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Uploading PayPal CSV files to Wave

Ellie_Writes_ThingsEllie_Writes_Things Member Posts: 42 ✭✭

Hi Wavers!

Does anyone have experience with uploading the CSV statements from PayPal into Wave? I'm trying to wrap my head around how to format this right. Which columns am I supposed to remove?

Also will I be able to handle the PayPal fees on there?

in API & Integrations Technical Support

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    BoogaBooga Member Posts: 10

    A question I too would love to know. Mind you, you've been waiting since May so I am not sure we'll get a response. The help article suggests that you need to strip it down to just date, debit/credit (can be in 2 columns) and description. Which for me is too little information. If you can get the integration to work you get all of the information, which is useful if you want to categories the transaction. I'd like to know if we can add more of the information and if so what. My last effort fell at the first hurdle when I get the multiple currency error.
    I really baffles me as to why this isn't better explained or why the PayPal integration is so poor.
    It's a real issue for me as the vast majority of our transactions are through PayPal and it's the reason I haven't really fully got on board with using Wave.

    https://support.waveapps.com/hc/en-us/articles/208622596-What-to-do-if-Wave-can-t-read-your-statement-in-CSV-format

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    AlexiaAlexia Member Posts: 3,314 ✭✭✭✭

    Hi, @Ellie_Writes_Things and @Booga,

    I'm more than happy to break it down for you both. Turning a PayPal history CSV into one that will upload to Wave should only take a few minutes. Here's what you have to do:

    • Copy the Amount, Description and Date columns into a new spreadsheet.
    • Copy the merchant fee column at the bottom of the Amount.
    • Copy the Date column again and paste it again at the bottom of the Date column. The order of your merchant fee column should match the order of the dates already if nothing was moved around.
    • As a description for your merchant fee transactions, just put in "PayPal Fee", and copy it next to every merchant fee transaction.

    At this time, Wave doesn't have a simple way to handle PayPal accounts that operate in multiple currencies. You would have to separate your transactions by currency and upload them to different PayPal accounts, each with different currencies. Wave's support for businesses who use multiple currencies has improved in the recent past, multi-currency support is still limited.

    We are aware of the issues with the PayPal integration and we know what kind of impact a more stable PayPal integration could have on our users. While I can't promise a timeline for improvements to this integration, I can tell you that we are paying attention to feedback from our users. Thank you for taking the time to offer yours.

    edited October 5, 2018
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    BoogaBooga Member Posts: 10

    @Alexia thank you very much for the response and clear instruction.
    Essentially wave doesn't care about having a sequential date it just looks for an amount and the date against it, hence stacking the credits and debits in one column.
    I will give this a go and once again, thank you for your help. :smiley:

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    AlexiaAlexia Member Posts: 3,314 ✭✭✭✭

    Happy to help out!

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    BoogaBooga Member Posts: 10

    @Alexia
    This completely worked for me. Don't worry too much about column order, you get to confirm what is in what column during the upload process.
    You will need to add a transaction (Deposit) that is your opening balance if this is your first upload. You can do this once you have uploaded your first statement.

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    mostlydevmostlydev Member Posts: 5

    I wrote a little ruby script that does this. It also breaks up PayPal CSV files into one for each currency and renames the columns.

    https://mostlydev.com/importing-paypal-csv-into-wave-accounting/

    Instructions for use and links are inside the post.

    Update 2019-02-11
    Some people asked, so I've made a little web utility for the less savvy but equally frustrated.
    https://mostlydev.com/make-waves/

    edited February 11, 2019
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    snappyfishsnappyfish Member Posts: 55

    @mostlydev said:
    I wrote a little ruby script that does this. It also breaks up PayPal CSV files into one for each currency and renames the columns.

    https://mostlydev.com/importing-paypal-csv-into-wave-accounting/

    Instructions for use and links are inside the post.

    Update 2019-02-11
    Some people asked, so I've made a little web utility for the less savvy but equally frustrated.
    https://mostlydev.com/make-waves/

    Thanks for this but it's not working currently, either via ruby or the web application.

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    TreasureTreasure Member Posts: 2

    I only have US currency, so it was fairly easy for me. Thanks!

    (the ruby/web application failed to work, but I did try it)

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    Tanya_CoxTanya_Cox Member Posts: 1

    I have downloaded a csv of paypal transactions (I have a monthly membership) but how do I then get this into wave sales please?

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    JulianPJulianP Member Posts: 1,002 ✭✭✭

    Hey there @Tanya_Cox !

    To upload your PayPal CSV to Wave, head over to Accounting > Transactions > More > Upload a Bank Statement. We have a great guide on this that you can check out as well. I attached it for you here: CSV Uploader.

    Also, if you run into any issues when uploading your CSV file, feel free to check out our troubleshooting guide: What to do if Wave can't read your statement in CSV format

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    JohnBoyRummyJohnBoyRummy Member Posts: 3

    It's now April of 2022 and I'm trying to import PayPal transactions into Wave.

    I first tried the whole Google Sheets Wave Connect path but that didn't work AT ALL.

    Next I tried the upload a bank statement method and had moderate success with that, except I had to massage the CSV data first to get the info I wanted into the description field. (I concatenated two columns to get the client's email address into the description).

    HOWEVER, what I cannot figure out is how to deal with (I mean import) the PayPal merchant fees as they appear as a separate field along with the main transaction, and NOT as a separate line item/row/transaction.

    Can anyone help with that??? This is SO frustrating. I love Wave, but the lack of PayPal integration is almost a deal breaker.

    Thanks in advance.

    John

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