How can I tell whether a payment is personal or merchant?

[phoenixy]

Hi,

I was wondering, is it possible to tell whether a payment I received was sent as a personal payment or a merchant payment?  I rely on PayPal's 1099-K for tax reporting, but this only reports merchant payments, so in order to make sure my taxable income is reported accurately, I need to verify that the payments I received were correctly categorized by the senders.

[snowshoe]

Only way to tell is your account transaction history.  Note, should someone send you a payment for a service or product using the Send Money feature, technically it's the wrong use of that feature and you have no Seller Protection. 

[phoenixy]

Thanks for the response, but can you let me know where in the account history it shows whether the payment was personal or merchant?  I can't seem to find it anywhere.

[snowshoe]

It's not labeled as such.  If you sold items, you will see that info, else you'll see that received a payment.

[phoenixy]

Right, but this wouldn't be for a sale of an item via a shopping cart, this would be for a one-off privately transacted sale of services, so I wouldn't expect to see item information associated with the payment regardless of how it was categorized.  

The main thing that confuses me is that I see the payer's email listed as "buyer email", but at the same time I see PayPal didn't take any fees.  Doesn't PayPal always take fees for a merchant transaction?  But if it wasn't catalogued as a merchant transaction, why is the payer listed as a buyer?

[snowshoe]

It's their terminology. 

Another option, suggest contacting customer support, perhaps they can assist you.

[sharpiemarker]

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@phoenixy wrote:

Doesn't PayPal always take fees for a merchant transaction?  

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Most likely the money was from their PayPal balance, resulting in no fees.  Maybe try the "More Filters" dropdown menu after logging in and clicking 'View all of my transactions" link

[sharpiemarker]

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@snowshoe wrote:

Only way to tell is your account transaction history.  Note, should someone send you a payment for a service or product using the Send Money feature, technically it's the wrong use of that feature and you have no Seller Protection. 

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Payment can still be tagged as for goods or services through the Send Money tab.  Clients can be instructed to mark the correct type of transaction when sending payment.