Another feature requested by users is now available on Shoeboxed! Because there are many features on Shoeboxed, and many powerful tools for organizing your scanned and emailed receipts, it’s easy to forget each one.
To help explain everything a little better, head on over to our new demo video.
https://www.shoeboxed.com/demo-video.htm
Send this link along to your friends to help them get to know Shoeboxed!
The blog has been an ongoing project over the last year, with (almost) daily updates about features, the team, and topics related to receipts, bookkeeping, online accounting, and tracking spending.
There is a lot to write about here, and a lot of great posts. In order to make sure that some of the most important information is not lost in all the other content, I’ve created some permanent pages that you can access on the right.
So far there are only four, but I will be adding to these over time. If you have any suggestions or thoughts about what should be on these pages, let me know. I’d love to hear your feedback.
Right now, we have a list of Twitterers that we think are interesting, a page about Shoeboxed, a list of authorities on personal finance, bookkeeping and receipts, and a list of common myths about Shoeboxed.
Enjoy!
Just a quick announcement: We are in the final stages of upgrading our servers right now. Once this is done, there should be a noticeable improvement in the speed of the website. These changes will likely go into effect this weekend.
Due to some more advanced processing of receipts in our Receipt Mail-In scanning operations and a significant increase in volume of Receipt Mail-In envelopes, our servers have been a tad stressed. We like to think that it’s a good problem to have since it means we are growing and more and more people are catching on to the Shoeboxed idea. For those of you that have experience interruption in service this week because of this, I just want to say “thanks” for bearing with us a little bit. We are working round the clock to make sure that Shoeboxed is a fast and convenient way for you to organize and manage your receipts. If you have any suggestions or comments, please send them to us at help@team.shoeboxed.com.
We appreciate very much when you contact us. After all, Shoeboxed is all about what you want it to be, so all your comments are read and responded to by our great customer support team as soon as possible.
Viva Shoeboxed!
Shoeboxed has been going extremely well as of late, with many new people signing up and enjoying our mail-in service. We’re happy to see so many people take advantage of this thing we’ve put together. All you new members: you can expect a little something extra in the mail from yours truly this week. Just because.
Anyway, although we spend basically our entire lives chugging away at our computers trying to make Shoeboxed into the success we know it will be, we also like to take a step back every once in a while. Recently, we evaluated our marketing and messaging so that we could come up with a new tag line. We had used some sort of random ones in the past, but now I think we’re going to stick with this one for a while.
So without further build up, our new tag line is:
Shoeboxed: Where Receipts Go.
Simple right? Well, we think it captures pretty well what we do here. Your receipts come to us (through several channels), so (by corollary) this is also where they come. And we thought we would point that out.
Anyway, you’ll probably start seeing it around more, so that’s what that is.
Oh don’t we all hate the dreaded expense report? All those business receipts burning a hole in your wallet, just waiting to be turned into your accountant or controller so you can get reimbursed for your business expenses. The dry cleaning receipt, the dinner receipt, the office supplies receipt. All of them need to be turned in, but they’re hard to find (or they’re missing), they’re torn, or they’re faded.
We’ve all been there: having to eat an expense that you should be reimbursed for just because you didn’t turn in all your receipts. Twenty bucks here and there isn’t the end of the whole. It’s not breaking the bank necessarily, but it doesn’t have to happen. You can say goodbye to that inconvenience.
The personal budget forms, also known as expense reports, that you turn into your business can be a breeze with Shoeboxed. Instead of keeping your receipts in different places and losing them, you can stick them straight into a Receipt Mail-In envelope, mail them from anywhere for free to the Shoeboxed headquarters, and never worry about them again.
In a couple of days, your receipts will be online for you to view, organize, and print. You can create expense reports in one click, and you’ll even get the originals back under most plans.
Your business receipts: we’ve got them covered.
As we all know, taxes are not once-a-year activity. In order to keep tabs on all your tax documents, including receipts and bank statements, you have keep them organized on an ongoing basis throughout the year.
This doesn’t sound very fun, right? I’m sure some of you are wondering how this would even be possible. Won’t you have to get an administrative assistant to handle all this paper work?
The answer is no!
With Shoeboxed, you can head to HR Block or JacksonHewitt next March with the confidence that you have all your receipts organized. You will also be relieved that you will be able to breathe easy if you are ever audited by the IRS.
Well, that’s where Shoeboxed comes in. You’ll be able to outsource all that administrative work of organizing your receipts to Shoeboxed. We’ll scan your receipts and upload them to a secure account online. You will have them for all your tax needs. They are exportable to tax software, Quicken and Excel. You can also print them to have them in paper form.
HR Block and JacksonHewitt will probably thank you for saving them from all that administrative work that they now don’t have to do.
There are a lot different ways to keep a budget. Using receipt software might not always be the first thing that people think of when they start to get serious about better budgeting, but it can be a powerful tool to help you see where your money is going. Receipts have the original line-item data about what exactly you purchase, and can easily tell you exactly what you have been spending your money on.
In the past, it has been difficult to budget by organizing receipts. Free receipt scanning software like Shoeboxed can really help, though. You can organized, categorize, and export all your receipts easily in one place. Statistics are automatically generated about your receipts and your spending habits, which can help you in your budgeting.
Along with the receipt software on Shoeboxed.com, you can sign up for Receipt Mail-In, which makes it easier to keep track of every single receipt that you have. All those pesky paper receipts can be organized in your Shoeboxed account. By making it easy to get all your receipts in one place, Receipt Mail-In is a great budgeting tool and a great addition to the free receipt scanning software portion of Shoeboxed.com.
Just wanted to take today’s blog to give out a couple of reminders (for our veteran users) and just useful tips (for the surge of new users we’ve had recently).
As you explore Shoeboxed.com and start getting your receipts organized, I wanted to remind you that you can call us for help any time.
Call us if you ever need help, have a suggestion, or are interested in learning how Shoeboxed Receipt Mail-In can work for you, no matter how many receipts you have.
Real people answer the phone and we’re happy to help. Call us at (888) 369-4269. We generally work from 9 a.m. to 2 a.m. EST though there is often someone here 24 hours a day that can help you out.
Also, because we want to help you get organized above all else and because we think you’ll love our Receipt Mail-In service, we offer a special deal on our year-long membership.
Sign up today to get two months of Receipt Mail-In for free (up to $120 in savings).
Sign up here: http://www.shoeboxed.com/compare-plans.htm.
Did you know that commercial airlines will reimburse you for lost luggage? In many cases, they’ll need you to show them receipts for what you had in the bag. How are you going to have all those random receipts handy for such a situation? Receipt Mail-In obviously.
It seems that anyone who’s flown on a commercial airline has a lost luggage horror story. I’ve had a couple of problems with my luggage not meeting me here when I land in Raleigh-Durham, but for the most part I think I’ve been pretty lucky. I’ve spent four out of the last five summers abroad, and I’ve never lost a bag on one of those trips.
If I were to lose my bag now though, I’d be able to get reimbursed for anything that was in the bag, just by showing my receipts to the airline. I have them all archived and organized on Shoeboxed through our scanning service, Receipt Mail-In.
Linda Burbank wrote a really helpful column in USA Today about this issue, and offers up some good info:
Airlines provide partial reimbursement for interim expenses when luggage is delayed or lost. Usually, reimbursement is capped, often at about $25 a day. United reimburses up to 50% of costs for replacement clothing and toiletries, provided passengers submit receipts. But no airline pays damages based on the inconvenience of not having your luggage.
United reviewed Gavend’s claim and agreed to make an exception to its policy. It sent her a check for $874, the amount for which the family still had receipts.
You never know when those receipts are going to come in handy. Having a complete scanned archive of your receipts is the only way to avoid these kinds of situations.
Many people think that is important to save receipts for things like taxes and expense reports. While that may be true, the real reason we keep all those receipts is for days like yesterday.
Yesterday was Two Free Tacos Day at Jack in the Box. You could get two free tacos if you bring any gas receipt to a Jack in the Box restaurant.
Responding to high gas prices, Jack has not only pulled of a great marketing ploy (you’re probably going to get more than the tacos, which are only 99 cents anyway), but he’s using the internet to spread the word. There is an AdWords campaign running about it, they have a landing page for it, an embedded video announcement, and a friend invite feature.
I’m hating the high gas prices, but I’m loving the tacos, I’m loving the fact that they require you to have a receipt, and I’m loving how they are using the web to spread the word.
Receipts are often annoying, but they can be a powerful force in the world. They are important records of our daily lives, and they play a role in many parts of our lives, including politics.
Apparently, to drive the point home about gas prices to Nancy Pelosi, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, a Cincinnati Congressman hand-delivered some of his constituents’ gas receipts to her on the House floor.
Cincinnati Congressman Steve Chabot (R-OH) gave dozens of gas receipts from Cincinnati drivers to Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA).
Todd Lindgren, a spokesperson for Chabot said the Congressman has been looking for the Speaker for a couple of days. He spotted her on the House floor Thursday and hand delivered the receipts and a letter.
Last week, Chabot started asking constituents to send him copies of gas receipts. Lindgren said Chabot is trying to get Pelosi to act on any legislation that will reduce gas prices.
Want proof of what you’re paying? Look at your receipts. Want permanent receipts? Scan them in and store them at Shoeboxed.
If we’ve learned anything since we started this thing a couple of years ago, it’s that receipts are important. And that you should keep them. Especially if you buy Apple products.
We’ve praised Apple a few times for their leadership in offering email receipts in their retail stores. Paving a way for the future, we appreciate Apple’s willingness to forgo the ubiquitous paper receipt.
But there have been many instances where Apple has proven the importance of keeping those receipts in a safe place. Back when they reduced the price of the first iPhone by $200, we blogged about Apple’s receipt-required return policy. Those with Shoeboxed accounts rejoiced, as they were reimbursed.
Last summer I went to get new headphones from Apple when my iPod earbuds stopped working. I printed out my Shoeboxed receipt and brought it in. I rejoiced, as I traded them in for free.
Now with the new iPhone coming out in only a couple of months, those who just bough the old iPhone will be eligible to exchange their old one for a snazzy 3G iPhone. Those with Shoeboxed accounts will rejoice, for they will get 3G iPhones.
Shoeboxed has just been certified by TrustE, the leading expert on online privacy and security. A nonprofit organization, TrustE promotes solid security practices on the Internet. After investigating our privacy policies and our practices securing your personal data, TrustE has certified Shoeboxed as a site that protects your privacy.
A little bit more about what they do, from their website:
Consumer and Business Advocacy
TRUSTe helps consumers and businesses identify trustworthy online organizations through its Web Privacy Seal, Email Privacy Seal and Trusted Download Programs. TRUSTe resolves thousands of individual privacy disputes every year.
Thought Leadership
Through extensive consumer and Web site research and the support and guidance of many established companies and industry experts, TRUSTe has earned a reputation as the leader in promoting privacy policy disclosure, informed user consent, and consumer education.Expertise
We were founded by the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) and the CommerceNet Consortium to act as an independent, unbiased trust entity. The TRUSTe privacy program – based on a branded online seal, the TRUSTe “trustmark” – bridges the gap between users’ concerns over privacy and Web sites’ needs for self-regulated information disclosure standards.
We have made a couple of small changes to our privacy in accordance with TrustE’s requirements. These strengthen our already rigorous security practices.
Shoeboxed takes your privacy seriously, and we are happy to supplement our SSL data encryption certification, Hackersafe certification against site vulnerabilities.
All of these certifications are just one part of our commitment to your privacy and security. We also undergo regular internal and external audits of our code and security and privacy policies and back up your account data every 24 hours for your protection.
We are dedicated to keeping you safe and secure. If you have questions, concerns, or suggestions about Shoeboxed’s privacy and security policies, please let us know at help@team.shoeboxed.com.
You’ve either never heard of it, or you’re totally addicted. If you’re not Tweeting, you’re not on the Web. Sorry, that’s just how it works.
Twitter is a social networking and micro-blogging service that allows you to post updates about what you are up to. Updates are limited to 140 characters, so you end up with a feed of short blurbs from people that you choose to “follow.”
Shoeboxed has been active on Twitter as of late; we’re obsessed. If you’re already in the Twittersphere, follow us!
Shoeboxed is at twitter.com/shoeboxed
I’m at twitter.com/danenglander
Taylor is at twitter.com/taylormingos
Julia is at twitter.com/jcsullivan
We post updates there quite often. We announce special offers through Twitter sometimes too. Send us a message about whatever you want. I answered a customer support question today on Twitter.
If you tweet “I love @Shoeboxed” and direct message us your mailing address and shirt size, we’ll send you a free shirt!
Tweet!
Here is a review of what we do to make sure your data is safe and secure. As long as you keep your password safe, Shoeboxed protects your data so it can only be viewed and accessed by you. Shoeboxed uses 256-bit secure socket layer (SSL) encryption, the same security that major bank websites use. Additionally, Shoeboxed does not store the personally identifiable information that would be required for someone to steal your identity. We do not store credit card numbers, bank account numbers, or social security numbers. Unlike other finance websites online, we never even see any of your financial information other than the receipts you put in your account.
Read our Privacy Policy here.
Your data is backed up every 24 hours by remote servers, so even if sometime terrible were to happen to Shoeboxed’s offices, you would still have your information available online. Indeed, a wiped hard drive is one of the major dangers of storing your receipt information on your personal computer.
There are some other things that you can do to make sure that your Shoeboxed account is safe as well. These are just some general tips about how to stay safe online.
