Paypal transaction import using new Paypal download format

I have been using the “Paypal (Merchant Account)” option to upload the established “Paypal Balance Affecting Payments” download option for several years and it has worked very smoothly. However, now Paypal have started redeveloping all their systems, I tried using their new download option last year and ended up with corrupt data that I had to back out again.

Fortunately, Paypal added a link to switch back to the older established system, so we have continued to use that, but Paypal state that access to the older system is temporary, so we need to be able to use their new downloads.

Can you advise whether the “Paypal (Merchant Account)” upload option now supports the new Paypal “Balancing Affecting” download, which has a different format to the old “Balance Affecting Payments” download. (The first 13 columns, up to Transaction ID, are the same as the old download format, but then the format changes from column 14).

Hi @RSC

I’m not personally familiar with the new format offered by PayPal, but I can certainly refer this to our development team.

Would you mind if I sent you a private message to have a copy of the new file format so we know what we’re dealing with?

[Edit]
I’ve taken a look at a PayPal account I have access to, and managed to produce a ‘Balance Affecting’ report. This seems to import all OK with the ‘PayPal (Merchant Account)’ option selected from the dropdown list:

For reference, I used these options when producing the report, and did not change the download fields:

And then selected ‘PayPal (Merchant Account)’ from the import dropdown:

Thank you for the confirmation that the new “Balance affecting” download now works in the same way as the old “Balance Affecting Payments” download, despite being in a different format. I will try uploading all of our June transactions using the new “Balance affecting” download and advise what the results are.

If you want to be safe, you could create a temporary bank account and upload your transactions there. That way if there are any issues you won’t affect your active bank accounts (e.g. the ones you’re actually using) and makes it easier to delete.

If you have any issues, please don’t hesitate to let us know.

I have successfully uploaded 150 transactions via the new Paypal “Balance Affecting” download structure (unedited) using Quickfile’s “Paypal (Merchant Account)” upload, despite the variation in the column structure compared to the previous Balance Affecting Payments download.

That is good news, meaning that we can now use Paypal’s new system without the worry of Paypal discontinuing another established facility that worked well…

Thank you for your help.

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