Who DocuSign is
DocuSign is an electronic signature company, founded in 2003, based in San Francisco and listed on Nasdaq; it now writes its name as Docusign. Its eSignature product sends, signs and tracks documents, and it is building a wider platform it calls Intelligent Agreement Management.
In the EU, it covers the eIDAS signature levels: it supports advanced and qualified electronic signatures, and Docusign France is a qualified trust service provider on the trusted list kept by France's ANSSI. Organisations of all sizes use it for contracts and onboarding paperwork, which is why it is one of the electronic signature providers our merchant onboarding module connects to.
What it does in your platform
Merchant onboarding
Has each approved merchant sign their agreement inside your app, with the terms and limits your underwriters set. The signed agreement and its status come back to the module, and the merchant can start taking payments.
How the connection works
One connector in the merchant onboarding module talks to DocuSign's eSignature REST API. The app never holds DocuSign's keys; it only opens a signing link made for this merchant, which works once.
The merchant is approved
Their checks pass, and the module prepares the agreement with the terms and limits set for them.
An envelope is sent
The module creates a DocuSign envelope with the agreement, and the merchant's signer as an embedded recipient.
A signing link is made
When the merchant reaches the signing step, the module asks DocuSign for a signing link. It expires after five minutes and works once.
The merchant signs
DocuSign's signing session opens inside your app, and the merchant reviews and signs without leaving it.
Connect reports back
DocuSign Connect sends the envelope's status as a webhook, signed with HMAC-SHA256, and the module checks the signature before it acts.
Ready to take payments
The signed agreement lands in the merchant's record in the backoffice, and the merchant can start taking payments.
Next to other providers
DocuSign sits in the module's electronic signature, next to Dropbox Sign. The agreement, the signing step and the merchant's record belong to the module, so the onboarding flow around the signature stays the same whichever provider runs it.
Adding Dropbox Sign next to DocuSign, or moving away from it later, does not change your app, and agreements already signed stay in the merchant's record with the provider that handled them.
When DocuSign fits best
A strong fit when
- Your agreements need advanced or qualified electronic signatures under eIDAS.
- Your organisation already signs other contracts with DocuSign, and you want merchant agreements in the same account.
- You want templates and signing workflows that your legal team manages in DocuSign.
Also worth a look
- Dropbox Sign, if your team already works with it.
- A signature provider you already have a contract with: it becomes a connector too.
How we get you live
The contract
We help you get your DocuSign account and contract in place, with the signature levels your agreements need.
The agreement
We set up the agreement template with you: the fields the module fills for each merchant and where the merchant signs.
The keys
The API credentials and the Connect HMAC key go into your platform's secrets and nowhere else, so every status update is proven to come from DocuSign.
A full test run
The whole flow runs in DocuSign's demo environment, where documents are for testing and not legally binding, before your first real merchant.
