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I don't mark receipts as spam, but I do delete them without opening them and I really can't blame the people who mark them as spam. When I buy something, I get

I don't mark receipts as spam, but I do delete them without opening them and I really can't blame the people who mark them as spam. When I buy something, I get a notification from my bank, instantly, that's basically the receipt in a standardized compact form (2 lines of text) with the amount in my local currency. This is much more useful than the receipts online stores send where the relevant details are buried in some huge html template and the amount needs to be converted. When I buy something in a physical store they have the decency to ask if I want a receipt. I don't understand why that's such a hard concept for online stores/services to get, ask me if I want a receipt, don't just stick it in my inbox because you have my email address.

nl 4y ago
For accounting purposes the bank receipt will rarely have the details needed for tax (eg in Australia that don't include the ABN).
- chillfox 4y ago
  The vast majority of the things I buy don't need receipts to be kept and reported for tax. It's personal stuff like a streaming subscription, a book or a game. And the times I have tried to claim expenses as work related (in Australia) that I bought online I have run into the problem that the receipt provided by the company is ambiguous (not sufficient by itself) because amounts were just specified with a $ symbol instead of USD/AUD.
  - nl 4y ago
    > have run into the problem that the receipt provided by the company is ambiguous (not sufficient by itself) because amounts were just specified with a $ symbol instead of USD/AUD Claiming expenses is different to tax requirements. With tax you need the receipt as a record, but the general ledger actually records the amount in whatever currency you use. For expense claims every company does it differently.
    - chillfox 4y ago
      I mean, the few times I have handed a receipt to an accountant to do my tax they have asked me what currency it's in and I have had to go to the bank records to answer that. Anyway, it's besides the point. The point is that online stores should ask, a tick box would do, as the majority of the time I don't want the receipt and don't need it for anything at all.
dijit 4y ago
> When I buy something in a physical store they have the decency to ask if I want a receipt. I don't understand why that's such a hard concept for online stores/services to get, ask me if I want a receipt 2 things though. 1) Your goods arent given to you at point of sale with online transactions. what happens then if it doesn't show up? tracking numbers aren’t always generated on the fly (it depends mostly on the postal service being used if the site can pre-generate tracking numbers). 2) How do you return the item, if you have no proof of purchase? You could say “keep it in my account” but then how do we even keep an account for you if we cant even verify your email address for password reset mails?
- chillfox 4y ago
  1) A lot of the things I buy are electronic, so yes, I get them immediately at point of sale. And if that's not the case then how about asking me if I would like an email with a tracking number when it ships? 2) I have never had to show an email as proof when returning something, usually they know damn well that I bought and paid for it. In general it seems like you are conflating all the different kinds of email as being one and the same. They are not. I specifically said I don't want receipts by default because they are just spam in the vast majority of cases. I never said anything about email verification emails or shipping emails with tracking numbers. Edit: I just wanted to add that needing a receipt for a refund is a truly alien concept to me. I can’t even imagine how bad the consumer protection laws are where you live. Here, even in physical stores we can just give them the card we used to buy the thing and that’s enough to process a refund.
  - dijit 4y ago
    Im not understanding something here. if you buy something online, IE via an ecommerce site like aliexpress or amazon, how do you get a receipt if you dont have an account. returning an item requires a receipt in the majority of cases unless the product ships directly with a return label.
    - chillfox 4y ago
      Is it even possible to buy anything from those two stores without opening an account? Nope, not here. If you have to return something then you contact the company and they will verify from their records that you bought it, usually by looking up the purchase by the card you used.

nl 4y ago

For accounting purposes the bank receipt will rarely have the details needed for tax (eg in Australia that don't include the ABN).

chillfox 4y ago
The vast majority of the things I buy don't need receipts to be kept and reported for tax. It's personal stuff like a streaming subscription, a book or a game. And the times I have tried to claim expenses as work related (in Australia) that I bought online I have run into the problem that the receipt provided by the company is ambiguous (not sufficient by itself) because amounts were just specified with a $ symbol instead of USD/AUD.
- nl 4y ago
  > have run into the problem that the receipt provided by the company is ambiguous (not sufficient by itself) because amounts were just specified with a $ symbol instead of USD/AUD Claiming expenses is different to tax requirements. With tax you need the receipt as a record, but the general ledger actually records the amount in whatever currency you use. For expense claims every company does it differently.
  - chillfox 4y ago
    I mean, the few times I have handed a receipt to an accountant to do my tax they have asked me what currency it's in and I have had to go to the bank records to answer that. Anyway, it's besides the point. The point is that online stores should ask, a tick box would do, as the majority of the time I don't want the receipt and don't need it for anything at all.

dijit 4y ago

> When I buy something in a physical store they have the decency to ask if I want a receipt. I don't understand why that's such a hard concept for online stores/services to get, ask me if I want a receipt 2 things though. 1) Your goods arent given to you at point of sale with online transactions. what happens then if it doesn't show up? tracking numbers aren’t always generated on the fly (it depends mostly on the postal service being used if the site can pre-generate tracking numbers). 2) How do you return the item, if you have no proof of purchase? You could say “keep it in my account” but then how do we even keep an account for you if we cant even verify your email address for password reset mails?

chillfox 4y ago
1) A lot of the things I buy are electronic, so yes, I get them immediately at point of sale. And if that's not the case then how about asking me if I would like an email with a tracking number when it ships? 2) I have never had to show an email as proof when returning something, usually they know damn well that I bought and paid for it. In general it seems like you are conflating all the different kinds of email as being one and the same. They are not. I specifically said I don't want receipts by default because they are just spam in the vast majority of cases. I never said anything about email verification emails or shipping emails with tracking numbers. Edit: I just wanted to add that needing a receipt for a refund is a truly alien concept to me. I can’t even imagine how bad the consumer protection laws are where you live. Here, even in physical stores we can just give them the card we used to buy the thing and that’s enough to process a refund.
- dijit 4y ago
  Im not understanding something here. if you buy something online, IE via an ecommerce site like aliexpress or amazon, how do you get a receipt if you dont have an account. returning an item requires a receipt in the majority of cases unless the product ships directly with a return label.
  - chillfox 4y ago
    Is it even possible to buy anything from those two stores without opening an account? Nope, not here. If you have to return something then you contact the company and they will verify from their records that you bought it, usually by looking up the purchase by the card you used.