How to book PayPal transactions from a third-party platform

LBeck

My husband is a photographer and uses Pixieset to sell images. Payments are processed via PayPal. We've used PayPal from time to time when a customer wants to pay an invoice via credit card, but this is a different situation.

For an invoice, I would link the total amount to "Customer Invoices" (via the category), and then separate that amount into the PayPal fees and the net deposit from PayPal (to the business account). In this case, the net deposit and the fees are treated the same way (as with the invoices), but I can't figure out how to categorize the overall (gross) amount.

There is no associated invoice with which to link it (nor do I want to create one), so where does it go? Do I need to create an "account" as a holding place? This dilemma is making me feel really obtuse, but I'm stumped.

Any clarification would be much appreciated!

[Edited - Readability]

Quicken Kristina

Hello @LBeck,

Thank you for reaching out with this question! You mentioned the payments are processed via PayPal. Is that where the funds reside, or do they get transferred to another account? How to document it is a matter of personal preference.

You could document it as a split transaction. That way, you'd be assigning categories for the fees and the actual income rather than trying to come up with a category for the gross amount. Note - To have the transaction show up as a business transaction, make sure you are using a category which has a business tax line item associated with them.

If you prefer not to use a split transaction, then you'd want to use whatever category is the closest fit, or you could create a new category for it. Note - To have the transaction show up as a business transaction, make sure you are using a category which has a business tax line item associated with them.

I look forward to your reply!