An apparatus extracts a predetermined set of information from each of a plurality of sales receipts, including a first and second sales receipt corresponding to first and second transactions with first and second vendors respectively. The apparatus provides the extracted information to a data processing system. The first transaction may represent a sale of goods while the second transaction represents a sale of services wherein the predetermined set of information for goods and services transactions is the same. The predetermined set of information may include vendor identification information and at least one instance of product identification information. The apparatus may access a database using the vendor identification and product identification information to retrieve a description of the corresponding product. The predetermined set of information may include a receipt serial number wherein the device uses the serial number to retrieve information about the corresponding transaction from a sales receipt database.