Over here at Shoeboxed, we’re excited about the holidays, and we’re happy about all the people that will get Shoeboxed subscriptions as a presents in the next couple of months. Any good Holiday Gift Guide for a small business owner or business traveler begins and ends with Shoeboxed.

Purchasing a subscription of Shoeboxed’s scanning service for a loved on this holiday season will allow them to get their receipts, bills, invoices, and business cards organized in time for tax season.

With a subscription to Shoeboxed, our users mail in receipts to our headquarters to be scanned and entered into their online accounts. No scanner is required, and every receipt is scanned so it is available for tax filings, reimbursements, and even the holiday-season inevitability: returns and exchanges. Every business card is scanned and entered with all the relevant data so you can import your contact information to your email client, smart phone, or other contact management system!

No holiday gift guide will be complete this year without this time-saving receipt solution.

Learn more here!

You know it’s coming. You know it because you see Santas in department stores, you see holiday deals, and you hear people complaining about how it’s already happening. But love it or not (and, let’s be honest, you LOVE it), holiday shopping season is beginning. Here’s a few things to keep in mind this holiday shopping season (Hint: Shoeboxed can help).

With The Day After Thanksgiving quickly approaching and a recessed economy threatening to shrink our holiday shopping, it is more important than ever to track your spending and keep your financial documents organized as you are shopping.

Shoeboxed, the leading service for organizing receipts, offers an easy and affordable way to keep track of all your shopping documents this holiday season. Mail in your receipts to Shoeboxed, and you will have them online so you can make returns and exchanges easily. You’ll also benefit from the easy budgeting tools on Shoeboxed’s website so you can track your holiday spending. And your Shoeboxed email address: don’t forget to use it when you are doing the online portion of your holiday shopping-fest.

Holiday shopping is a fun time of year, but Shoeboxed will help you make it a little more manageable.

Shoeboxed has written before about the importance of checking your receipts when the retailer gives them to you. Merchants do not always print receipts  correctly, and often times cashiers make mistakes on how they ring things up.

A friend of mine sent me this story the other day, which reinforces this point. It turns out that Betty Knight, an 87-year-old shopping for a new television, set her sights on a 37″ Toshiba. An employee told her that he could give her the TV for $899 with a free delivery. That’s not a bad deal. But when she checked out at the register, her receipt said $849 with a $50 delivery charge. The cashier told her that’s the way the accounting department had to have it, and Knight figured it was alright.

But what if you wanted to return the TV? Then you could only get $849 back, because that’s what the receipt says you paid for TV.

This is just another friendly reminder to check your receipts! It could save you real money!

Whole Foods has issued a voluntary multi-state recall of fresh ground beef that it sold between June 2 and August 6, 2008. They are concerned that the beef may be contaminated with E. coli. Bring your receipt in to get a full refund if you have purchased any beef from Whole Foods during that time. I certainly have, and will be heading over there later today.

The concern was initially limited to beef sold in Massachusetts and Pennsylvania, but the recall has recently been extended to the following states:
Connecticut, Rhode Island, Maine, Massachusetts, Florida, New Jersey, New York, Kentucky, Maryland, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Washington D. C., Alabama, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, Wisconsin and Canada.

Whole Foods is one of the most popular stores on Shoeboxed, so we wanted to let you all know of what was going on. I hope no one got sick.

To claim your refund, take your receipt (no need to bring the beef) to any Whole Foods store.

Many people that are signing up for Shoeboxed ask about returns and exchanges. If you have a scanned copy of a receipt that is printed out from Shoeboxed, is that going to cut it when you go in to return or exchange something? There may be some exceptions, but the very large majority of retailers will accept a scanned copy of a receipt as long as it is readable and the bar code is not compromised in any way. We’ve never had any one complain about taking in a Shoeboxed receipt and not having it accepted.

There are some things that you do want to make sure in general with returns, though. One is the elusive restocking fee. Some stores charge you when you return an item for what it costs them to restock it. This can be up to 15%, which is a pretty penny if the item is over a few hundred dollars.

I wanted to post an email here that has been around on a couple of other places on the Internet about Best Buy’s restocking fee policy. Just wanted to let you know about these policies so you can be a smart shopper! Shoeboxed had nothing to do with the content, and doesn’t endorse the rant necessarily. Just wanted you to see it :).

Best Buy has some bad policies…. If you purchase something from, Wal-Mart, Sam’s Club, JC Penny, Sears, etc., and you return the item with the receipt, they will give you your money back if you paid cash or credit your account if paid by plastic.

I purchased a GPS for my car, a Tom Tom XLS from “Best Buy”. They have a policy that it must be returned within 14 days for a refund!

So after 4 days, I returned it in the original box with all the items in the box, with paper work and cords all wrapped in the plastic just as I received it, including the receipt.

I explained to the lady at the return desk I did not like the way it could not find store names. The lady at the refund desk said there is a 15% restock fee for items returned.

I said no one told me that. I said how much would that be. She said it goes by the price of the item. It will be $45.00 dollars for you. I said all you’re going to do is walk over and place it back on the shelf then charge me $45.00 of my money for restocking? She said that’s the store policy.

I said if more people were aware of it, they would not buy anything here! If I bought a $2000.00 computer or TV and returned it, I would be charged $300.00 dollars restock fee? She said yes.

I said OK, just give me my money minus the restock fee. She said since the item is over $200.00 dollars, she can’t give me my money back!!! Corporate has to and they will mail you a check in 7 to ten days!!

I said “WHAT?!” It’s my money!! I paid in cash! I want to buy a different brand. Now, I have to wait 7 to 10 days. She said, “Well, our policy is on the back of your receipt.”

I said, do you read the front or back of your receipt? She said well, the front! I said so do I. I want to talk to the Manager! So the manager comes over. I explained everything to him and he said, well, sir, they should have told you about the policy when you got the item.

I said, “No one has ever told me about the check refund or restock fee. Whenever I bought items from computers to TVs from Best Buy, the only thing they ever discussed was the worthless extended warranty program.”

He said, “Well, I can give you corporate phone number. “I called corporate. The guy said, well, I’m not supposed to do this but I can give you a 45.00 dollar gift card and you can use it at Best Buy. I told him if I bought something and returned it, you would charge me a restock fee on the item. You can keep your gift card, I’m never shopping in Best Buy ever again, and if I would have been smart, I would have charged the whole thing on my credit card! Then I would have canceled the transaction. I would have gotten all my money back including your stupid fees! He didn’t say a word!

I informed him that I was going to e-mail my friends and give them a heads up on this stores policy, as they don’t tell you about all the little caveats.

So please pass this on. It may save your friends from having a bad experience of shopping at Best Buy.

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.

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.

We tend to praise Apple around here, not only because they make good computers, but also because they give you the option of getting an email receipt when you buy something from one of their physical stores. We think that’s pretty forward-thinking, and we think that’s cool.

Whatever format you get your Apple receipt in, though, it’s pretty important to keep it. We wrote last summer about how iPhone owners could get a partial refund on their phones after Apple lowered the iPhone’s price. This came with one catch: you had to have your receipt. Shoeboxed users danced in the streets, obviously; they had their receipts tucked away in their Shoeboxed accounts.

Now there’s another high-profile instance from Apple that proves the point about how important receipts can be for getting reimbursed for stuff. Apple is settling a class-action lawsuit about (possibly) defective power cords in their Powerbook and iBook laptops. Read more:

What’s this About?

The lawsuit claimed that the Adapter included with or sold for the Subject Computers is defective in that it allegedly “dangerously frays, sparks and prematurely fails to work.” Apple denies all allegations and has asserted many defenses. Apple is entering into this settlement to avoid burdensome and costly litigation. The settlement is not an admission of wrongdoing.

What can you Get from the Settlement?

Apple has agreed to provide a cash payment to Class Members who purchased a Replacement Adapter due to the failure of the Adapter included with or sold for a Subject Computer covered by the settlement and who send in a valid Claim Form. For failures within the first year following the initial retail purchase of the Subject Computer, the settlement requires that you attempted to have the failed Adapter replaced or repaired under warranty by Apple and such request was denied by Apple for a reason other than user abuse.

The settlement provides for different cash payments depending on when the Adapter included with or sold for your Subject Computer failed.

The settlement only applies to a Replacement Adapter purchased during the first three years following the initial retail purchase of the Subject Computer, and before May 31, 2009.

It’s unclear what exactly you’ll have to prove about your purchase of the replacement adapter, but I’m guessing they’ll need to see that receipt. I don’t have a Powerbook, but I’m saving my MacBook receipt for a rainy day… in Shoeboxed.

I’ve heard from a lot of people that they think this year’s cold and flu season is the worst in a long while. People seem to be getting sick all over the place, and many are looking for a quick fix that can get them back healthy as soon as possible.

One of the most popular products for alleviating symptoms of cold and flu is Airborne, an effervescent product invented by a grade school teacher. Lots of my friends (and some other Shoeboxers) swear by it, and start taking it right when they start getting sick, as per the directions.

Well, as we all know, the cold and flu are tough beasts to handle, and some question the effectiveness of Airborne. A few of these people filed a class-action law suit against the company. Airborne agreed to pay $23.3 million to settle the case.

So why am I talking about this on the Shoeblog? Well, as it turns out, Airborne is offering refunds for any Airborne that customers have ever bought… if you have a receipt. Shoeboxed users rejoice! All those receipts you’ve been saving may come in handy! This is just a friendly reminder of the usefulness that comes with having all your receipts at your fingertips. So remember to scan and save your receipts just in case you need them for refunds, returns, or exchanges. You never know when they are going to come in handy.