PayPal fee calculator

PayPal has no monthly fee on a standard business account. It takes a percentage and a fixed fee from each payment instead, and both depend on how the buyer paid. The rate most sellers quote, 3.49% + $0.49, is only one of eight.

The PayPal rate card

These are the rates for receiving a payment from a buyer in the US, from PayPal's business fee page.

US seller account, domestic payment in US dollars. An invoice paid through PayPal costs the same as the matching row above.

Two surcharges stack on any of these. A buyer registered outside the US adds 1.50%. And when PayPal converts a payment made in another currency, its exchange rate carries a 3.00% spread. The calculator covers the four rates most sellers use: Checkout, goods and services, card and micropayments.

How the math adds up on a $100 payment

Take the calculator's default: a $100 payment through PayPal Checkout, 50 times a month.

PayPal takes 3.49% of $100, which is $3.49, plus the $0.49 fixed fee. That is $3.98, or 4.0% of the payment. You receive $96.02.

At 50 payments a month that is $199 a month in fees, and $2,388 a year. Collected as goods and services payments instead, the same volume costs $149.50 a month, because there is no fixed fee and the percentage is half a point lower.

What PayPal takes at every price point

Fees on one domestic payment in US dollars. Checkout 3.49% + $0.49, goods and services 2.99%, card 2.99% + $0.49, micropayments 4.99% + $0.09. Rounded to the nearest cent.

The fixed fee is what makes small payments expensive. Through Checkout a $10 payment costs 8.4%, a $100 payment 4.0% and a $200 payment 3.7%. The percentage never changes. The $0.49 just matters less as the price rises.

Micropayments flip that. The fixed fee drops to $0.09 and the percentage rises to 4.99%, so the rate is cheaper than Checkout below $26.67 and dearer above it. You have to apply for it, and it applies to the whole account, so it only suits a seller whose payments are almost all small.

Goods and services fees

A goods and services payment is one a buyer sends from the Send Money screen to pay for something. It costs the seller 2.99%, with no fixed fee, which makes it the cheapest standard way to receive money through PayPal: $2.99 on $100 and $35.88 on $1,200.

The seller pays it, not the buyer. Buyers sometimes offer to send money as friends and family to avoid the fee, but PayPal defines a friends and family payment as one that is not for goods or services, per its consumer fee page. A sale sent that way is outside the terms, and outside PayPal's purchase and seller protection.

International payments and currency conversion

These are two separate charges. The international fee depends on where the buyer is registered with PayPal. The conversion spread depends on the currency they pay in. A buyer in Canada paying in Canadian dollars triggers both.

PayPal Checkout rate. The conversion spread is built into PayPal's exchange rate rather than charged as a separate line, so the last row is an estimate.

A converted cross-border payment costs more than twice a domestic one. If a share of your buyers are abroad, pricing in US dollars avoids the spread, and holding a balance in a second currency lets you choose when to convert. Turn both switches on in the calculator above to see the effect at your own prices.

How much to charge to receive a set amount

Adding 3.49% to your price does not cover the fee, because PayPal charges the percentage on the larger amount too. Charge $103.49 through Checkout and you receive $99.39.

The formula is charge = (target + fixed fee) ÷ (1 − rate). To receive $100 through Checkout: (100 + 0.49) ÷ 0.9651 = $104.12. As a goods and services payment: 100 ÷ 0.9701 = $103.08.

Switch on the reverse option in the calculator above to do this for any amount. The fee does not disappear. The buyer pays it as part of the price.

Other PayPal fees

The refund rule catches people out. A refunded $100 Checkout payment still costs you $3.98, because PayPal keeps the original fee.

PayPal vs Stripe

Both are processors, and for a standard checkout payment in the US Stripe costs less. Stripe charges 2.9% + $0.30 per Stripe's US pricing.

PayPal is cheaper in two places. Micropayments, at 4.99% + $0.09, cost less than Stripe below about $10. And a goods and services payment, at a flat 2.99%, costs less than Stripe on anything under $333. Some buyers will only pay with PayPal, which is why most stores offer both. The Stripe fee calculator runs the same numbers for Stripe's US, European and UK rates.

When PayPal makes sense

PayPal costs nothing to open and nothing monthly, so a seller with a handful of payments a month pays only for what they receive. Buyers who would not type a card number into an unfamiliar site will often pay with a PayPal account, and invoices paid as goods and services cost less than most card processors.

It costs more in three cases. Small checkout payments, where $0.49 is a large share of the price. Buyers abroad paying in their own currency, where the bill passes 8%. And refunds, where the fee stays with PayPal.

Selling with PayPal on your own store

PayPal processes the payment. It does not host your files, deliver a download or give you a product page, so most sellers put a store in front of it. Sellfy connects to PayPal and Stripe, sends each payment straight to your account, and charges 0% transaction fees on every plan. PayPal's own rate still applies, so the cost of a sale is your plan plus the processor's fee. The Starter plan is $22 a month billed annually.

Jen Regan sells writing lesson plans to teachers. She started with products priced at $1.50 and now sells complete writing materials for $50 that teachers reuse year after year. The arithmetic shows why that move matters under any per-payment fee. Through PayPal Checkout, a $1.50 sale loses $0.54, or 36% of the price, to fees. A $50 sale loses $2.24, or 4.5%. The fixed fee stays the same, and a bigger product leaves it with almost nothing to bite on.

For the full list of PayPal's rate cards, see our breakdown of PayPal fees and how to cut them. If you are setting up from scratch, there are guides to selling digital downloads with PayPal and to building an online store that takes PayPal, and a wider look at where to sell digital products.