AM PayPal's fee depends on how the money arrives: through checkout on your website, a goods and services payment in the app, an invoice paid by card or bank, Pay Later, or a QR code at a market stall. Each has its own percentage, most add a fixed fee, and international buyers add a surcharge. This calculator applies the right combination and also works backwards, telling you what to charge so you receive an exact amount.
Rates are PayPal's US merchant fees as listed on its fee page, last updated September 1, 2026. The calculator runs in your browser and nothing you enter is sent anywhere.
How to calculate PayPal fees
- Choose the mode: Fees on a payment (what you keep from a payment) or What to charge to receive an amount (what to ask for).
- Enter the amount and pick the currency you receive: USD, GBP, EUR, CAD or AUD. The currency sets the fixed fee.
- Set Buyer location. Choose Another country for international buyers, which adds 1.50% to commercial payments.
- Choose How you get paid from the list of 12 payment types.
- Read the result: the fee, the effective percentage, what you receive, and a line by line breakdown.
- Scroll to Every payment type for this amount to compare all the commercial options side by side.
Under Advanced you can enter a custom percentage and fixed fee (for a negotiated or non-US rate) and add a currency conversion spread of 3% or 4%.
PayPal fees in 2026 (US accounts)
| Payment type | Rate | Fee on $100 | You receive |
|---|---|---|---|
| PayPal Checkout and Guest Checkout | 3.49% + $0.49 | $3.98 | $96.02 |
| Pay with Venmo (checkout) | 3.49% + $0.49 | $3.98 | $96.02 |
| Goods and services (send or request money) | 2.99% (fixed fee toggle in the tool) | $2.99 to $3.48 | $96.52 to $97.01 |
| Credit and debit cards, Apple Pay | 2.99% + $0.49 | $3.48 | $96.52 |
| Invoice paid with PayPal or Venmo | 3.49% + $0.49 | $3.98 | $96.02 |
| Invoice paid by card or Apple Pay | 2.99% + $0.49 | $3.48 | $96.52 |
| Invoice paid by bank (ACH) | 1%, capped at $10 | $1.00 | $99.00 |
| Pay Later (Pay in 4, Pay Monthly) | 4.99% + $0.49 | $5.48 | $94.52 |
| QR code payment in person | 2.29% + $0.09 | $2.38 | $97.62 |
| Charity (confirmed charity account) | 1.99% + $0.49 | $2.48 | $97.52 |
International commercial payments add 1.50%. Fixed fees in other currencies are 0.39 GBP, 0.39 EUR, 0.59 CAD and 0.59 AUD for standard payments, and 0.07 GBP, 0.07 EUR, 0.11 CAD and 0.12 AUD for QR code payments.
Note: PayPal's merchant fee table lists goods and services payments as 2.99% without the words "plus fixed fee", yet sellers commonly see a fixed fee on these payments. The calculator includes the $0.49 by default and lets you untick it. Check the fee on one of your own transactions in PayPal activity and set the toggle to match.
Personal payments
Friends and family payments inside the US are free when sent from a PayPal balance or bank account. When the sender pays by card, the sender is charged 2.90% + $0.30. International personal transfers cost the sender 5%, with a minimum of $0.99 and a maximum of $4.99. Personal payments are not covered by Purchase Protection, so never accept them for sales.
Worked examples
A $40 order through PayPal Checkout
3.49% of $40 is $1.40, plus $0.49 fixed, a fee of $1.89. You receive $38.11, an effective rate of 4.7%. Notice how the fixed fee hurts small orders: on a $10 order the fee is $0.84, or 8.4%.
A $250 invoice paid by card
2.99% of $250 is $7.48 (rounded from $7.475), plus $0.49. PayPal rounds the total fee to $7.97, and you receive $242.03. If the client had paid the same invoice with their PayPal balance, the rate would be 3.49% + $0.49, or $9.22.
A $2,000 invoice paid by bank
1% would be $20, but the ACH fee is capped at $10. You receive $1,990. For large B2B invoices, asking clients to pay by bank saves real money.
An international buyer
A buyer in Canada pays $100 USD through PayPal Checkout. The rate becomes 3.49% + 1.50% = 4.99%, plus $0.49. The fee is $5.48 and you receive $94.52.
A $300 order paid with Pay Later
The buyer chooses Pay in 4 at checkout. You still receive the money up front, but the rate is 4.99% + $0.49: 4.99% of $300 is $14.97, plus $0.49, a fee of $15.46. You receive $284.54, compared with $289.04 if the same buyer had paid through PayPal Checkout without Pay Later.
A $20 sale at a market stall
Paid through PayPal's QR code in person, the rate is 2.29% + $0.09. The fee is $0.55 and you receive $19.45. The low fixed fee is what makes QR payments sensible for small in-person sales.
What to charge to receive $500
Switch to What to charge to receive an amount and enter 500 with PayPal Checkout. The formula is (amount you want + fixed fee) / (1 - percentage) = (500 + 0.49) / 0.9651 = $518.59, rounded up to the cent. PayPal takes $18.59 and you receive exactly $500.00. Adding the fee percentage on top ($500 + 3.49%) would give $517.45 and leave you short.
Which payment type applies to you
- PayPal Checkout is the PayPal button on your website or store checkout, including Guest Checkout where the buyer pays by card without logging in to PayPal.
- Goods and services is when a buyer sends money to your email or phone in the PayPal app and marks it as a purchase, or you send a payment request. It is common for social media and marketplace sales outside a store.
- Credit and debit cards is PayPal's card processing for card fields on your own checkout, including Apple Pay.
- Invoices are PayPal invoices you send from your account. The rate depends on how the client pays: PayPal balance or Venmo, card, or bank.
- Pay Later applies when the buyer chooses Pay in 4 or Pay Monthly at checkout. You receive the full amount, and you pay the higher 4.99% rate.
- QR code payments are in-person payments at a stall or counter through PayPal's QR code.
Pricing a product with PayPal fees built in
Fees are a cost like shipping, so price for them. Take a candle that costs $18 to make and $6 to ship, sold for $45 through PayPal Checkout. The fee is 3.49% of $45 ($1.57) plus $0.49, which is $2.06. Profit is $45 minus $18, $6 and $2.06, which leaves $18.94, a 42% margin. If 10% of your orders come from abroad, those orders pay another $0.68 each in the international surcharge.
To keep a target profit, start from the reverse mode: decide what you need to receive after fees, enter it, and use the Ask for figure as the minimum price. Then round to a price that suits your store.
Refunds, disputes and chargebacks
If you refund a commercial or invoice payment, PayPal does not charge a fee to refund, but it also does not return the fees you paid to receive the payment. On the $100 checkout example, a full refund costs you the $3.98. PayPal also lists a standard dispute fee of $15.00 and a chargeback fee of $20.00 on card payments processed outside PayPal Checkout. Build a small allowance for refunds into your pricing, especially for categories with high return rates.
Fees in other currencies
If your US PayPal account receives payments in pounds, euros, Canadian or Australian dollars, the percentage stays the same and the fixed fee changes to that currency's amount. A £100 PayPal Checkout payment costs 3.49% plus 0.39 GBP, a fee of £3.88, and you receive £96.12. The calculator switches the fixed fee when you change the currency. Accounts registered outside the US have their own rate tables, so if you are based in the UK, Canada or Australia, enter your local rate in Advanced.
PayPal rounds each fee to the cent (or penny). The calculator does the same, which is why a percentage that works out to half a cent can move the total by one cent.
Currency conversion
When PayPal converts money between currencies, it adds a spread to the exchange rate: 4.00% when a buyer pays in a currency other than the one the item is listed in and similar cases, and 3.00% for other conversions, such as moving a foreign-currency balance to your USD bank account. The calculator can apply either spread to what you receive. On $100 through checkout with a 3% conversion, you lose $2.88 on top of the $3.98 fee and receive $93.14.
How to lower your PayPal fees
- Invoice large B2B payments and ask for bank payment. The 1% ACH rate with a $10 cap is by far the cheapest option.
- Raise your minimum order or bundle products. The fixed $0.49 matters much less on a $60 order than on a $12 one.
- Price international orders separately if a large share of your buyers are abroad, since they cost 1.50% more.
- Hold foreign currency balances if you also pay suppliers in that currency, instead of converting twice.
- Never use friends and family for sales. It avoids the fee but leaves neither you nor the buyer with any protection if something goes wrong.
Once you know the true fee, put it into your pricing. Our profit margin calculator and break-even calculator show what is left after fees and costs, and if you sell on Shopify or Etsy, compare with the Shopify fee calculator and Etsy fee calculator. If the numbers mean raising prices across your catalog, AM Jarvis Bulk Edit Pro changes prices on every product at once, with a preview and one-click undo.
Troubleshooting
The fee looks too high on a small payment
That is the fixed fee at work. On a $5 PayPal Checkout payment, 3.49% is only $0.17, but the $0.49 fixed fee brings the total to $0.66, over 13% of the sale. Bundle small items, set a minimum order, or use QR code payments for small in-person sales, where the fixed fee is $0.09.
My PayPal activity shows a different fee
Check the payment type, which you can see in the transaction details, and whether the buyer was international. Business accounts with a negotiated rate or accounts outside the US use different rates: enter yours under Advanced. Small one cent differences come from rounding.
The calculator result is higher than the payment in reverse mode
That is the point of reverse mode: it tells you the amount to request so that, after PayPal's fee, you keep the number you entered.
Why do some payment types not appear in the comparison table?
The table compares the ten commercial payment types for the amount you entered. Friends and family payments are left out because they are personal transfers, not ways to get paid for sales.
Why is the friends and family (card) row different?
On that payment type the sender pays the fee, so the result shows what the sender is charged and what you get, not a fee deducted from you.