Some jobs are held for a formal quote. After you submit, the job sits at Submitted while the agency configures it; if the price needs your sign-off, it moves to Estimate and stops. Nothing is produced and no one is assigned until you decide.
This is separate from the running price in the order form — that figure is explained in Create a Transcription. This page is about the decision.
Where it appears
You’re emailed when the estimate is ready, with a link straight to it. In the app it shows in three places: the Estimates tab of Action Required, a Review Estimate action on the job’s row in the Active list, and an Estimate Pending box on the job’s own overview. All four routes open the same decision, showing the total, duration, page count, and due date.
Approving
Approve releases the job into production straight away — to Deposit first if the job carries one, otherwise into Transcribing. You’re emailed again when the transcript is finished.
Declining cancels the job
Decline cancels the job permanently. It is not a request for a revised price and not a hold — the job closes on the spot, no work is performed, and there is no way to undo it. Wanting the transcript later means a new job from scratch.
Because of that, Decline never fires on the first click: a confirmation screen spells out what’s about to happen, and only the second button cancels.
If the price or turnaround is the problem, contact the agency instead of declining — while the job sits at Estimate they can adjust it and send a fresh estimate. Once declined, that conversation starts over from a new submission.
No email confirms a decline. The “Estimate Declined” screen is the only confirmation you get, and the job then shows Canceled in your list.
The link in the email
It opens the estimate without signing in, so you can decide from a phone or forward it to whoever makes the call. It’s single use, and it doesn’t expire on a timer — what retires it is the decision, by any route. Once the estimate is decided, including by a colleague in the app, any copy of the link shows the outcome instead, with a button to sign in. Declining from the link goes through the same confirmation step.
Who can decide
Anyone with shared job access to the account can approve or decline, not only the person who submitted. Only the first decision counts — whoever acts first wins, and a second attempt is told the estimate has already been processed. If you’d rather a colleague couldn’t make that call on your jobs, review who holds shared access before an estimate goes out. 
