The PayPal integration allows you to accept customer payments through PayPal directly from your invoices in amnis. Customers can pay using PayPal or a supported debit or credit card, while payments, refunds, settlements, and balances are managed from within amnis.
This article explains how the integration works, how funds are processed, and what to expect throughout the payment lifecycle.
Accept payments
How do I get paid through PayPal on amnis? You create a payment request from an invoice (under Invoices), choosing an existing contact or adding a new one, and specifying the amount and currency. Your client receives an email with the request and can choose to pay via PayPal instead of a bank transfer.
Can my client also pay by credit or debit card? Yes. Since amnis now supports the PayPal payment link, your client can pay by card as well as PayPal. Both payment methods land on the same amnis account, so it makes no difference to you which one they use.
What happens to the money once my client pays? The funds are deducted from your client and captured by PayPal immediately. Your invoice status updates to "paid" right away in amnis. At the end of that day, PayPal bundles all payments into one lump sum and transfers it to amnis.
When will the payment show up as a completed transaction in amnis? amnis retrieves a detailed settlement report from PayPal once daily, listing every individual transaction and its owner. A payment, therefore, shows up as a completed transaction in amnis the following day, once that report has been processed. Any transaction between amnis and PayPal (payments, refunds, etc.) is confirmed with a 1-day delay. Daily cutoff is midnight Zurich time.
Supported currencies
How do I add different PayPal currency wallets? Your first wallet is created automatically when you connect your PayPal Business account to amnis and is denominated in the same currency as the base currency of your amnis account. Any other currency wallets out of the above 8 will be automatically created whenever you receive a PayPal payment in that given currency.
Which currencies are supported natively? EUR, CHF, GBP, USD, CZK, PLN, SEK, and DKK.
How does amnis help me save on PayPal fees? When a customer pays in a different currency via PayPal, PayPal automatically converts the funds at its own rate - typically 3–4% above the mid-market rate. With amnis, you send the payment link in the customer's currency instead. PayPal pays out in that original currency directly into your matching amnis account, so no conversion happens and no FX markup is charged.
Delayed disbursement
Why isn't the money available to withdraw right away? After a payment is captured, amnis holds it for a period before it's added to your available balance. This is the delayed disbursement window, and it works similarly to PayPal's own buyer protection window - it gives time for disputes or refund requests to be resolved.
How long is the delay? It depends on your risk score, which amnis calculates based on factors such as account age, trading volume, and the countries you trade with:
Low-risk accounts: 14 days
Mid/high-risk accounts: 30 days
Refunds
Can I refund a payment? Yes, from within the transaction in amnis. You can issue a full or partial refund, and you can issue multiple partial refunds as long as the total refunded doesn't exceed the amount remaining.
Until when can I issue a refund? Within the standard 180-day window that applies to regular PayPal transactions.
Please note: Refunds for transactions already disbursed to your wallet will reduce your wallet balance in that currency. If this results in a negative balance, you'll receive a reminder to top up the corresponding PayPal wallet from your regular amnis wallet.
When does a refund actually take effect? Refunds work the same way as payments: once you issue a refund in amnis, it's sent to PayPal immediately, but it is only reflected in your balances (pending settlements, available balance) once the next day's settlement report is processed.
Balances
What's the difference between total balance, available balance, and pending settlements?
Pending settlements: payments that have been made by buyers but are still within the delayed disbursement window - not yet released to your wallet.
Total balance: your balance once pending settlements are released, before the reserve is deducted.
Available balance: what you can actually withdraw or transfer out - total balance minus the reserved amount.
What is the reserved amount? A portion of your balance that amnis holds back, and that cannot be withdrawn or transferred, similar to funds locked in a fixed-term deposit. It's calculated based on your risk level. The reserved amount depends on the account's risk level and is 3%, 5%, or 10% of the total balance.
How is the reserved amount calculated? amnis looks at your total PayPal transaction volume over the trailing 200 days and reserves a percentage of that (see the percentages above). Because it's based on a rolling window, the reserved amount is recalculated daily and will fluctuate.
If I stop using the PayPal integration, does my reserved amount go to zero? It decreases gradually. Since it's recalculated daily off your trailing 200-day volume, the reserved amount will trickle down over time as older transactions roll out of that window, reaching zero once you've had no PayPal activity through amnis for 200 days.
Daily settlements
What are daily net settlements? The record of transactions that have completed their delayed disbursement period and been released to your wallet on a given day. Each entry shows the gross amount, PayPal fees, amnis fees, and the resulting net amount.
Can I see which transactions make up a settlement? Yes. Opening a settlement and viewing its transactions shows the filtered list of individual payments (and any refunds on them) that make up that total.
How long is this settlement history kept? Daily net settlements remain visible indefinitely and can be filtered by date and amount.
What amnis can and can't see on your PayPal account
Does amnis see all my PayPal activity? No. Only transactions initiated through the amnis–PayPal integration (i.e., payment requests sent via amnis) appear in amnis and can be managed there, including refunds. Any other activity on your PayPal account - for example, sales through eBay or other platforms not connected via amnis - is not visible to amnis and cannot be managed from amnis.
Moving funds
How do I move money from my PayPal wallet to my main amnis account? You select the currency wallet and initiate a transfer (cash-out) to your regular amnis account in that currency. This happens instantly and creates a peer transfer between the wallet and your regular account.
Can I automate these transfers (e.g., auto-transfer once a threshold is reached)? Not currently - transfers from PayPal wallets to your main account must be done manually. Automated rules for this are being considered for a future release.
Access
Why don't I see the PayPal menu in my account? The PayPal feature is visible once you successfully connect your PayPal Business account to your amnis account. This can be done under the Integrations menu, look for the tile labelled PayPal.