Cost sharing with bot of Telegram Messenger
PotTeleBot in Telegram Messenger will help you comfortably manage the joint expenses of a group of people. Tell the bot about the funds spent on the general needs of the group, and the bot will tell each group member how much money he should receive or pay after this operation.
The person in charge of the cash desk should create a group in Telegram Messenger, add PotTeleBot as group member and send out invitations to all members of the group for joint expenses.
When a group member buys something for common needs, he writes to the bot how much he spent and what he bought in a private chat. This report comes to the Telegram of admin of the group (responsible for cash). If he approves this report, the bot writes a balance to the chat of the group after this new purchase: who should contribute how much to the general cash desk or, on the contrary, get from. The balance of the group can always be requested from the bot by command /shared in the chat of the group. The /total command will show how much each member spent and the total expenses in the group.
In addition to reports on purchases, the bot accepts requests for mutual settlements between group members.
For example, Johnny must refill $100 to the cashier, and Peter must receive $50 from the cashier. Johnny can give $50 to Peter and write an application to the bot about it. A bot asks Peter if he got $50 from Johnny? If Peter confirms this fact, the bot will change the balance of Johnny and Peter, and report the new balance to the group’s chat: Johnny must refill $50 to the cashier, Peter has a zero balance.
You can participate in several groups of cost sharing. For example, in a group of joint expenses at work and in a group of expenses for hiking with friends. In this case, when entering data, the bot will ask you which group this operation belongs to.
Bot FAQ
Can I add a bot to an existing Telegram group, and not create a new group for the joint expenses?
You can. But each member of this existing group will have to explicitly join the participation in the joint expenses.
The bot will automatically add to the joint expenses the administrators of the group. If the group has option “all members are admins”, then only the creator of the group will be added. In order for a group member to join the joint expenses, he needs to send /start command to the group chat.
We already have a certain amount in the total pot. How can I take it into account in the calculations of the bot?
Group admins in a group chat can use the bot’s /cash command to set the amount in the general box office. To report on refill and withdrawing money from the joint cash, you can use “Money transfer report” menu in a private chat with a bot. Next you need to select the item “Group cash”. If you specify a amount with a minus, then this is taking money from the group cash. If without a minus — it is a refill.
What will happen to the balance of the joint expenses if someone of members leaves the group?
If this participant had a zero balance, then nothing will change. If the leaving participant was to receive some amount from the group cash, this amount will be divided between the remaining members of the group (added to the balance). If the member had a debt to the group cash, then equal shares of this debt will be deducted from the balance sheets of the remaining members of the group.
In any case, bot will report about the changes in the group chat.
If I remove the bot from the group?
All the data of the joint expenses of this group will be lost. If you later add a bot to this group again, then all calculations will start from scratch.
If you just need to reset the calculations, you not need to delete and re-add the bot. Use the /reset command in the group chat. In this case, the list of participants in the joint expenses will be saved, and all balance sheets and cost counters will be reset to zero.
Will this bot always be free?
Yes.
Help and support for bot users
If you have questions and suggestions on how to work PotTeleBot, then you can asks them to the developer in the bot support group.