How do you maintain your purchase receipts?
 

Hey all, I've been wondering how you guys keep track of your purchase receipts/order details--or, do you not do that? I know for insurance purposes, proof of ownership is invaluable, and while pictures of your collection are a definite must, I'd imagine that being able to show provenance-who you bought from, and how much you paid for it, would help also.

Ebay only maintains transaction history for three years. As far as I can see, there's no way to download an Ebay purchase receipt as a PDF. And the order detail does not show a picture of the card.

I was thinking that I could always take a screenshot of the order detail, and save it as a file. But I'd like to know if any of you guys have some suggestions on alternatives.

Thanks!

I scan everything I get.I also have a note book with the card,date I got the card,and a current value.I do this in case something would happen to me,my wife will have an idea what its worth.

Receipts
 

Hard copy in envelopes by year, stored in large folders

Steve, besides the notebook, and the scan of the card, do you keep any of your receipts?

Al, what are you printing out for the hard copy? Are these the Ebay order details, or something from Paypal?

There's a printable version of the order detail, and it fits all on the one page. I've been thinking of saving those as an image file.

Thanks for the input, guys.

I'd love to know what other people do.

receipts
 

For ebay, usually just the paypal receipt, unless I think I need more product description, then the first page of the ebay notice of winning bid as well

I don't do ebay.Mostly buy on here.When I do get receipts,I keep them.
I have alot more receipts for my auto's which I keep.I also write down
what I pay for them.

Paypal
 

With the payment fo most all of my purchases being made via paypal (not all ebay), I am able to complete searches for purchase transactions through paypal's search features as far back as 2003. It may go back further, but I have not searched back before 2003. The payments have itemization of what was purchased, as well as other details. For the small number of higher priced cards not purchased via paypal, I have used a single credit card for these purchases which also allows me to search records for past purchases if needed.

Thank you, Saved. Good to know that Paypal goes back that far. Since all of my purchases have been paid through Paypal, I'll have record of every card I've purchased since coming back to the hobby. Now I just need to figure out the most efficient way of "ripping" all these receipts into an image file.

Steve, I'm going to have to follow your example, and start doing some real buying from members on this site. I've almost pulled the trigger a few times. So many things I want ;)

Thank you, Al. I think I just found the answer I was looking for from your response.

When I bring up the transaction detail in Paypal, if I right click and select "print", the destination defaults to my printer. However, if I click on the "change" button, one of the options is to save it as a PDF file. Bingo!

I'll go through and save a PDF of every Paypal receipt, save them to my external hard drive, and then just back it up online.

That's perfect!

Ok, the same thing works for Ebay, too.

Bill in 2 years of buying and trading on here,I have never had a problem and made some great deals!

Receipts
 

I do digital files (ie PDF of eBay invoice, PayPal receipt verifying payment sent) along with digital scans of purchase in one file. I have not developed a good system for keeping the same information with auctions. More of my purchases seem to be from auctions in the last couple of years.

PayPal
 

And one last comment....on PayPal you can go back quite far in 2 year increments. You can actually download your purchases or payments sent into a CSV (comma separated) file which Excel will save.

The Description line item gives the basic auction description of the purchase detailed in the titles of the auction, but if you need more a more accurate description than this (for instance in a "Lot" of cards) you need to click on the separate "Detail" button to print off separately.

You can also save digital images of your purchases in the same Excel spread as well. This is the best way to save info., I have found.

spreadsheets.