Why doesn't my PayPal balance match my sales?
The PayPal help pages give 5 common reasons. The first to rule out: PayPal can take its fees out of each payment as it happens, so your balance is less than your total sales.
Is it broken, or just quiet?
A number can fall because fewer people came, or because something stopped counting them. Below are the causes the PayPal help pages give, and how to check each one yourself.
What causes it?
PayPal can take its fees out of each payment as it happens, so your balance is less than your total sales.
In the PayPal help:
Net-billed fees are charged at the time of the transaction and deducted up front from your balance.
Balance Reconciliation report, read 2026-11-12.Some payments can be held and not yet available, so they count as sales but are not in your usable balance.
In the PayPal help:
We may hold payments for various reasons based on the account's activity.
Why is my payment on hold or unavailable?, read 2026-11-12.Refunds and disputes take money back or delay it, so your balance can fall short of your sales.
In the PayPal help:
If multiple customers file for a refund, dispute, or chargeback, it can delay the availability of your funds.
Why is Your PayPal Payment on Hold: A Guide for Merchants, read 2026-11-12.Part of your money can still be waiting to settle, so it is not in your balance yet.
In the PayPal help:
This is the amount that is not yet settled, based on the settlement instructions that PayPal received.
Balance Reconciliation report, read 2026-11-12.Sales in another currency are converted at an exchange rate, so the amount that lands can differ from the sale price.
In the PayPal help:
This is the exchange rate that was used to calculate the settlement amount or pending settlement amount.
Balance Reconciliation report, read 2026-11-12.
How do I check it myself?
Use PayPal's balance reconciliation report to see sales, refunds, disputes, fees and withdrawals side by side for each day.
In the PayPal help:
Reconcile daily payments and fees for all payment activity including sales, refunds, disputes, fees, and withdrawals.
Overview (PayPal reports), read 2026-11-12.Download your full activity to find pending and declined payments that are in your sales list but not in your balance.
In the PayPal help:
Reconcile all activity to view all transactions that impact your balance, plus pending and declined activity.
Overview (PayPal reports), read 2026-11-12.Go line by line through payments, disputes and fees to see what made the balance differ from sales.
In the PayPal help:
It contains a list of all payments, disputes, and fee-incurring events.
Balance Reconciliation report, read 2026-11-12.
How would I know the day it starts?
- Feder reads your PayPal revenue each day and compares each day with your own history.
- It does not reconcile your balance. It tells you when revenue goes quiet or moves outside its usual range.
Some numbers are too quiet to judge daily, such as a form filled in a few times a week. Until there is enough of your own history to judge a change, Feder says it is still learning and scores nothing, rather than guessing.
See what Feder reads from PayPal, which feeds Money. Feder only reads. It never changes anything in PayPal.
What else goes wrong with these numbers?
- Why is my PayPal payment pending or on hold?PayPal
- Why is a recent PayPal payment missing from my sales?PayPal
- Why did Google Analytics stop collecting data?Google Analytics
- Why aren't my key events showing in Google Analytics?Google Analytics
- Why does Google Analytics show (not set)?Google Analytics
See every question.
Where do these answers come from?
Every cause and check on this page comes from the PayPal help pages, quoted above with the date we read them. Last reviewed 2026-11-12. We read them again by 2027-11-12. If one changes, this page changes or comes down.