What's the best way to handle PayPal?

Sun Dec 4 15:44:08 EST 2016

This is a problem common to GST in Australia, as well as other percentage splits that are common. I think we are partly missing the point here: what is needed is a split function where we can automatically divide a transaction into portions, as a percentage or divisor. (& be able to have more than a single function because we may need to split GST as well as Paypal fees, so might need to be split twice just to complicate matters)
 so, if under the splits menu, we had the option of selecting user selectable percentage dividers, we could cover all potential requirements. This would need a new section programmed into Gnucash.
 (ie my thinking is we had a split function where we can set the 'split' proportions: in Paypal case 95% to income/etc & 5% to Paypal fees. Next time you select percentage splits, the previous percentage splits are shown which can be edited if required. If the previous percentage split in an originating account was remembered, the percentages would rarely require an edit. So, a GST split would be remembered differently to a Paypal split as an example.)

regards, Doug

On Sat,  3 Dec 2016 14:47:07 -0500 (EST)
Robert Heller <heller at deepsoft.com> wrote:

> *I* treat PayPal like just another "account", pretty much the same as a
> "Checking Account".
> 
> When someone pays me via PayPal it looks something like (as a split):
> 
> Date       Num   Descr         (Account) Tot Deposit  Tot Withdrawal   Balance
>                  Joe's payment   
> 12/03/2016 ---                 PayPal             95
>                                Service Charges     5
>                                Bank Account       95
>                                PayPal                            95
>                  Payment       Receiviables                     100
>                                
> ("Receiviables" is a special account used by the invoicing system to record 
> receiviables -- eg money you send an "invoice" for.)
> 
> What is going on is:
> 
> You get paid 100 to "Receiviables".  95 lands in your PayPal account, 5 lands 
> in "Service Charges" (an account I set up to "catch" various service charges 
> (banking, PayPal, whatever)).  Then 95 gets transfered from PayPal to my bank 
> account.  PayPal net: 0, bank account net +95.
>                                
> Note: you don't actually create this transaction directly. You send an invoice
> (for 100). When the person (Joe) pays you, you *process* the payment
> (Business=>Customer=>Process Payment). You record that the payment was 100 and
> the transfer account is PayPal. *Then* you go to your PayPal account, select
> the created transaction, select "Split", and then edit the transaction to
> adjust things for the PayPal fee (Service Charge): change the PayPal amount
> from 100 to 95, add the 5 to the Service Charge account (restoring balance),
> and record the transfer to your bank account: add the 95 withdrawal from
> PayPal and the 95 deposit to bank account, causing the PayPal to net 0, and 
> the bank account to net +95.
> 
> At Sat, 3 Dec 2016 14:14:47 +0000 "Dr. David Kirkby (Kirkby Microwave Ltd)"  <drkirkby at kirkbymicrowave.co.uk> wrote:
> 
> > 
> > If I sell something for £100 and someone pays £100 into the bank
> > account, then its fairly easy to reconcile that, as one can import the
> > bank transactions.
> > 
> > When PayPal get involved, I'm not sure how to handle this. In the
> > simplest possible case
> > 
> > * Balance of PayPal is £0.00
> > * Balance of bank is £2000.
> > * Someone buys something for £100
> > * PayPal take £5 commission
> > * £95 is in my PayPal account
> > * I transfer the £95 to the company bank account, bringing it up to
> > £2000+£95=£2095
> > 
> > I can import the bank transactions, but are unsure how to handle the
> > PayPal side of it. Should I set up a separate account for PayPal?
> > Should the transaction be split? What the best way to handle this,
> > which is least subject to human error.
> > 
> > Although I'm in the UK, very often I buy items from the USA, and so
> > pay USD. PayPal does the conversion from USD to GBP.
> > 
> > Just to add one more complication, there's a good chance I will want
> > to sell more on eBay in USD. I've sold the odd few things there before
> > in USD. Despite charging more, some people would rather payin their
> > own currency.
> > 
> > One further problem is that the Import of QIF files from PayPal seems
> > to crash GnuCash
> > 
> > https://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=775567
> > 
> > but the bug is not my biggest problem. My real problem is knowing how
> > best to handle the use of another account (PayPal) in addition to a
> > normal company bank account.
> > 
> > Dr. David Kirkby Ph.D CEng MIET
> > Kirkby Microwave Ltd
> > Registered office: Stokes Hall Lodge, Burnham Rd, Althorne, Essex, CM3 6DT, UK.
> > Registered in England and Wales, company number 08914892.
> > http://www.kirkbymicrowave.co.uk/
> > Tel: 07910 441670 / +44 7910 441670 (0900 to 2100 GMT only please)
> > 
> > _______________________________________________
> > gnucash-user mailing list
> > gnucash-user at gnucash.org
> > https://lists.gnucash.org/mailman/listinfo/gnucash-user
> > -----
> > Please remember to CC this list on all your replies.
> > You can do this by using Reply-To-List or Reply-All.
> > 
> >                                                                                                            
> 
> -- 
> Robert Heller             -- 978-544-6933
> Deepwoods Software        -- Custom Software Services
> http://www.deepsoft.com/  -- Linux Administration Services
> heller at deepsoft.com       -- Webhosting Services
>                                                                                                    

-- 
Doug <lemans4 at internode.on.net>