[asterisk-biz] OT: Correlation of Paypal transactions

[C F]

I use similar to what you suggest. Using Quick books (I don't offer
VoIP services only professional IT and PBX sales) I have a bank
account called Paypal. When one pays thru Paypal I receive the payment
into Paypal bank account, I then write out a check to Paypal for the
transaction fee. When I withdraw the money into my real bank account I
transfer it to my bank account within qucik books.

On 11/12/10, Alex Balashov <abalashov at evaristesys.com> wrote:
> Greetings,
>
> I apologise in advance that this is a bit off-topic.  However, I know
> that many of you who run service providers take a high volume of
> individual Paypal payments, many of them recurring.
>
> My question is this:  When withdrawing Paypal payments into a bank
> account, how do you correlate them on the bank statement to the relevant
> Paypal payment activity, and therefore the right customer/invoice/etc,
> from an accounting perspective?
>
> When there is a manageably small number of payments involved, it can be
> done chronologically.  And likewise, if the amounts are highly specific
> to each customer, that is also useful as a correlator.  However, I have
> found nothing embedded in the transaction ID or other identifiers that
> show up in the online banking interface from which a reference to an
> original Paypal transaction can be reconstructed.  It seems to me that
> the process of withdrawing money to a bank is a separate transaction
> from receiving payment via Paypal anyway, since Paypal gives you the
> ability to specify how much of your balance in its account you want to
> withdraw.
>
> I suppose the easiest thing to do - and I imagine, the norm - is to just
> record the incoming payments against open invoices at the moment they
> are received, and put them in an asset account, less the transaction
> fees.  When Paypal payments clear into the bank, just move the funds
> from one asset account to the other and be done with it, without
> attempting to establish whose payment it was that cleared.  The invoices
> are paid either way, and the ultimate deposit destination of that money
> is just an asset transfer technicality.
>
> Still, I am curious if there are any more advanced options available or
> other handy tricks of the trade that anyone would be willing to share on
> how to reconcile high volumes of individual Paypal transactions.
>
> Thanks!
>
> -- Alex
>
> P.S.  I am referring to plain old Paypal here, not Paypal web payments,
>        merchant account services, etc.
>
> --
> Alex Balashov - Principal
> Evariste Systems LLC
> 1170 Peachtree Street NE
> 12th Floor, Suite 1200
> Atlanta, GA 30309
> Tel: +1-678-954-0670
> Fax: +1-404-961-1892
> Web: http://www.evaristesys.com/
>
> --
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