PayPal Rec

Inspiration

If PayPal asks a merchant to explain a $2,400 payment, the capture shows how much was paid. The invoices explain what it covered, a client email might explain who paid, and delivery receipts show what the client received. Those records often live in different places. We built PayPal Rec to help merchants trace a payment, check what their records actually support, and see what evidence they still need to gather before responding.

What it does

PayPal Rec starts with the specific payment named in a limitation notice and brings the notice, invoices, client messages, and delivery records into one review. Merchants can open proposed matches at the exact source lines, accept or reject claims, and download a reviewed PDF and structured JSON. The export includes accepted claims with their citations and lists open follow-ups. Merchants use the draft to prepare their response in PayPal.

How we built it

We built the app with Next.js, React, and TypeScript, with MongoDB for the hosted Sandbox workspace. The PayPal Sandbox integration lets us create, approve, and capture a test order or look up an existing test capture.

A deterministic matcher checks amounts, currencies, invoice references, and delivery records. An optional AI review reads evidence excerpts, including text the rules could not classify, and suggests contradictions, gaps, and the next record to look for. The app supports NVIDIA NIM and Google Gemini. The reviewer decides which claims enter the export.

Challenges we ran into

One of the hardest problems was deciding what counted as enough evidence. Two invoices can add up to the exact payment amount by coincidence. In our demo, the client’s written instruction to apply the payment to both invoices is what establishes the link. The same case showed why a client’s explanation of a third-party payment is a lead worth following up on, and why each deliverable needs its own proof.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

We built a browser workflow that goes from a PayPal Sandbox capture to a cited, downloadable evidence packet. In our fictional agency demo, the reviewer can confirm how the $2,400 was allocated and verify two deliveries. The packet shows exactly what remains open: proof that the third-party payer was authorized and a receipt for the final delivery.

What we learned

The most useful AI suggestion tells the merchant what to look for next. “Payer mismatch” identifies the issue. “Find the payment authorization or remittance record that links this payer to these invoices” gives the merchant something they can act on and verify against the source.

What's next for PayPal Rec

We want to support PDFs, scans, and Word documents while keeping every citation traceable to the original page or passage. We also plan to let merchants add evidence to an existing case, keep a durable history of reviewer decisions, and show the status of every request in the notice. Then we want to test the workflow with merchants and measure how much time it saves them when preparing a response.