I recently decided to try keeping digital copies (scans, photos etc.) of receipts to prevent the physical receipts from piling up. I'm currently trialling Shoeboxed.
My main concern with keeping receipts digitally is what happens if I'm looking to return an item. Has anyone had any experience with returning items using digital copies of the receipt? Does anybody know of any store policies in relation to this?
Never had a issue - done it multiple times for returns and for warranty purposes. I just bring a print out along.
Originals sometimes fade, so it's better to have the scanned receipt.
Excellent. That's good to know. Thanks for the feedback guys.
Yep, I've been doing this for a while. Scan everything to PDF and whack it in Dropbox. Have never had a print out or digital copy refused when needing to refund.
Yes, when I went to exchange a faulty electrical item, I had Target try to tell me they wanted the original receipt from 11 months earlier. I informed them that a scanned copy is good enough for the ATO so it should be good enough for them. Copy accepted.
They can't technically demand the receipt, simply proof of purchase. I had a target one that faded to totally blank within 3 or 4 months. Have had the same thing happen with Bunnings receipts.
We took a digital copy to Bunnings around 10 or 12 months ago and were told they required the original, even if it had faded to blank. Idiots!
I had a similar Bunnings experience, being told that I needed both the legible digital copy and the faded paper receipt, but they gave me the exchange anyway. (Exchanged item under warranty). I then escalated the matter and was told clearly by my local "complex manager" that Bunnings policy accepts just the digital copy.
Same here, been doing this since 2009. Have never had a problem. I usually put them in evernote to make them easier to search. If I ever need to return or do a warranty exchange I just print it out. Once or twice I did forget to bring the printouts but showing the page on my phone worked fine too.
I don't know how many times I've been told to take a copy of the receipt for warranty as the receipt will fade (think register dockets and I'm sure Bunnings was in the mix there). Simplest way is to scan it, then if required I print it out. If the retailers are telling us to make a copy, then why not make it digital.
I am very interested in this. I have a Nexus 4 with a crappy camera, would that be enough?
I never really found Evernote much useful, but it I guess it would be perfect for this.
Is the camera faulty, or you just don't like it? If it's faulty, take it back, if you've had the use of the Nexus for some months it would be hard to convince a shop that they should accept it back because you have decided you don't like it.
One reason Evernote is particularly good for storing receipts is its OCR capability. I can search for text from the actual receipt when I'm looking to find the right one.
I do this too, recently had to return a microwave to Myer due to fault, silly me didn't scan the bar code at the bottom (it was cut off and I didn't realise) however they just went with the receipt number. My tip would be to scan at a decent quality to ensure everything is legible.