paypal-import

name	paypal-import
description	Import PayPal CSV exports with fee, refund, and currency handling.

PayPal Import

Overview

Import transaction data from PayPal CSV exports. Handles payments received, fees, refunds, and currency conversions. PayPal CSVs include many transaction types — this skill filters to financially meaningful entries and maps them to Open Accountant's format.

Wilson Tools Used

• transaction_search — check for duplicates against existing transactions
• categorize — assign categories to imported PayPal transactions
• export_transactions — export reconciled PayPal data

Column Mapping

PayPal CSV Column	Open Accountant Field	Notes
Date	date	Transaction date (MM/DD/YYYY format)
Time	—	Not stored, date is sufficient
Name	description	Counterparty name
Type	—	Used for filtering (see workflow)
Status	—	Only import Completed transactions
Gross	amount	Transaction amount before fees
Fee	amount (separate row)	PayPal fee (negative = expense)
Net	—	Calculated, not stored directly
Transaction ID	reference_id	PayPal transaction ID for dedup
Currency	currency	3-letter ISO code
Subject or Item Title	notes	Optional detail

Workflow

1. Ask the user for the PayPal CSV file path.
2. Parse the CSV (PayPal uses comma-separated with quoted fields).
3. Filter by transaction type:
   • Import: Payment Received, Mobile Payment, Website Payment, Invoice Received
   • Import: Refund, Reversal, Chargeback
   • Import: Subscription Payment
   • Skip: Transfer to Bank, Bank Deposit (appears in bank import)
   • Skip: Currency Conversion (handled as part of the parent transaction)
   • Skip: Authorization, Pending, Temporary Hold
4. Filter by status: only Completed transactions.
5. For each payment received, create two transactions:
   • Revenue: gross amount (positive), category "Revenue:PayPal"
   • Fee: fee amount (negative), category "Fees:Payment Processing"
6. For refunds/reversals, create a negative revenue transaction.
7. For currency conversions: attach the conversion rate to the parent transaction notes.
8. Deduplicate using PayPal Transaction ID.
9. Preview and confirm import.

Without Wilson

To work with PayPal exports manually:

Downloading from PayPal

1. Log in at paypal.com
2. Go to Activity (top navigation)
3. Click Statements > Activity download (or Reports > Activity download in business accounts)
4. Select date range (max 1 year at a time)
5. File type: CSV
6. Click Download
7. For business accounts: Reports > All reports > Transactions > select date range > Download CSV

Manual Processing in a Spreadsheet

1. Open the CSV. PayPal CSVs use the encoding Windows-1252 — if you see garbled characters, re-open with UTF-8 encoding.
2. Filter Status: Keep only "Completed" rows.
3. Filter Type: Remove "Transfer to Bank," "Bank Deposit," "Currency Conversion," and "Authorization" rows.
4. Split revenue and fees:
   • For each payment, the Gross column is revenue and the Fee column is the PayPal fee.
   • Create a new row for each fee with the negative fee amount.
5. Handle refunds: Refund rows already have negative Gross amounts. Keep as-is.
6. Currency conversion: If you received a payment in EUR but your account is in USD, PayPal creates two rows — one in EUR and one with the USD conversion. Use the USD row and note the original currency.
7. Summary formulas:

   Gross Revenue:  =SUMIFS(Gross, Type, "Payment Received", Status, "Completed")
   Total Fees:     =ABS(SUMIFS(Fee, Type, "Payment Received", Status, "Completed"))
   Total Refunds:  =ABS(SUMIFS(Gross, Type, "Refund", Status, "Completed"))
   Net Revenue:    =GrossRevenue - TotalFees - TotalRefunds
   Fee Rate:       =TotalFees / GrossRevenue * 100
   

Reconciliation

• PayPal transfers to your bank should match the sum of Net amounts between transfer dates.
• If they don't match, check for held funds, disputes, or currency conversion differences.

Important Notes

• PayPal CSV encoding can cause issues. If the file won't parse, try saving as UTF-8 first.
• PayPal date format is MM/DD/YYYY (US accounts) or DD/MM/YYYY (international). Wilson auto-detects based on account locale.
• "General Payment" type in PayPal can be either sent or received — check the sign of the Gross amount.
• PayPal business accounts have more detailed CSVs than personal accounts. The column mapping above covers both.
• Do not import "Transfer to Bank" rows — these are the PayPal-to-bank transfers that appear in your bank statement.