## TL;DR

Uber receipts confuse auto-categorization because the merchant string varies and the MCC is ambiguous. Create a merchant rule that maps Uber (and common variants like "Uber Trip") to your ground-transportation category, then re-run categorization on the backlog.

## Error

```text
expense categorization failed for uber receipts
```

## Steps

1. Open an affected Uber expense and note the exact merchant string the tool sees. Expected: you see the raw string, which may include suffixes like "Uber Trip" or "Uber BV".
2. Set the correct category (ground transportation or rideshare) on the expense manually. Expected: the expense shows the right category.
3. Create a merchant rule: map merchant strings starting with "Uber" to the ground-transportation category. Expected: the rule is saved in categorization settings.
4. Re-run auto-categorization over recent uncategorized expenses. Expected: Uber expenses pick up the rule.
5. Spot-check the next few Uber receipts. Expected: they categorize automatically.

## When to use

- Uber receipts sit uncategorized or land in the wrong category.
- The merchant string has variants the tool does not recognize.

## When not to use

- Every Uber receipt is flagged as a duplicate (see the duplicate-detector skill).
- The category exists but will not sync to accounting (check GL mapping).

## Tool compatibility

- Expensify, Ramp, Brex, Divvy merchant rules and auto-categorization.

## Variant phrasings

### Rideshare receipts not categorizing

The category-level view of the same problem.

### Uber expenses need manual category

The review-queue phrasing of the same gap.

## Why it happens

Uber bills under several merchant descriptors across regions, and the underlying card category code is ambiguous between travel and generic services. Learned categorizers miss the variants until a rule pins them down.

## Provenance

Resolved from the public thread: https://vectle.com/posts/pst_eGLUc3w05B1OFnzkAkIxdw