Paypal transactions not importing correctly

Managing your PayPal transactions in QuickBooks Online (QBO) is my priority, @David WC. That's why I'm here to share further details on how QuickBooks receives banking data from them to help you categorize your transactions accordingly.

QuickBooks depends on the banking data that PayPal provides. You may verify with them if they've implemented updates on their bank feed for transfers. This way, you can categorize your entries in QBO accordingly.

Once verified, you'll have to categorize your transactions in QBO to keep your financial data accurate and updated. For the step-by-step guide, you can refer to this article: Categorize and match online bank transactions in QuickBooks Online.

Also, I'd recommend reconciling your PayPal account every month. This will help you monitor your transactions and detect any possible errors accordingly. For the complete guide, please check out this article: Reconcile an account in QuickBooks Online.

Please keep me posted if you have other banking concerns and questions about managing PayPal transactions in QBO. I'm always ready to help. Take care, and I wish you continued success, @David WC.

This is not a PayPal issue. And I've noticed that this is the stock answer for any PayPal related problems in QBO - "It must be PayPal's fault." Well, it's not.

I made a $5000 withdrawal from Paypal. Simple. For two years, QBO correctly imported that number as -5,000. But today, it imports it as +5,000. I can tell you with certainty that $5,000 has been deducted from my PayPal balance. So why would QBO be saying that $5,000 was added? This is an importing error, and it needs to be fixed.

Accounting software really should not mix up plusses and minuses. That's pretty basic stuff.

Hello @David WC,

I appreciate you for adding more details about the issue. Allow me to step in and help you get the support you need with the downloaded data from PayPal.

I've read the thread, and I can see that all posted correctly in your PayPal account. Since it's showing as Spent in QuickBooks, I recommend contacting our QuickBooks Support Team.

This way, they can investigate the issue further with the downloaded data. Our support for Plus, Essentials, Simple Start is available from 6 AM - 6 PM PT (Monday - Friday) and 6 AM - 3 PM PT (Saturday). For Advanced, any time, any day.

Here's how you can reach them:

1. Click the Help tab in the upper-right corner.
2. Go to the Assistant tab.
3. Click Get help from a human.
4. Choose Chat with us or Have us call you. 

Also, I've attached a link you can check to learn how to import PayPal transactions manually in QuickBooks: Sync with Paypal: Manual import overview.

Don't hesitate to drop a comment below if you need more assistance with syncing PayPal. I'm always here to help. Take care.

OK, so it looks like Quickbooks might have fixed their importing error, because my last two transfers have been imported correctly. 

Now ... how do I fix the two Quickbooks errors? I have two lines in my Paypal banking feed that are showing a credit instead of a debit. Normally, I would just link the two matching transactions (OUT of Paypal and IN to Bank Account). But now I have two IN transactions that I can't match. I assume that I now have to "exclude" the Quickbooks errors. But how do I create a new Transaction to reconcile my Paypal feed?

I'm attaching two screen grabs - one from my Paypal feed showing the difference between the correctly imported transactions and the errors - and another from my Banking feed showing the matching transactions. 

I had to post twice to upload both screen grabs.

I had to revisit the answer in this thread because, unbelievably it's happening AGAIN! Quickbooks has imported a Paypal Debit as a Credit.

<facepalm>

It's worth reviving this post, just in case a potential QBO user is searching for "does Quickbooks Online integrate with PayPal" - the answer is No.

@David WC 

You may need a 3rd party app to do so 8)

Yep, can't trust at all what QBO imports in PayPal.

There is a massive glitch.

Related to this, all my PayPal transactions in different currencies import as euro.

That's a different issue, which has been covered in a few different discussions. QB imports everything from PP in your default currency. For some reason, it will not look for the converted amount. Even though PP converts it for you and it's part of your PP feed, it's ignored by QB.

The bottom line is that Quickbooks is not capable of integrating with Paypal. You can save your future self a lot of work by disconnecting them now and finding a way to imprt Paypal transactions manually.

Thanks for joining this thread, Shamien.

Allow me to chime in and share some information about Paypal transactions in different currencies. 
 

David WC is correct. QuickBooks Online doesn't support multi-currency in PayPal feeds, which can lead to transactions being recorded in the default currency.

As a workaround,  you'll have to exclude the transactions, then manually clear them in your Chart of Accounts. Here's how:
 

1. Go to the Accounting menu.
2. Select Chart of Accounts.
3. Find the account holding the transaction, then select View register. 
4. Select the appropriate transaction to expand the view.
5. Review the checkmark column.
6. Keep selecting the box until it shows the letter C.
7. Click Save, then close the account register.
    

Moreover, I'm adding this article that'll guide you in managing your online banking transactions: Categorize online bank transactions in QuickBooks Online.

Know that you can always revisit this page if you need additional assistance. We're here to assist you 24/7.

This is STILL an issue in 2024 and 2025. When importing transactions using "link account" feature, PayPal transfers that should be deducted from the PayPal account are instead ADDED to the account. It's a simple error of positive versus negative number being imported. And the PayPal bank balance has been off for months.

QuickBooks, this is a fix that needs to be made on the backend -- YOUR end. Stop recommending fixes for the users. This is not user error. It is YOUR error. Work with PayPal, fix it.

I am having the same issue. All of a sudden, my expenses are showing as deposits and my deposits (i.e. sales) are showing up as expenses. WHY CAN QBO NOT FIGURE THIS OUT? It's not a PayPal issue, its a QBO issue. Also, I have another PayPal account connected to my QBO (2 PayPal accounts  in total) and the other PayPal account, syncs perfectly fine. So it's not a PayPal issue. Having to check my account balances every day to ensure they are properly debited or credited is a complete waste of time. QBO, I suggest fixing this error or stop falsely advertising that you have the ability to sync with PayPal because you do not, Please let the community know if this is a known issue and if you are actively working on it. I'm not looking for a generic QBO response telling me that its a) a PayPal issue or b) how to manually reconcile or exclude the transactions. Those are not fixes they are band-aids. Please aknoledge the issue and provide a plan forward, that the least you can do for all of the users paying a monthly fee and experiencing this issue. 

I understand how crucial it is to resolve the syncing issues with your PayPal account, @dsfsdfds. Our goal is to ensure a smooth integration and accurate financial reporting for you. I recommend checking the following link, which may have information on this issue that our support team has previously addressed: https://quickbooks.intuit.com/learn-support/en-us/payments/re-paypal-donations-showing-up-automatica...

In addition to this, I encourage you to explore the following articles to assist you in effectively managing your downloaded bank transactions in QuickBooks. These resources will help you sustain accurate financial reporting.

• Categorize online bank transactions
• Reconcile an account

Rest assured, we are actively looking into these syncing discrepancies, and we'll keep the Community updated on the progress. In the meantime, feel free to share any QuickBooks concerns you have right here in our forum. My team and I are always here to assist you.