it is a very remote area.

So, who provides the best search? I guess that depends on your search needs!

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You might also like:

Compilation of posts about Snapdocs
http://blog.123notary.com/?p=21531

How does pricing work for top placements on 123notary?
http://blog.123notary.com/?p=19355