Receipt bank

Receipt bank

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Do you put the receipts in an envelope and send them off?  And do they send something back that can be imported into Xero?  What are your experiences?  Good value for money?

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By exceljockey
28th Jan 2015 12:17

used it for a while

But I couldn't get the clients to really accept it. Its value for money if you use it every month but if not then not great value as you pay monthly subscriptions. It gets expensive if you want your invoices back which in my experience clients do as they like to  have receipts in case they need to return stuff.

But yes basically you send off the invoices and they come back in a format (online) that you can import into Xero. You need to check it before you import it as it is not 100% fail safe especially if your client has invoices in a category that attracts both VAT and non vat items - i.e. a printer that buys paper, some of which carries VAT and some of which doesn't. You need to ensure that your chart of accounts is really set up to work with receipt bank otherwise its just easier to enter the invoices directly.

Personally I'd say give it a try. I think its a great idea in theory but I wasn't able to discipline my clients to actually use it. I will revisit it.

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By Ken Howard
28th Jan 2015 12:21

Be wary of duplications

As said above, you need to check before you use/import the data.  I had a particular nasty case where loads of stuff ended up being duplicated.

Like where you buy fuel or a restaurant meal and you get two "receipts" - one a till receipt and then a credit card receipt.  I found some were duplicated as the scanner/reader didn't know they were for the same transaction.

Also happened with hotel bookings where you get a sheet of A4 for the advance booking and then another sheet of A4 as you leave with different dates - again ended up being entered twice.

Same where a copy invoice appeared, i.e. where the original was thought to be lost and then turned up after the "copy" had already been scanned.

You (or the client) has to screen the paperwork before it goes to be scanned to remove this kind of duplication.  It's certainly not a "set up and ignore" type of operation.

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By MissAccounting
28th Jan 2015 13:04

Tried it and the sums didnt add up for me.  We use VT and found that you can import the basic details from an invoice quicker than it takes to either post it or scan it (or take a photo on the app) and then check them and then upload.

Seems to me to be in the same mindset as Xero, they keep telling everyone how good it is and eventually people start to believe it.

If you need every last detail off the invoice then it could be more feasible.

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Tamsin Mustafa
By Tasnim Mustafa
28th Jan 2015 13:45

We use it for all our clients. The integration with Xero is excellent. It takes some time to train the client, set up the integration properly and review for duplicates, errors etc. But overall is it is a huge time saver and definitely well worth the modest cost.

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By thomas
28th Jan 2015 13:49

my client currently scans every receipt and emails to me and I input into VT.  As the business grows this must be getting time consuming for the client.  Interesting to hear the different opinions.

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By Helen5
28th Jan 2015 16:30

Receipt Bank

Hi Thomas,

 

Helen from Receipt Bank here, you definitely can send your receipts and invoices in an envelope by using our postal submission method, you simply pop all your documents into an envelope and send them off to us, they will be published into your Receipt Bank account and then into Xero.

 

There is also the choice of our other submission methods which include the Receipt Bank iOS and Android app, email, Dropbox and many others.

 

As you mention data entry is definitely very time-consuming for clients, with Receipt Bank businesses can have their suppliers email invoices straight into their Receipt Bank account where all the key information will be extracted for them. For capturing purchases made ‘on the go’ the app is generally considered the simplest submission method.

 

We have several partners who would be happy to discuss their experiences using Receipt Bank, and their ideas on its value, do get in touch with us at [email protected] and we can put you in contact.

 

Exceljockey - It’s great to hear you’re considering a revisit, do let us know if you have any queries at [email protected] and we’d be more than happy to help.

 

We don’t return the receipts and invoices because we offer secure online storage of all documents as required by tax authorities around the world. If your clients are set on holding onto their paperwork then you can use the scanning submission option, which allows you to keep the originals.

 

Ken - Thank you for the feedback, to resolve this you would need submit both items to Receipt Bank at the same time. For example, for the app this would mean taking a single photo with both items in the image, for post it would mean ensuring the receipts are stapled together before being placed in the envelope. If exact duplicates of invoices are submitted to Receipt Bank then they will be highlighted as duplicates and merged.

 

I hope this helped with all your queries and do get in touch at [email protected] if we can be of any more assistance, or to ask any further questions you may have.

 

Best Wishes, Helen

 

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By marks
29th Jan 2015 00:18

saves us a lot of time

We recently sent a clients full years worth of invoices away amount to about 660 invoices/receipts.

We then integrated them to Xero within about an hour when it would have taken about 2 days to manually input them.

Signed up a new client yesterday and told them about it and going out next week to set them up on Xero and send their first month of invoices away to receipt bank to show them how it all works.

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By I'msorryIhaven'taclue
29th Jan 2015 01:13

Say Cheese?

We still have a cupboardful of state-of-the-art scanners from 10 years back: 20 second scan time, no less! More recently, we've imported cameras that are effectively iphone cameras on a stand (thus eliminating focus issues).

Result: poor interest. People prefer to consign original docs to the post. That way they can stuff everything in and leave it to you to sift the wheat from the chaff. I daresay iPhone snaps will catch on one day; but, evidently, not yet.

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By tomtrainer
02nd Feb 2015 20:39

Overall I like it. The problem with posting the bags is what you do if they get lost. It is quite a serious issue to explain to a client. Receipt Bank lost two bags of my receipts once and my account manager told me it was my fault! They eventually found them (due, I think, to the hard work of Tosca, who is always very helpful) but it did make me wary of posting receipts again, which was the major attraction.

Having said that, I think the risk of loss is very small, and even if you scan them yourself it can be a good deal. I still use it, but I don't post the receipts any more, which means I don't use it as much as I would like.

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