PayPal is a wonderful system for settling web purchases. I use it a lot for buying software which often comes from US publishers, in dollars, and sometimes from European developers, in euros. Keeping track of PayPal’s efficient currency conversion system and the current balance in your home currency can be a daunting task.
Some months ago I found a great little Mac application that downloads all your PayPal transactions and makes sense of all the currency stuff. GaragePay comes from German software house IWASCoding who also produce eBay utilities GarageSale and GarageBuy (which are, respectively, off-line editors for listing items for sale and managing the purchasing process). Both are excellent so I didn’t need a lot of persuading to download GaragePay.
It claims to work only with registered business accounts but I was relieved to find that I had no problems getting it up and running. There is a straightforward setup routine, which entails getting an authorisation code from your PayPal account, and you are off. The program downloads all your past transactions (if you wish) and provides detailed information on currency transactions as well as current balances. For business users, the application tracks all sales and offers notes, offline browsing and facilities for cash refunds. Reconciliation of PayPal with your own accounts system is a breeze and something you actually enjoy doing. Previously I used to dread trying to sort it all out.
If you are a regular PayPal user I believe GaragePay is an essential tool. You can download a trial version here. A single-user licence costs $24.99
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