Sales receipts, reduction coupons and other credit card receipts are the new target of environmental protection: to avoid the production of tons of paper which most often end up in the trash and the pollution that goes with it, the anti-waste law of February 10, 2020 has indeed programmed the end of the systematic printing of all these tickets on January 1, 2023.

Unless you request a paper version, you will therefore have to accept a dematerialized format.

But when it comes to changing our habits, certain consequences on our rights should not be overlooked...

No receipt, no proof!

Many stores already ask their customers if they want their paper receipt or an email delivery.

To avoid clutter or save time, it is thus increasingly common to simply refuse this receipt for everyday shopping.

In this case, the latter is then all the same printed, then thrown in the trash by the seller since the sign has the legal obligation to issue this invoice.

But in addition to an unchanged ecological impact, this practice has a major drawback, denounced by several consumer defense associations: a lack of proof.

“Without a receipt, you cannot prove the content of your purchases to the store's security guard, for example.

Similarly, if you notice a problem with a product once at home, you will not be able to exchange or claim its warranty.

And without a receipt, we cannot verify that the amount paid corresponds to the items purchased and that any reductions and promotions have been applied,” explains Jordan Chemouhoum, co-founder of Noticia, a dematerialized ticket solution.

The email trap

In order to do away with paper while delivering this proof of purchase, two solutions have already been developed: mailings and loyalty accounts.

In either case, however, this involves providing, at a minimum, your email to countless stores…

In its white paper on data and means of payment for 2021, the Commission Nationale de l'Informatique et des Libertés (CNIL) has already warned that this dematerialization "cannot be used for commercial prospecting purposes without respecting the principles in this area", namely the collection of the customer's consent, as well as the possibility of opposing this prospecting upstream.

Except that this procedure remains very vague, while this data is a gold mine for businesses.

A ticket 2.0

Sensing a new market, several start-ups such as Yavin, DeeWee, KillBills or CleanBill are offering more innovative dematerialization.

Without contact, bar code or banking interface, each app has its own solution to make sending the receipt simple and fast, then allow it to be stored, with or without recovering customer data.

In the case of Billiv and Noticia, for example, all you have to do is scan the QR code that appears after payment to view and download your receipt from a web page, without the need for an application or registration.

Our "CONSUMPTION" file

Jordan Chemouhoum confirms that "in this way, no personal data is filtered out"... at least none that allows the store to spam you via email since it is a session cookie that is used here.

The latter will also allow you to freely access your past tickets from the site.

That said, if you want to keep them for the long term, it will be useful to create an account or download your documents to your computer.

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No one-size-fits-all solution

While dematerialized ticket applications promise to save time at checkout, they also have drawbacks.

At the top of the list, these tools require a partnership with the store.

Before one stands out and spreads at high speed, there is therefore a strong risk of having our receipts scattered over multiple apps.

In addition, to gain the favor of retailers, these solutions integrate customer loyalty features.

The promotion or the reduction voucher which followed the paper ticket is thus transformed into a dynamic spot displayed under the receipt, to which can be added a link to the store's website and its social network account or even the proposal to create a loyalty account.

As for those who are not comfortable with a smartphone or who do not have one, they will have to resign themselves to communicating their e-mail address with each purchase or, safer, think of asking for a paper receipt.

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