We already talked about receipt scanning in the idea #32 crowdsourced grocery apps, but I’ll like to expand a little on that.
There could be other usage to an app built around receipt and bills management.
A place to store your receipt.
A straightforward usage for that is simply a place to store your receipt. It could be on device or in a cloud service (Dropbox, S3, etc.) or the apps could have its own cloud storage. This kind of service could be useful to freelancers or anybody that needs to keep their receipt for tax purposes.
Make the app detect potential errors in the bill or receipt.
If you can store the receipt, why not scan the receipt to detect potential error. Type of error the app could check for problems reading the receipt. If the app has access to the store prices it could compare from that data with your receipt and detect if you paid the wrong amount for an item. This one is probably harder, it’s entering AI territory.
Calculate your bills for you
If the app can detect errors in the price it can probably calculate your bill for you. This is particularly interesting for freelance, independent contractors or anyone who is self-employed. If they need to report their expenses this will be very useful to pay less taxes.
Make the app track price change after you buy
Sometime, a week after buying something, what you buy becomes on sale and some shops, like Costco and Walmart, give you some money back if it is the case. However, usually when you buy something you don’t actively look up if it is on sale the week after. Having an app track that, by scanning or entering it in it, you wouldn’t have to actively check if the price changed or possibly miss on some savings.
Cash back for scanning your receipt and sharing it
A few years ago there was a proliferation of apps and sites that exchange micro-payment in exchange for a small task. One interesting app was a scanning receipt app. It gives cash back for scanning your receipts, the catch, however, is that you have to submit all your data for marketing purposes. If you’re looking for another way to make money with your receipt scanning apps that is another way to do it.
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