diff --git a/edx/analytics/tasks/warehouse/financial/cybersource.py b/edx/analytics/tasks/warehouse/financial/cybersource.py
index ae625a2acd..3a9b3f5a35 100644
--- a/edx/analytics/tasks/warehouse/financial/cybersource.py
+++ b/edx/analytics/tasks/warehouse/financial/cybersource.py
@@ -86,11 +86,11 @@ def run(self):
             raise Exception(msg)
 
         # if there are no transactions in response, there will be no merchant id.
-        if self.merchant_id not in response.content and not self.is_empty_transaction_allowed:
+        if self.merchant_id.encode('utf8') not in response.content and not self.is_empty_transaction_allowed:
             raise Exception('No transactions to process.')
 
         with self.output().open('w') as output_file:
-            output_file.write(response.content)
+            output_file.write(response.content.decode('utf8'))
 
     def output(self):
         """Output is in the form {output_root}/cybersource/{CCYY-mm}/cybersource_{merchant}_{CCYYmmdd}.csv"""
@@ -230,10 +230,12 @@ def __init__(self, *args, **kwargs):
         path_targets = PathSetTask([path], include=[file_pattern], include_zero_length=True).output()
         paths = list(set([os.path.dirname(target.path) for target in path_targets]))
         dates = [path.rsplit('/', 2)[-1] for path in paths]
-        latest_date = sorted(dates)[-1]
-
-        latest_completion_date = datetime.datetime.strptime(latest_date, "dt=%Y-%m-%d").date()
-        run_date = latest_completion_date + datetime.timedelta(days=1)
+        if dates:
+            latest_date = sorted(dates)[-1]
+            latest_completion_date = datetime.datetime.strptime(latest_date, "dt=%Y-%m-%d").date()
+            run_date = latest_completion_date + datetime.timedelta(days=1)
+        else:
+            run_date = self.interval_start
 
         # Limit intervals to merchant account close date(if any).
         if self.merchant_close_date:
diff --git a/edx/analytics/tasks/warehouse/financial/paypal.py b/edx/analytics/tasks/warehouse/financial/paypal.py
index 5531f39373..b6fe96be57 100644
--- a/edx/analytics/tasks/warehouse/financial/paypal.py
+++ b/edx/analytics/tasks/warehouse/financial/paypal.py
@@ -661,7 +661,9 @@ def write_transaction_record(self, row, output_tsv_file):
             # identifier for the transaction
             payment_record.paypal_transaction_id,
         ]
-        output_tsv_file.write(b'\t'.join(field.encode('utf-8') for field in record) + b'\n')
+        # output_tsv_file.write(b'\t'.join(field.encode('utf-8') for field in record) + b'\n')
+        # Apparently the write wants str, not bytes.
+        output_tsv_file.write('\t'.join(field for field in record) + '\n')        
 
     def output(self):
         # NOTE: both the cybersource and paypal tasks write to the payments folder
@@ -714,10 +716,12 @@ def __init__(self, *args, **kwargs):
         path_targets = PathSetTask([path], include=['*paypal.tsv']).output()
         paths = list(set([os.path.dirname(target.path) for target in path_targets]))
         dates = [path.rsplit('/', 2)[-1] for path in paths]
-        latest_date = sorted(dates)[-1]
-
-        latest_completion_date = datetime.datetime.strptime(latest_date, "dt=%Y-%m-%d").date()
-        run_date = latest_completion_date + datetime.timedelta(days=1)
+        if dates:
+            latest_date = sorted(dates)[-1]
+            latest_completion_date = datetime.datetime.strptime(latest_date, "dt=%Y-%m-%d").date()
+            run_date = latest_completion_date + datetime.timedelta(days=1)
+        else:
+            run_date = self.interval_start
 
         self.selection_interval = date_interval.Custom(self.interval_start, run_date)
         self.run_interval = date_interval.Custom(run_date, self.interval_end)