![Anthropic, PBC receipt email: Your receipt from Anthropic, PBC #[ORDER_NO]](/email-examples/img/19f3a6d280657da3-t.webp)
![Google Play receipt email: Your Google Play Order Receipt from [DATE]](/email-examples/img/19b7c300ac4a1544-t.webp)
What a receipt email is
A receipt email is the message a business sends after it takes a payment. It records what was bought, how much was paid, when, and with what, and it goes to one person because of something they did, which makes it a transactional email.
We collected 465 receipt emails from 164 brands in two ordinary inboxes, 462 of them sent in 2023 or later, and show 12 here, one per brand. The percentages describe all 465.
Browse all 12 receipt emails
Filter by layout, style or length, or search a brand or subject line. Open any email to see it full length, with its subject line, notes on what it is doing, and a prompt that rebuilds it.
Anthropic, PBC
Your receipt from Anthropic, PBC #[ORDER_NO]
Google Play
Your Google Play Order Receipt from [DATE]
PayPal
Receipt for Your Payment to Patreon Australia Pr...
me&u
Your order at Surly's, on Wed, Sep 13 2023
YouTube
Your YouTube receipt
Kobo
Your Kobo Order Receipt for 1 item
Meta for Business
Your Meta ads receipt (account ID: [ACCOUNT_NO])
UNICEF Australia
[NAME], thank you for your donation to UNICEF Australia!
Vercel Inc.
Your receipt from Vercel Inc. #[ORDER_NO]
Runway AI, Inc.
Your receipt from Runway AI, Inc. #[ORDER_NO]
Creem
Payment receipt
Uber Carshare
Your trip receipt [ORDER_NO]
How receipts differ from order confirmations and invoices
Receipt emails against order confirmations, invoices and everything else
465 receipts, 471 order confirmations, 209 invoices and 11,566 other emails from the same two inboxes| What we measured | Receipt | Order confirmation | Invoice | Every other email |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Says “receipt” in the subject line | 87% | 1 of 471 | 2 of 209 | 23 of 11,566 |
| Plain subject line that says what it is | 97% | 96% | 208 of 209 | 26% |
| Plain-text layout | 51% | 24% | 85% | 30% |
| Lays out details in a table | 14% | 30% | 11% | 1% |
| Greets by first name | 66% | 70% | 72% | 37% |
| Micro or short length | 63% | 41% | 76% | 53% |
| Monochrome color | 93% | 72% | 99% | 59% |
| Hero image | 1 of 465 | 6 of 471 | 0 of 209 | 13% |
| Median calls to action | 3 | 2 | 1 | 2 |
The subject line is where a receipt tells you what it is: 87% say “receipt”, while almost no order confirmation or invoice does. Receipts are plainer than order confirmations, with 51% in a plain-text layout against 24% and 14% laying details out in a table against 30%. They carry the most calls to action of the three, a median of 3 against 2 and 1. Only 1 of the 465 has a hero image. “Every other email” is all 11,566 emails from the same inboxes that are none of these three types.
What is in the collected set
Who sent the 465 receipt emails
all 465 collected, 164 brands| Sender | Emails | Share |
|---|---|---|
| PayPal | 135 | 29% |
| Uber Eats | 47 | 10% |
| Share with Oscar | 26 | 6% |
| Google Play | 19 | 4% |
| me&u | 11 | 2% |
| Airbnb | 8 | 2% |
| The other 158 brands | 219 | 47% |
Two senders account for 39% of the set. PayPal’s own receipt names the business you paid, and its 135 receipts are why fintech is the largest industry here at 144 emails (31%), 135 of them PayPal’s. Food and beverage is next at 67 (14%), 47 of them from Uber Eats, then SaaS at 50 (11%), travel at 28 (6%) and transport at 24 (5%). By year, 92 were sent in 2026, 178 in 2025, 144 in 2024, 48 in 2023 and 3 earlier. 349 (75%) came from Australian senders and 60 (13%) from US ones. In the grid, 9 of the 12 use a single-column layout and 3 a plain-text one, and 5 come from Australian senders.
What the shown receipts put in
Three of them use the same template. Anthropic, Vercel and Runway send Stripe’s hosted receipt, with “Powered by Stripe” in the footer: the amount paid and date at the top, links to download the invoice and the receipt, then the receipt number, invoice number and payment method. Its content sits in a 480px column, so the amount and line items read in one short scan. The subject line format it uses, “Your receipt from [company] #[number]”, appears on 20 of the 465.
Several say who actually took the money. Creem states that it is the merchant of record for the purchase, PayPal names the business you paid, and YouTube says the transaction was processed by Google Digital Inc. me&u tells you how the charge will look on your statement (“Charges will appear on your bank statement as ME-AND-U”).
Some settle whether the email counts for tax. me&u adds a tax invoice block with the operator’s ABN. Meta for Business says the opposite, “This is not an invoice”. PayPal adds a line against phishing: its emails will always contain your full name.
Next to this one
The same library, cut by the job the email does: payment confirmation emails, invoice emails, order confirmation emails and subscription emails.
Questions about receipt emails
It is the email a business sends after taking a payment, recording what was bought, the amount, the date and how it was paid. Of the 465 receipt emails we collected, 87% put the word “receipt” in the subject line and 97% use a plain subject line that says what the email is.
Kobo’s emailed receipt is a typical one: the item bought with its price, a subtotal, GST and grand total, a payment method line and a receipt number, then how to find the book in your library. The 12 receipts above show the same parts in other layouts, from Stripe’s hosted receipt to PayPal’s.
Most businesses do not write each one. Their payment or store system sends it automatically: Anthropic, Vercel and Runway use Stripe’s receipt, and 135 of the 465 we collected are PayPal’s own receipts naming the business paid. If you send your own, say “receipt” in the subject line, as 87% do.
Include who was paid, what for, the amount and any tax, the date, the payment method and a receipt number. One receipt above adds a useful line: me&u says how the charge will appear on the bank statement. For the bill that comes before the payment, see our invoice email templates.
We rendered 44 full length and show one per brand. We removed 9 repeat sends, 15 that printed personal details such as a license plate, a transaction number or a booking address, 2 that reveal a health service, 4 with a broken image and 2 that are not purchase receipts. The percentages describe all 465.