Wave’s PayPal integration is being discontinued
PaulC
Member Posts: 186 ✭✭✭
Over the last few years we’ve heard lots of feedback from you here in the Wave Community and 1-to-1 about our PayPal integration. What we heard was that our integration with PayPal was unstable, and that the service has been becoming increasingly unreliable. This was sadly true: Wave’s PayPal integration was built a long time ago to connect with a service (API) that PayPal offered at the time, but stopped supporting several years ago.
Wave is committed to building tools that give you the best possible experience, and increasingly our PayPal integration has not been up to the standards that we—and you—expect. We’ve made the decision to proactively retire this integration so we can help you plan ahead for how you’ll import your PayPal transactions.
Wave is discontinuing our integration with PayPal on December 31, 2020. We will be disabling new connections as of November 5, 2020.
How can I import my PayPal transactions once the integration is gone?
Statement import
Download your PayPal statements as CSV files, and upload them to Wave using our CSV import feature.
Wave Connect
Upload your PayPal transactions with Wave Connect, Wave’s free Google Sheets add-on. Export data from your PayPal account to a Google spreadsheet, then use Wave Connect to import that data to Wave.
Zapier, Integromat, and other app integrators
If you use Zapier, Integromat, or other integration apps, you may find they offer connections to Wave that streamline importing and bookkeeping PayPal transactions.
If you primarily use PayPal to accept payments, the Record Sale Zapier action can automatically import PayPal sales transactions to Wave, including sales tax and payment processing fees.
If you use PayPal to make purchases and sales, Integromat can automatically import both expense and income transactions to Wave.
What happens to my imported PayPal transactions?
Whether you disconnect your PayPal account now or wait for Wave to automatically disconnect your integration on December 31, any automatically imported transactions will remain in your account. When the integration is removed, it won’t impact transactions that have already been imported.
Will Wave build a new PayPal integration?
No, Wave does not plan to build another integration with PayPal.
Accessing PayPal’s new API requires end-users (that’s you) to have a paid “business” PayPal account, and we heard from many customers that a solution requiring you to pay for your PayPal account doesn’t meet your needs.
Comments
> Accessing PayPal’s new API requires end-users (that’s you) to have a paid “business” PayPal account, and we heard from many customers that a solution requiring you to pay for your PayPal account doesn’t meet your needs.
**This statement is misleading at best.** PayPal Business accounts are free for buying in the US, so you can setup a free PayPal Business account if you are just using it for expenses. They only charge fees while accepting payments, **just like Wave**.
An integration with the new API would be greatly appreciated. I’m not sure which customers you asked, but I certainly wasn’t one of them. But hey, maybe you can use the freed up development time to [work on 2FA](https://community.waveapps.com/discussion/3424/add-in-option-for-two-factor-authentication-2fa).
Do they mean that their API only works with the paid business accounts? I use a free business account, the only reason you'd need a paid one is for accepting payments on your website. I'm not technically inclined in that aspect so not sure the stipulations however this may lead me to another expense tracking app. Sad as I was about to purchase their payroll service, but due to most of my transactions being through Paypal this is a huge blow for me as importing and exporting reports at the end of every month takes a lot of time and leaves room for error. Shame
Waves is continuing to disappoint me yet again. First, the inability to attach receipts to transactions, the issue of my bank feeds importing in reverse, and NOW they can't manage to keep update with current API features. What's next??
I am with Paul and Marieo, I also am leery of adding apps. I looked at Integromat and have no idea if this is good, how it is done and learned that they too were just bought. I am not complaining too loudly because Waveapps is cheap and I am comfortable with it (and its problems), but I need help on this. I will be watching this thread for answers or guidance to find them. thanks
Zapier integration seems to only be premium and the Integromat integration appears to not be working (at least for me). Would appreciate some help (perhaps a guideline) on how affected users can continue to set up transactions to sync with PayPal. This is a fundamental feature for me, would really appreciate the help.
This will be why I leave Wave. I don't want to. I love everything that Wave allows me to keep track of and function as a small business. But the loss of Paypal integration of any kind will force me to find somewhere else.
Honestly Wave just continues to disappoint. The amount of manual entry and fidgeting required seems to only be increasing. Xero is so much more efficient, but unfortunately comes with a big price tag![:\](https://waveapps.vanillacommunities.com/resources/emoji/confused.png ":\")
Yes, yet again - I find an accounting software to use that handles all my integrations and I have to try and find another one as Paypal is used extensively. Importing monthly statements is an un-realistic request since the whole purpose for this software is to "automate" this!
You are suggesting using an alternative API that interacts with Paypal and most likely that API costs money, while free business accounts in Paypal are free.
"we heard from many customers that a solution requiring you to pay for your PayPal account doesn’t meet your needs"
EVERY credit processor charges fees. Paypal is no different.
Paid or not paid business accounts are a PayPal issue and up to the individual to assess. What does this have to do with PayPal integration to Wave?
If someone isn't willing to pay $30 a month for payment processing, then they really aren't a legit business frankly. I've been using Wave for 5 years with Paypal integration and I don't recall anyone asking my opinion on this.
Gamechanger. We'll be leaving Wave as I'm not going to be exporting and importing spreadsheets every day. Too much risk in missed or duplicate transactions. Boo.
Has anyone created a paypal->wave integration in integromat? Seems like I need to watch notifications, maybe, but it's relying on a web callback, so I won't be able to test the integration until I get a new transaction? It doesn't look like it has a way to pull the transaction history. This seems like a clunky and roundabout solution to a pretty simple problem (automatically downloading a CSV of all paypal transactions at least daily, and importing them into wave.)
Lack of importing paypal transactions is right up there with not being able to import transactions from my bank or credit cards. What is Wave even for? (I pay consultants and other companies via paypal more often than I receive sales there.)
I'm actually surprised there aren't more comments about this.
It is a shame that PayPal integration is going away, I make a lot of purchases through Paypal and I don't have a need for a paid account so having to manually import transactions is just another thing I need to do now, which I'm not happy about at all. Unfortunately, I will most likely be leaving Wave, I've been using it for the last four years and using the payroll for the last year as my business grew.
It sucks because now I need to do research on what to switch to and being hit hard because of covid it looks like I'm going to need to add an expense, but if it means I need to do less when it comes to the accounting side, I that extra cost will be worth it.
Just bummed that Wave is doing this and it's not a priority to make it work.
Your team looks like they need to make some updates to the site.
Not pursuing a PayPal integration going forward is a disappointment for contractors, bloggers, and other small business owners who receive income via Paypal and make purchases. This creates a massive lift and deeply decreases the value of Wave's automated bookkeeping tools.
The zapier integration does not work for this type of income and expenses, as it's meant for sales and not just payments received from affiliate marketing or similar.
This is the first time I have heard of Integromat and others have mentioned in this post that it doesn't work.
I also **do not trust these tools to give them access to my financial or email data.
**
The google sheets integration is cumbersome as you have to make the effort to keep the sheet updated.
I am hoping Wave will reconsider an automated solution. I would even be willing to pay a small fee for this alone.
Also - I have evangelized Wave for YEARS to small business owners and know that I've converted dozens of users to the platform. This is not something I can confidently continue to do with the loss of this integration.
I am quite disappointed as well. If not WaveApps, then what?
Its really interesting. Not a single comment from "those customers you contacted" that said paypal fees were problematic. Frankly your explanation is B.S. If they didn't like the fees - then don't pay them, that is NO REASON to discontinue the integration.
You're not telling the truth here WAVE.
Paypal is the only way we accept payment to avoid CC issues of hack. Is there no other option here as like with all the above, we will need to exit after this financial year.
To the rest of the community, any one moved over pls reccomend similar boookeeping apps they found? Appreciate it a lot.
Boooooooo!
I am the treasurer for a non-profit organization and really pushed to have Wave because they integrated the pay pal transactions into Wave and it was easy for a person to step into my position when my term is over and do the accounting. I am so very disappointed that Wave cannot work with Paypal. I have 6 months out of the year that records over 100 transactions per month. I will now have to manually input 2 entries for every payment. I will have to start researching for another company that will integrate with pay pal as that is the only way our customers pay us. Wave you really need to rethink this decision.
I'm someone setting up accounting for my business for the first time.
As someone new... paypal and venmo are like bank accounts for me. They're both integrated with how I make money through Etsy, and Ebay.
I would consider Wave for invoicing... but without the ability to even load up my paypal and venmo transactions as an account... I can't even get started to use wave. It locks me out of the accounts I need. (and I"m sorry, but manually copying over transacitons from accounts in this day and age is... archaic).
When I first started setting up wave earlier this year... it looked like I could bring in paypal transactions.
Now that I can't, I guess I'll have to switch to some other software. It's too hard to manually bring over my transactions for things that are really my main accounts.
I'm so sorry you made this decision. I really wanted to use waveapps, and become a lifelong user.
I wanted to give this feedback so it can be understood what a decision to remove paypal does for people who are trying to start using your app.
Paypal is a major player in the online payments marketplace for companies big and small (as is Stripe). I cannot imagine how you could claim that discontinuing direct importing is for the benefit of the end user. There are many non-profits who have a free Paypal business account, what about them? And except for the most basic tasks Zapier is not a free service and more than Paypal is. I hope you will reconsider your decision. I have used Wave for a number of years for a non-profit because it is simple and ideal for very small companies but unfortunately rather than focusing on a great accounting product the focus seems to be on expanding add on services. Perhaps it would be better to just charge for Wave and have an better product for all users.
Regarding the comment above about being surprised there are not more comments here I would say it is because it is very hard to find this article or anything about how to use Paypal with Wave. I searched for "Paypal" in the regular help section of the website and nothing directly related to Paypal comes up. Even here in the community forum it took me awhile to find this article. I have to wonder if most people who have Paypal, Stripe or another payment processor leave Wave before they even start using it.
Not integrating new PP API? OMG, you can't be serious, PP is one of the main modes of getting paid in the world, the US in particular. Genius! Are you totally out of money? Should I be worried I will get an Error 404 one day or "This domain is for sale" instead of my data? Anxiously awaiting other "You don't need it, we know better" product cuts.
Used Waves for 2 years now and will not stop because of this as luckily we process very few PP transactions and can enter them manually easily, but curious to see how Waves makes its product worse and worse. Will probably stick around for 2021, but maybe it is time to move on somewhere where product matters and there is enough money to pay good product development people and developers after that.
Well this sucks. I was just recommended Wave and was busily importing my accounts all excited to finally do inventory and expenses like a big boy company this year, until I found PayPal was nowhere, and the support-bot directed me to this thread. =/
90% of my transactions are on PayPal. And yes, basic Business accounts are free. That said, I've been trying to get an API from them for close to three months now just to plug into an affiliates payment app in WooCommerse and PayPal won't give me the time of day. On their Developers page, to get a API that doesn't just work in sandbox mode, "Live credentials are currently available only to approved partners." You then have to fill out a form and request approval.
Considering on this form their "Client Annual Volume" has only two choices: Under $10 MILLION and Over... I don't think they give a single fug about about playing with unwashed peasants. I've requested multiple times since November and like my dating life I can't even get a callback. So I can see why this might be a problem.
If you guys aren't going to create an actual integration, that's fine, but could you maybe create an "Import from PayPal" that actually works with the data PayPal spits back out for the reports as-is without having to go in and edit and manipulate the CSV? The output is the same every time, so you know what to do with the different fields, what to ignore, what are fees and what are chargebacks, etc.
It would have to be uploaded manually on the user's end each month, sure, but that's better than what it has now. Trying (and failing) to get Wave to accept PayPal's CSVs, dicking with the Google Sheets workaround, etc. has convinced me to stick with Excel for now. =/
The lack of integration with PayPal and TransferWise along with not being able to attach receipts is forcing our company to move over to QuickBooks. Would have gladly paid for these features.
Has anyone found a convenient automated workaround to this? This news has been extremely frustrating and I hope I can get some guidance on how to import our PayPal transactions without having to spend hours trying to find a solution.
Absolutely ludicrous.
Having been an e-commerce programmer for 20 years, Paypal is one of the easiest and most robust API's for your developers to possibly work with. I've waited patiently for all of the "fixes" that have been promised and never delivered. You've lost my business permanently - I'll have to migrate to another platform.
Paypal is 100% critical to almost every modern online business, and its absurd that an accounting package not only is withdrawing it's integration, but saying you're not going to replace it? That's just lazy. Period.
Your dumb workarounds of importing transactions manually via csv's or setting up elaborate third party importers using csv's or other spreadsheets etc, are kludgy at best, difficult for most, and just unnecessary in a modern business world driven by an e-economy that REQUIRES no-hassle automation with a payment processor used by a such an enormous percentage of online businesses.
Wave continues to be a platform that is ALMOST-everything-you-need-except-always-missing-the-thing-you-need.
So much potential - so much fail
Yup I'm with everyone else on this thread. Very disappointed and seems like a crap reason too. PayPal is vital to small business. Big fail on Wave's part.
Please relook paypal integration. Many of us are forced to find other solutions or make our own integration solutions....
when is Wave planning to fix this?
Hey @twcmusic , as mentioned in Paul's original post at the beginning of this thread:
There are also some other options listed on how you can get your PayPal transactions into Wave moving forward. Check them out.