Shoeboxed now tags scanned receipts for you

Receipt-scanning service Shoeboxed just launched a new feature that automatically files scanned receipts into one of 15 expense categories. These include groceries, gas, and travel expenses, which you can view simply by clicking on them. Users can also create their own expense categories, although there's currently no way to have the service auto-tag expenses by keyword.

In addition to new receipts, users will find a good number of their old receipts categorized. Dan Englander, Shoeboxed's VP of Communications says some may not get the tagging treatment if the system can't find a match, but that a "large majority" have.

Users of Mint.com and other online banking services have been enjoying auto-categorization for some time now, but keep in mind these places are getting the information digitally. Shoeboxed must first scan your receipts then run them through optical character recognition. The categorization is not just for the scanned receipts though; any online receipts you "CC" Shoeboxed with will get tagged too.

If an item fits into a category it's now automatically tagged with it for easy sorting later on.

(Credit: Shoeboxed / CNET Networks)

[1812dave]

Not sure I'd want to use that service if it was free. FIrst of all, I don't want to MAIL my receipts. That entails 4 issues: 1)Privacy, 2)Loss of receipts, 3)The need to copy important receipts, and 4) it takes time from decision to mail a batch of receipts until I get results.

I've got a scanner/fax/printer/copier. Why not (for the moment pretending I WANT to computerize my receipts) simply scan the receipts at home and have a character recognition based program on my computer do what Shoeboxed purported does? I think they should created software that could work on my PC. That saves me the hassle of mailing & copying and is more timely. If I wanted to add the most recent receipts to view a current report of expenditures I wouldn't have to wait for Shoeboxed to receive my MAILED in receipts. I could scan, wait for the software to turn the receipts into usable data, and view/print a report. THAT'S a much better process, IMO. And entails no privacy issues.

[byrontx]

NeatReceipts works great!

[danenglander]

@1812dave: Thanks for your comment, and you're certainly not the first to bring up those concerns. Let me talk a little bit about our security practices and why scanning receipts yourself might not be the best solution out there.

Security is an issue we take extremely seriously and we've experienced extremely good deliverability of Shoeboxed envelopes (>99%). Shoeboxed SSL technology is certified by Thawte, so that all communication between your computer and Shoeboxed's servers is encrypted. Our privacy policies have been reviewed by TRUSTe, a nonprofit ensuring that companies have fair and consumer-friendly privacy practices. McAfee checks for vulnerabilities in Shoeboxed's code every single day, making sure that Shoeboxed is protected against known attacks. Furthermore, Shoeboxed has been recommended by several third parties organizations, such as ID Theft Protect as a helpful and secure service to help protect yourself against identity theft.

The one big problem with scanning receipts yourself is that it takes a long time. If you're not too great about keeping on top of your pile of receipts, it can hours (or days, if you're like I was) to get all your receipts scanned and ready for the accountant. I would never wish that on anyone, especially our clients that send us bulk scans with thousands of receipts that they've been accumulating over the years. Catch up and stay on top of your receipt problem using Shoeboxed.

Dan Englander
Shoeboxed.com

[superswiss]

Why deal with paper receipts at all if you can simply keep electronic records by downloading all your bank, credit card and investment transactions to say Quicken and properly categorize them there, most of them get categorized automatically. Many financial institutions today provide online banking and either have direct integration into applications like Quicken or Money or allow you to download the transactions in a format that can be imported by the respective application. Paper receipts are good for one thing only, returns. Keep the receipts for the stuff you might return until you can no longer return it and then shred them. When tax time comes around all the data is ready and can even be imported by tax software making filing your taxes a breeze.

[humanssssss]

Shoeboxed claimed to have $500M worth of receipt. Are they lying?

[noelr73]

Both Shoeboxed and NeatReceipts have downsides in my view:

Shoeboxed somehow assumes that International users like myself don't need our receipts returned to us. They simply shred them. I want parity with US users and have those darned receipts back.

NeatReceipts have a, well, neat idea, but also need to cater to the UK market. There is no obvious rival this side of the pond.

[matt_collins]

@noelr73: ReceiptFarm is offering a similar service in the UK. We do return your receipts.

[jrdanephd]

Is Shoeboxed data compatible with Quickbooks? If not directly so, does anyone have experience with jury rigging a transfer into Quickbooks (2010 Premium)?

Thanks!