“My PayPal export imports incorrectly”
Short answer
PayPal writes gross, fee and net for every transaction, so the amounts look slightly off whenever the importer maps a different column than you intended. Most bookkeeping expects gross income with the fee recorded as a separate expense. Mark PayPal-to-bank withdrawals as transfers so the same money is not counted twice, and split multi-currency activity by currency.
PayPal reports each transaction as several numbers — gross, fee, net — and often adds a matching transfer row. Importers pick one column, and unless it is the one you intended, everything looks subtly wrong rather than obviously broken.
Symptoms
Amounts are close to correct but consistently a little off Every sale appears twice: once as a payment and once as a transfer Fees are missing entirely, or appear as separate transactions
What actually causes it
Several amount columns per row
A single transaction carries gross, fee and net. Mapping gross records more income than you received; mapping net hides the fee as an expense you can never report on. Which is correct depends on how you want fees represented in your books.
Transfers to your bank appear as transactions
Withdrawals from PayPal to a bank account show in both exports. Imported into both accounts without linking, the same money is counted twice.
Multiple currencies in one file
Cross-border sales are recorded in the buyer's currency alongside a conversion row, so a single sale can occupy three lines with three different amounts.
How to fix it: PayPal
- Run the file through the checker below to confirm the structure is sound before you start deciding which columns to keep.
- Choose one convention deliberately: gross income with fees as a separate expense is what most bookkeeping expects.
- Mark PayPal-to-bank withdrawals as transfers rather than income, so the same money is not counted in both accounts.
- Split multi-currency activity by currency and import each into an account held in that currency.
Skip the manual edit — fix it automatically
The checker validates the file mechanically; which amount column belongs in your books is a bookkeeping decision no tool should make for you. Free, no signup, no upload.
Open the fixer