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Ask HN: paperless receipts

7 points by zemanel ↗ HN
After paying up on a coffee shop yesterday, i was wondering how much paper is wasted on receipts all around the world.

I don't know if are there any solutions out there (i live in Portugal), but what i've thought of was that a service could be implemented that would setup a device at the venues that would generate a bar/qr code for the bill, which could be scanned by the customer using a mobile app.

the mobile app could even integrate with an on-line personal finance management app.

what do you think?

29 comments

[ 27.2 ms ] story [ 818 ms ] thread
dreamux
The Apple stores (in Canada, at least) have the ability to email receipts to the email address associated with your credit card instead of printing one. By the time I walk out the door my phone buzzes with a copy of my receipt coming into my inbox. I absolutely love this - it also helps that I don't have to save my receipts for warranties since I can instead just run a search for them.

I hope more stores catch onto this model.

zemanel
that would be great.

Apple can do that because you can register an account online with Apple and they get your info (e-mail) by looking up your credit card?

A general solution would have to work with small businesses that don't have online services, which i assume being the majority out there.

dreamux
Actually, I'm not sure if they cross-reference credit card numbers with itunes accounts or if its done through the credit card company; but I think this should be a service that credit card companies offer merchants... perhaps to help justify their massive merchant fees.
nantes
This is an interesting approach. Right now, credit cards don't get itemized receipts (afaik), just totals to charge to the customer's account.

For a service like this to be really useful to me, I would want itemized receipts.

saw-lau
Works in Apple Stores in the UK, as well, so I imagine it's worldwide.
timrobinson
The other thing I like about Apple stores (the UK ones, at least) is that you don't have to walk anywhere to pay. The last time I went there, the guy entered my purchase into his iPod, then scanned a bar code on the nearest chip & pin machine. This was then the designated chip & pin machine that I could put my card into.
timrobinson
I like the idea of electronic receipts. If you weren't bothered about wasting paper you could print the code on the paper receipt; otherwise, you'd need a dedicated device to transmit the QR code.

I wonder how big the QR code needs to be in order to encode all the information on the receipt; those thermal receipt printers aren't that great. How about an app that uses the phone camera to scan the entire receipt, then reads the text? That way you don't need any dedicated equipment at all.

I've always liked how the Apple store sends me a receipt to my email address. However, I'm not sure I'd like to give my email address to every coffee shop just so they could mail me a PDF.

zemanel
Scanning the receipt from paper wouldn't eliminate the receipt, which is the "problem"
timrobinson
There's two problems: wasting paper and having to manually enter the receipt into an expenses system. You don't have to solve both problems at once.
zemanel
yes, but i was wondering about the 1st one, which would have a large impact on the rain forests :)

As for #2, i'd say there are so many different formats of receipts that it could prove unfeasible, although just extracting the receipt values could be done, i guess.

zemanel
the advantage i see in the business owner signing up, as opposed to a more detached solution, it that the business could be categorized in the "backend" (by industry type and etc), and that information would help automatically tagging the receipts (expense type), for example
timrobinson
Stores tend to put their name on the receipt (or at least the large ones do), which you could cross-reference against a list on the server. Alternatively, if you've used your phone to capture the receipt, you've got probably got geotagging information on the image.
nantes
Perhaps this is an intance where a central service could aggregate e-receipts for customers. I could see this being linked to loyalty programs from major grocers, gas stations, etc.

You could then manage your preferences with the central service who could email you receipts or just store them for you indefinitely.

timrobinson
I'd find this useful if I'm travelling on business. Right now I have to keep a week of receipts safe somewhere and bring them back - coffee, restaurants, taxis etc. Then I go back and type the details into the corporate expense system, and put the paper receipts into an envelope.

I'd be happier if somebody looked after the receipts for me (in the cloud?) and saved me the effort of typing them in when I got back.

hugorodrigues
Delicious idea. hard implementation, mostly because (in)compatibility with existing hardware/software already in stores.

One way to minimize the compatibility issue with existing software, is create a (hardware) printer (generic), that print on screen, and generate the barcode so the user may scan.

i love the part of "integrate with an on-line personal finance". there are also some legal issues.

bring it on!

zemanel
nice thoughts. I'm not planning to make something out of this, i'm just wondering about it
nantes
I think the key would be to find a company to partner with (say Krogers?) that would, with the customer's approval share the data from their loyalty programs that, in theory, store it.

This way the customer only needs to take one action, opt-in when signing up for the loyalty program, as opposed to scanning a barcode or QR code for every purchase.

timthorn
It wouldn't be hard for eg the Nectar card in the UK to be extended to support this. The principal use case I see is for expense submission rather than personal accounting; rather than having to photocopy each receipt and send them all to finance, log on to the loyalty card website and tick the transactions that need to be shared with one's employer.
timrobinson
Do Nectar currently provide this information to customers? If they did then you could put together a quick hack that scraped their web site for the data.
timthorn
The information available goes down to transaction level. I get the store name and location, date and amount spent for every purchase.

What is missing is a description of the line items, which would be required for expense reports. It's all very well me saying I spent £20 at Sainsbury's, but my company would want to know what on...

timrobinson
Right: I'd imagine that in order to persuade companies (i.e. corporate expenses departments) to accept these receipts, they'd have to be convinced that they were the same as the paper originals.
timthorn
Indeed - and more importantly, HMRC (the tax office) would need to accept their integrity. But, Nectar is a sufficiently large organisation as to be able to offer such assurances and for corporates to accept their word - backed up by contractuals, I'm sure!
pedrolima
I would love to have this kind of solution. Not only to save trees but also avoid having a wallet full of small papers. My wallet looks like a fat monster most of the time.
CoachRufus87
I think that a problem this large would (perhaps) be best solved by the credit card companies themselves (unless folks don't mind giving out their email address to every cashier). They already know who I am, what I'm buying, and when, so it'd make sense if they were to handle the digital receipt as well.

But I highly doubt they'd implement this b/c its not their core business.

[dead] thenonhacker
CHOICE: At the least is to offer an option to store receipts along with the Credit or Debit card transaction.

PRIVACY: Offer an option to just store the total amount and don't include the specific items purchased.

MICROFORMATS: It would require a standard format (presumably XML) for the receipt data for any store.

mmv2
http://paperphobic.com/

I thought something like exists. Just searched a bit on searchyc and got it. This idea does not exactly match your thoughts, but somewhat close.

ncash
The guy who won Entrepreneur magazine's Student Entrepreneur of the Year in 2009 did so with the idea of paperless/digital receipts. You can see his service here:

http://www.3secondreceipts.com/

scottf007
yReceipts offers this service for any retailers already. We are live in the UK and Australia, soon to be live in the US and other European countries. You can send receipts via email from any POS, the customer receives an email with an attached PDF. We have a website where you can login and see your receipts etc.

New features currently being developed include exporting directly to accounting programs. www.yreceipts.com