How to get my PayPal account's transaction history via API - php

Question

I want to get my PayPal accounts transaction history. Just the same data I can export when I'm logged in.
All the transactions there where not generated via REST API itself.
I read some posts where it says that one can't use, for example, "Transaction Search" API (https://developer.paypal.com/docs/api/transaction-search/v1/) in this case.
I tried this out but could not get it to work.
After I got my access_token:
stdClass Object
(
[scope] => https://api.paypal.com/v1/payments/.* openid https://api.paypal.com/v1/vault/credit-card/.* https://uri.paypal.com/services/subscriptions https://uri.paypal.com/services/identity/activities https://api.paypal.com/v1/vault/credit-card
[access_token] => xxx
[token_type] => Bearer
[app_id] => xxx
[expires_in] => 32400
[nonce] => 2020-09-05T22:25:09ZHAnra0QUpsxgo4E90gqEKtgtUNgkGNzVs1IVCBJfiu0
)
I tried to call the /v1/reporting/transactions API an got back:
stdClass Object
(
[localizedMessage] => No permission for the requested operation.
[suppressed] => Array
(
)
[name] => PERMISSION_DENIED
[message] => No permission for the requested operation.
[details] => Array
(
[0] => stdClass Object
(
[field] =>
[value] =>
[location] =>
[issue] => No permission for the requested operation.
)
)
[information_link] => https://developer.paypal.com/docs/classic/products/permissions/
[debug_id] => feb53d91bc653
)
The "information_link" in the response ends up at 404.
And yes, I activated "Transaction Search API" in my Developer Account.
Then I found this old API:
https://developer.paypal.com/docs/archive/express-checkout/ht-searchRetrieveTransactionData-curl-etc/#
There, PayPal says that this API is deprecated but will still work ... for customers who are using it.
For me, this also does not work, response:
{
"name": "INTERNAL_SERVICE_ERROR",
"message": "An internal service error has occurred",
"debugId": "a2b554e8cc7b",
"links": [
{
"href": "https://developer.paypal.com/docs/api/overview/#error",
"rel": "information_link"
}
]
}
So how to get existing PayPal transactions of my PayPal account via API? There must be a way, there are many tools who import this data, but which API do they use?

Answer 1

I tried this out, it don't worked, I could not get the data.
And yes, I activated "Transaction Search API" in my Developer Account.
After activating it you need to wait 9 hours, and ensure you get a new access_token that is not the same as your old one. You should then have a new [scope] returned which includes https://uri.paypal.com/services/reporting/search/read
Without that scope returned, you can't use the Transaction Search API.
There must be a way, there are many tools who import this data, but which API do they use?
The Transaction Search API is actually not very useful -- most people use the Reports tab in www.paypal.com and download a CSV file