The problem
Certified translations of birth certificates, marriage certificates and driving licenses are small fixed-price jobs, but each one starts with emails asking for a clearer scan, which document it is, how the customer will pay and where to post it. At 40 orders a month and 20 minutes of back-and-forth each, that's over 13 hours a month of admin on $60£45€54A$86C$85 jobs.
What the AI does
Tally is a form builder whose free plan includes file uploads, calculations and payments through Stripe; Tally's help page says it adds no fees on top of Stripe's. Build one order form: document type and language pair (which sets the price), a scan upload, the purpose (for example a visa application), delivery choice and contact details, then card payment. Stripe sends the customer a receipt. Each paid order reaches you complete, and a linguist translates and certifies it as usual.
A worked example
A translation agency in Birmingham handles about 40 certified document translations a month at $60£45€54A$86C$85 each, many for visa and university applications. It puts the order form on its certified translations page.
Before
40 orders a month at 20 minutes of emails each: about 13.3 hours
After
40 complete, paid orders at about 5 minutes each to check: about 3.3 hours
What it's worth
About $399£300€357A$576C$564 a month in time saved: 10 hours (13.3 down to 3.3) at an assumed $40£30€36A$58C$56 an hour. Tally's free plan covers the form and payments; Stripe's fee for standard UK cards is 1.5% + 20p, about 88p on a $60£45€54A$86C$85 order, so about $47£35€42A$67C$66 a month on 40 orders.
How to set it up
- List your fixed-price documents and prices, and what you need for each: both sides, all pages, clear scans.
- Build the Tally form with a calculated price from document type and language pair, a file upload and a payment block connected to a free Stripe account.
- Add your delivery options and turnaround, and say clearly what certification you provide and what you don't (for example, notarisation).
- Test the form with a real card and a small amount, then refund it.
- Set a routine to delete uploaded scans once the job is delivered and your retention period ends.
What goes wrong
- Scans of certificates and passports are personal data. Say in your privacy notice how long you keep them, and delete them on schedule.
- Tally's free plan limits uploads to 10 MB per file; ask for PDFs or photos rather than huge scans.
- Emails to the customer from Tally itself need Tally Pro at €20 (about $23£17€20A$33C$32) a month; on the free plan, the customer gets Stripe's payment receipt and your own email.
- Some authorities need notarised or sworn translations, not just certified. Make your form say what you provide so customers don't order the wrong thing.