Automated PayPal Sales & Fee Reconciliation (Zapier)

1. **Authenticate PayPal**: In Zapier, create a new Zap and select **PayPal** as the Trigger. Choose 'Successful Sale' as the event. Connect your account and grant permission for PayPal's IPN (Instant Payment Notification). 2. **Filter Valid Transactions**: Add a **Filter by Zapier** step. Set it to only continue if 'Transaction Type' equals 'Completed'. This prevents pending or failed payments from hitting your books. 3. **Format Date**: (Optional but Recommended) Add **Formatter by Zapier** > 'Date/Time'. Convert the PayPal 'Transaction Date' to the format `YYYY-MM-DD` to ensure QuickBooks accepts the record without errors. 4. **Find/Create Customer**: Add a **QuickBooks Online** step: 'Find Customer'. Map the PayPal 'Payer Email' to the search field. Check the box 'Create QuickBooks Online Customer if it doesn't exist yet' and map the First/Last Name from PayPal. 5. **Identify Product/Service**: Add another **Formatter** step: 'Utilities' > 'Lookup Table' if you need to map PayPal item names to specific QuickBooks Product IDs to ensure revenue hits the correct sub-accounts. 6. **Create Sales Receipt**: Add a **QuickBooks Online** step: 'Create Sales Receipt'. Map the 'Customer ID' from Step 4. Under 'Line Items', map the 'Gross Amount' from PayPal. Set the 'Deposit To' account to your 'PayPal Bank' asset account. 7. **Record PayPal Fee**: Add a final **QuickBooks Online** step: 'Create Expense'. Set the 'Payee' as 'PayPal', the 'Payment Account' as your 'PayPal Bank' account, and the 'Category' as 'Bank Fees/Merchant Charges'. Map the 'Transaction Fee' field from the PayPal trigger. 8. **Enable Zap**: Name your Zap and switch it to 'On'. Move to the 'Test' tab to run a manual verification with historical data.

| PayPal Field | QuickBooks Field | Logic / Transformation | Required? | | :--- | :--- | :--- | :--- | | `Payer Email` | `Customer Email` | Direct mapping to sync/find Customer. | Yes | | `Gross Amount` | `Line Item Amount` | The full sale value before fees. | Yes | | `Transaction Fee` | `Expense Amount` | Recorded in a separate Expense step to balance books. | Yes | | `Transaction ID` | `Doc Number` | Used as the Ref Number for audit trails. | No (Recommended) | | `Item Name` | `Product/Service` | Use Zapier Lookup Table if names differ. | Yes | | `Payment Status` | `Filter` | Only sync if status is 'Completed'. | Yes |

* **The Net Amount Pitfall**: Do not map the 'Net Amount' to QuickBooks; you must map 'Gross' and 'Fee' separately, or your Sales Tax reports will be undervalued. * **Task Usage**: This recipe uses 4-5 tasks per sale. If you have 500+ sales/month, ensure your Zapier Plan covers this volume. * **Currency Mismatch**: If you sell in multiple currencies, QuickBooks will fail unless you have the 'Multicurrency' feature enabled in QBO Settings. Zapier's Formatter can be used to convert currencies if needed, but it's complex. * **Duplication**: Ensure 'Transaction ID' is mapped to the 'Doc Number' or 'Private Note' in QBO so you can search for duplicates if a Zap is re-run.

- [ ] **Trigger Test**: Run the PayPal trigger and confirm ‘Gross Amount’ and ‘Fee Amount’ are pulled as separate fields. - [ ] **Formatter Test**: Check the Zapier Task History to ensure the date format is `YYYY-MM-DD`. - [ ] **Search Test**: Confirm the 'Find Customer' step doesn't create a second 'John Doe' if the email already exists in QBO. - [ ] **Account Reconciliation**: Check the 'PayPal Bank' account in QBO; the balance increase should equal (Gross Amount - Fee Amount). - [ ] **Live Check**: Process a $1 test transaction (if possible) and check the 'Audit Log' in QuickBooks to ensure the Sales Receipt and Expense were created simultaneously.