Lightspeed is the point of sale behind many independent shops, restaurants, bars and cafés in Canada and elsewhere. If you paid one of them, your receipt came from Lightspeed, and that decides how you get a copy. There are two main versions: Lightspeed Retail for stores and Lightspeed Restaurant for food and drink, and they handle lost receipts differently.
At a store using Lightspeed Retail
When the store has email receipts turned on, the register asks for your email address at checkout, and the receipt is sent as soon as the sale is complete. If you already have a customer profile at that store with your email in it, the address fills in on its own. Stores can also print the receipt, or a gift receipt if you're buying for someone else.
At a restaurant using Lightspeed Restaurant
Lightspeed Restaurant sends receipts by email with a PDF copy attached. A restaurant can set this up to happen automatically when your customer profile, with your email, is attached to the order. Otherwise, ask your server: staff can open the receipt on the POS, choose the email option and type in your address.
If you lost the receipt
Start with your inbox: search for the business's name, because the receipt is sent in its name. If it isn't there, contact the business, and how soon matters:
- Stores: staff can email a receipt for a past sale from Sell then Sales history, even if the register's email setting is off. Give them the date and amount so they can find the sale.
- Restaurants: receipt actions on the Lightspeed Restaurant POS, including emailing a copy, are available for same-day transactions only. Ask before you leave, or call the restaurant the same day. After that, ask for the manager, because it's no longer a resend from the POS.
Staff can search restaurant receipts by receipt number, order total or the last four digits of the card. Have those handy.
Ask for the itemized receipt
Lightspeed Restaurant can also produce an "invoice" version of the bill that shows the total paid but leaves out the items, for guests who'd rather keep their order private. For an expense claim, that's usually the wrong one: most expense policies ask for the itemized receipt, which shows what was bought. If you're claiming a business meal, ask for the regular receipt, and keep a note of who was there and why.
Lightspeed receipts as business expenses
A Lightspeed receipt shows the business, the date and the total, and the itemized version adds each item and the taxes. In Canada, a receipt of $100 or more also needs the seller's GST/HST registration number to support an input tax credit, and in Québec their QST number too. Keep the emailed PDF itself rather than a screenshot.
Lightspeed receipts that arrive on their own
Lightspeed is one of the point-of-sale systems Smartbills connects to. When a business has connected it, the itemized digital receipt reaches your Smartbills account as soon as you pay, with nothing to ask for. Emailed Lightspeed receipts are picked up from your inbox by email receipt capture, and a printed slip can be photographed in the Smartbills app, which keeps each tax on its own line.