PayPal fees explained: what it takes in 2026

PayPal charges a US seller 3.49% plus $0.49 on a goods-and-services payment received through PayPal Checkout, and adds 1.50% when the buyer is in another country. Those two lines explain most of what disappears from a PayPal payout, but the full schedule has several more, and they differ by country. This guide walks through each fee as PayPal publishes it, with worked examples computed by the same engine as the PayPal fee calculator. Every rate below is quoted from PayPal's official fee page for the country in question (the other eleven country pages are cited on the calculator) and was verified on 2 September 2026.

The headline rate: goods and services

When a buyer pays you for something, PayPal calls it a commercial transaction, and the rate depends on how the payment arrives and where you are.

The fixed fee is charged in the currency you receive. The examples in this guide round each fee line to the nearest cent, as described in the methodology. For a US seller, the fee on $100.00 is $3.98 and you keep $96.02, an effective rate of 3.98%. For a UK seller, the fee on £100.00 is £3.20 and you keep £96.80, an effective rate of 3.2%.

Two US rates sit alongside the headline figure. A standard credit or debit card payment, where the buyer pays with a card rather than a PayPal account, is 2.99% plus $0.49. And money sent as goods and services from another PayPal account, meaning a payment the buyer sends through PayPal's Send Money feature and marks as being for goods or services, is listed at 2.99% with no fixed fee shown. Germany has the same split: 2.99% plus €0.39 through Checkout, but 2.49% plus €0.35 for goods-and-services money sent from a PayPal account.

The international surcharge

Most markets add something when the buyer is abroad, but the size of the surcharge, and whether it applies at all, depend on where the buyer is.

• United States: a flat 1.50% on top of the domestic rate, whoever the buyer is.
• United Kingdom: 1.29% when the buyer is in the European Economic Area, 1.99% from anywhere else.
• Germany, France, Spain, Italy and the Netherlands: nothing at all for buyers inside the EEA, 1.29% for buyers in the UK, and 1.99% for the rest of the world. The one exception is Germany's goods-and-services send-money rate, where US and Canadian buyers add 1.99% and everyone outside the EEA and UK adds 2.99%.
• Canada: 0.80% for US buyers and 1.00% for everyone else.
• Australia: 1.00% from any country.
• Philippines and Nigeria: PayPal publishes a separate all-in international rate rather than a surcharge, 4.40% plus the fixed fee in the Philippines and 4.90% plus the fixed fee in Nigeria.
• India: there is no domestic rate; every payment an Indian account receives is international at 4.40% plus ₹3.00.

A US seller paid by a buyer abroad, the fee on $100.00 is $5.48 ($3.98 goods and services (PayPal Checkout) plus $1.50 international surcharge) and you keep $94.52, an effective rate of 5.48%. A German seller paid from France, the fee on €100.00 is €3.38 and you keep €96.62, an effective rate of 3.38%.

The surcharge is calculated on the whole amount, not on the fee, which is why a 1.50% surcharge on a $100 payment adds exactly $1.50.

Currency conversion

If the buyer pays in a currency you do not hold, PayPal converts it at its own exchange rate, which includes a spread above the wholesale rate. For payments you receive and then convert, the spread is 3.00% in every country covered here except Canada, where it is 4.00%. PayPal publishes these as minimum rates and may disclose a different one at the time of the transaction. The spread is a percentage of the converted amount, so it behaves like a fee even though it never appears as a separate line on the payment.

The calculator adds the spread when you tick "payment arrives in another currency". It cannot show you the exchange rate itself, because PayPal sets that at the moment of the transaction; the spread is the part you can plan for.

Micropayments

If you sell many low-value items, PayPal offers a micropayments rate with a higher percentage and a much smaller fixed fee. You have to apply for it. PayPal offers it in two forms, static and dynamic, which differ in which payments the rate is applied to; the user agreement sets out the difference. Either way it only pays off if your typical sale is small.

For a US seller the two rates cross at $26.67: below that, 4.99% plus $0.09 costs less than 3.49% plus $0.49; above it, more. On a $5 sale, the fee on $5.00 is $0.34 and you keep $4.66, an effective rate of 6.8%. The standard rate would take $0.66 on the same sale.

Friends and family

Receiving a friends-and-family payment is free in every country PayPal publishes a consumer schedule for, as long as no currency conversion is involved. The cost sits with the sender. Domestically, paying from a PayPal balance or bank account is free, and funding with a card costs the sender a percentage plus a fixed fee that PayPal sets out on its consumer fee page. When the recipient is in another country, the sender pays the fee below, from a PayPal balance or bank account. India has no friends-and-family service.

Friends-and-family is for personal transfers. PayPal's user agreement does not allow it for commercial sales, and neither seller protection nor purchase protection covers such a payment, so most sellers should treat the goods-and-services rate as the real cost of being paid.

Pricing to net a target

Because PayPal takes a percentage plus a fixed amount, you cannot simply add 3.49% to the price you want to keep. The fee is charged on the total the buyer pays, including the part that covers the fee. To keep $100.00 you charge $104.12, and the fee is $4.12. The calculator's "I want to net" mode solves this for any amount and country, finding the smallest price whose net lands within one cent of your target.

What this guide leaves out

PayPal's fee pages run to dozens of tables. This guide and the calculator cover the rates most sellers meet: goods-and-services payments, card payments, micropayments, friends-and-family, the international surcharge and currency conversion. They leave out chargeback and dispute fees, the QR-code rate, invoicing and donation rates, e-cheque caps, withdrawal and instant-transfer fees, PayPal's gateway and payout products, and any rate negotiated for your account. All of those are on PayPal's fee page for your country.

When these rates last changed

PayPal's US fee page carries an effective date of 1 September 2026. The UK, Canadian, German, French, Spanish, Italian and Dutch pages date from 15 July 2026, the Australian page from 23 July 2026, the Philippine and Nigerian pages from 28 May 2026, and the Indian page from 28 March 2024. This guide records the schedule as first verified on 2 September 2026, so the PayPal fee changelog currently holds one entry; every later change is added there with the date and the rule affected, and the schedule is re-verified at least every 60 days. If a figure on this page disagrees with what PayPal shows you, report it and it will be checked against the official page.

Frequently asked questions

Does PayPal charge a fee to receive money?

For goods and services, yes: the percentage plus fixed fee above, charged to the recipient. For friends-and-family payments the recipient pays nothing when no currency conversion is involved.

Is the PayPal fee charged on the whole amount?

Yes. The percentage applies to the full amount the buyer pays, and the fixed fee is added on top. Shipping charged through PayPal is part of that amount, so PayPal takes its percentage of the shipping too.

Are PayPal fees the same everywhere?

No. The percentage, the fixed fee, the international surcharge and the currency-conversion spread all depend on the country your PayPal account is registered in, and sometimes on where the buyer is. The table at the top of this guide and the calculator cover twelve countries with each one's published rates.

Where do these numbers come from?

Every figure is quoted from PayPal's official fee page for the relevant country, saved as a dated snapshot, and checked by a person. PayPal's consumer fee page corroborates the personal-transaction and conversion rules, but no independent source restates the commercial rates, so the schedule is marked medium confidence. The methodology explains the process, and the schedule is quoted line by line, with the verbatim source text behind every rule, in the calculator's fee table for anyone who wants to check the work.