Negotiation and Requested Changes
When a signer proposes edits instead of signing. The request-changes flow, clause discussion, and resolution.
A signer who will not sign as-is has two doors: decline outright, or Request changes. The negotiation path. It keeps the deal alive inside Docshark instead of dissolving into email attachments.
From the signer's side
Choosing Request changes in the signing menu lets them propose edits, rewording a clause, changing a date, flagging a section, attached to the document they were asked to sign. The proposal arrives with their identity and the context of exactly what they were looking at.
On your side
- Change requests land in the Inbox and on the envelope. The signer shows as having requested changes rather than silently stalled.
- The thread keeps the discussion on the document. What was proposed, what you counter with, what resolves.
- Resolution paths: accept and correct, the envelope is corrected and the signer gets the updated document on the same thread; decline the change, the request closes with your answer recorded; void and resend. For changes big enough to be a new document.
The record
Negotiation is audited like everything else: the request, the proposed text, the resolution, and the outcome all land in the envelope's trail. Months later the record shows not just that they signed, but what they asked for first. Context that matters in a dispute.
Negotiation vs decline
- Decline. "I won't sign this." The envelope halts; the reason is recorded. See declines.
- Request changes. "I'd sign a version of this." The envelope pauses; a conversation opens.
Signer behavior tells you which door they chose. The envelope always shows the current state, and either path beats silence.