The consumer is entitled to receive a receipt or other document verifying that payment has been made. The primary purpose of the receipt is to indicate that payment has been made and, as such, to give the payer evidence to reject any new demands for payment for the same product or performance.
The receipt also facilitates complaints of defects and the exchange or return of goods even when exchange or return is based on the right to exchange or return granted by the business.
Providing a receipt can be considered a good business practice: a receipt unambiguously indicates what has been purchased, from where, and at what price.
If a product is defective, complaints can be filed with the seller even without a receipt. The consumer's right to appeal based on a defect can apply for several years. It would be unreasonable to require that consumers keep receipts for all their purchases for several years. Based on that fact the right to appeal is not tied to the receipt.
A document indicating a credit or debit card payment, a bank statement or the seller's sticker on the product packaging can serve as proof of where the product was purchased. Even if these are not available, the right to appeal remains. If it can be reasonably believed that the defective product was purchased from the business with which the consumer files the complaint, no specific proof is required.
It is recommended that receipts and bank statements be kept for three years, at least for major purchases. If the business does not remind the buyer or demand payment from the buyer within this time, their right for this expires. A receipt or bank statement provides convenient proof of payment in the event that the business, for some reason, invoices the customer a second time for a purchase that has already been paid. All receipts for credit card purchases should be kept until the credit card company has charged for the purchase - and even after that, for three years. Receipts should particularly be kept for purchases made abroad. Tax authorities require that receipts pertaining to tax returns be kept for seven years.
If thermal paper is used for the purchase or warranty receipt, it is possible that the text fades away completely before the warranty period expires. Warranty documents should, however, indicate the party that grants the warranty and the warranty period. Businesses must, at the buyer's request, provide warranty information in print or electronic form in such a way that the customer can keep the information. The crucial detail is the date of expiration of the warranty. If the consumer files a complaint with a business based on a broken piece of equipment, the business may not refuse to repair it simply based on the fact that there is no evidence of the warranty period. If the business has provided the consumer with only a thermal paper receipt, it may not reject the consumer's demand for warranty repairs simply on the grounds that the text on the receipt has faded to the point where it is unreadable. One possibility is that the seller's IT systems have a record of the buyer and the warranty period and this can then be printed out for the buyer. The existence of a warranty receipt is not the determining factor in deciding whether the business is liable to repair or rectify a defect or not. The seller, importer and/or manufacturer is responsible for defects regardless of whether the goods are sold with a warranty. The legal responsibility for defects may also last longer than the warranty period.