Trying to understand PayPal statements (anything that can be downloaded - and I done them all!) is an absurdly frustrating experience. I am trying to enter data into QuickBooks 2011 but the "data" and format its offered in is completely useless:
Unlike every other financial institution I have received reports and statements from, PayPals':
1) Has no running total (only cryptic fields like "Balance Impact" -which are sensless): How can a single transaction have more than one debit entry on a statement - to one (i.e. the same) account for the same amount when there is only ONE TRANSACTION? How can a single expense transaction have two (and only two) entries on a statement - one credit and an apparently offsetting debit; the net effect of crediting and debiting a transaction, in the same amount, to the same account is a complete offset - i.e. a $0 change in that account's balance - but funds were in fact used from the account if an expense is allocable to the PP Account (or income is deposited to the account )?
2) Virtually every single transaction has more than one entry - posted at the same time, with confusingly inadequate explanations of WTF actually happened.
3) Many of the reports cannot be donwloaded - they time out or simply do nothing.
4) No usable, downloadable reports are offered that can be integrated, in any way, with ANY commercial software (excepting 2 or 3 third party vendors who have attempted to fill this chasm with value custom/non-paypal software.
5) ALL accessible information is needlessly complicated and virtually unusable - for the most basic of accounting tasks.
IS PP DOING THIS ON PURPOSE" These guys are making hundreds of millions of dollars by providing a "service" (I use this term loosely) but they cannot invest a bit of time to make OUR critical transactional information usable and understandable. SHAME ON PAYPAL!!
