Signing contracts

[kiriska.livejournal.com]

I know most artists don't handle formal contracts for commissions, and for non-commercial work, I do tend to feel that a good ToS is sufficient. For commercial projects though, or private commissions involving larger sums of money, I would feel a lot better with a signed contract with specific details pertaining to the project at hand. But signing contracts with people all over the country and internationally can be difficult when 1) no one uses fax machines anymore, and 2) not very many people know how to utilize Adobe Acrobat's digital signing capabilities.

Is there a better way to deal with it other than mailing out two copies of a signed physical contract, having the client sign them, and then having them one mail it back? Or having the client print, sign, and scan the contract? The former has a long wait time and a lot of hassle, especially if the project happens to be on a deadline. The latter requires the client have a scanner.

Thanks for any insight. :O