💳 PayPal Fee Calculator
A PayPal fee calculator for goods and services (3.49% + $0.49) and friends and family, the 1.5% international and 4% conversion charges, and the reverse solver.
PayPal’s general commercial rate — the one most online sales fall under.
That is an effective rate of 3.98% on this transaction.
US merchant rates, checked against PayPal’s own fee page on 12 September 2026. PayPal changes these and they differ by country, account type and negotiated volume — check the current merchant fee page or the consumer fee page before you price anything important. Micropayment and charity rates, chargebacks and PayPal’s own fixed fees in other currencies are not covered here.
What PayPal Fee Calculator Does
PayPal does not have one fee, it has a table of them, and which row applies to you depends on how the money arrives rather than on anything you choose. That is the first thing this calculator exists to make clear: a standard online sale, a card payment, a QR code in a shop and a Pay Later checkout are charged at four different rates, and the gap between the cheapest and the dearest is more than two and a half percentage points.
Every rate here was read off PayPal’s own US merchant fee page and is stamped with the date it was checked, because these change and a fee calculator quoting a stale percentage is worse than no calculator — people price their products from it. The previous version of this page carried three rates that were all wrong, which is exactly the failure mode being guarded against.
International is the one most often misunderstood. PayPal does not apply a separate international rate; it adds a percentage-point surcharge on top of whichever domestic rate already applies. So an overseas card sale is not "the international rate", it is the card rate plus the surcharge.
And the calculation most of these tools omit is the one people actually need: working backwards. If you want a specific amount to land in your account, the fee is not the fee on that amount — it is charged on the larger sum you invoice, so subtracting it always leaves you short.
How to Use PayPal Fee Calculator
- Choose whether you are working out what you keep, or what to charge to net a target
- Enter the payment amount
- Pick the transaction type — goods and services, QR code, Pay Later, or friends and family
- Tick international and currency conversion if they apply; the two charges stack
- View the fee, what lands in your account, and the effective rate on that transaction
Formula Used by PayPal Fee Calculator
Fee on a sale, and the amount to charge for a target payout
fee = gross × rate + fixed → gross = (target + fixed) ÷ (1 − rate)
- gross
- what the customer pays
- rate
- the percentage for that transaction type, plus the international surcharge if it applies
- fixed
- the flat fee for the currency received — 0.49 USD for most commercial transactions, 0.09 USD for QR
Worked example
You want exactly $100.00 to arrive, on a standard commercial transaction at 3.49% + $0.49.
- The intuitive move is $100 + (3.49% of $100 + $0.49) = $103.98 — and it is wrong.
- Charging $103.98 costs 3.49% × 103.98 + 0.49 = $4.12, leaving $99.86. Short.
- Solve instead: (100 + 0.49) ÷ (1 − 0.0349) = 100.49 ÷ 0.9651
Result: $104.12. The percentage applies to the bigger number, so the amount has to be solved for rather than added on.
PayPal US merchant rates
Read from PayPal’s own fee page on 8 September 2026. Rates change, differ by country and account type, and can be negotiated at volume — check the source before pricing anything important.
| Transaction type | Rate | Fixed fee (USD) |
|---|---|---|
| All other commercial transactions | 3.49% | $0.49 |
| Standard credit and debit card payments | 2.99% | $0.49 |
| QR code transactions | 2.29% | $0.09 |
| Pay with Venmo | 3.49% | $0.49 |
| PayPal Pay Later | 4.99% | $0.49 |
| International (added to the above) | +1.50% | — |
Goods and Services versus Friends and Family — $100 Within the US
The most-asked PayPal fee question, and the answer is not just a number. Friends and family is free from a balance or bank account because it is not a sale — it buys no protection for either side, and PayPal's user agreement does not allow it for commercial payments.
| How it is sent | Who pays the fee | Fee on $100 | Buyer protection | Seller protection |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Goods and services (standard) | The seller | $3.98 | Yes | Yes |
| Friends and family from balance or bank | Nobody — no fee | $0.00 | None | None |
| Friends and family funded by a card | The sender | $3.20 | None | None |
Source: PayPal — Consumer fees (US)
Cross-Border Charges Stack
On a $100 standard commercial sale. The international surcharge and the currency-conversion spread are separate things and both can apply to the same transaction — which is how a 3.49% rate becomes nearly 9.5%.
| Situation | Percentage applied | Fee on $100 | Effective rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| Domestic sale, no conversion | 3.49% | $3.98 | 3.98% |
| Buyer abroad, paid in your currency | 3.49% + 1.50% | $5.48 | 5.48% |
| Buyer abroad and the money is converted | 3.49% + 1.50% + 4.00% | $9.48 | 9.48% |
What the fixed fee does to small sales
At 3.49% + $0.49. The percentage is the headline; on small amounts the flat fee is what actually hurts.
| Sale | Fee | Effective rate |
|---|---|---|
| $5.00 | $0.66 | 13.3% |
| $10.00 | $0.84 | 8.4% |
| $25.00 | $1.36 | 5.5% |
| $100.00 | $3.98 | 4.0% |
| $500.00 | $17.94 | 3.6% |
How to Read Your Result
Small transactions are the expensive ones
A flat 49 cents is 13% of a five-dollar sale and 0.1% of a five-hundred-dollar one. If you sell low-value items, bundling, minimum order values or a different payment route will do more for your margin than any percentage negotiation.
Check which row you are actually on
Most sellers assume the headline rate applies to everything. If your buyers pay by card rather than PayPal balance, or use Pay Later, you are on a different line — and Pay Later at 4.99% is a percentage and a half above the standard rate.
Quote gross, not net
If you invoice for exactly what you want to receive, you will always receive less. Use the reverse calculation, and remember it changes if the buyer turns out to be international.
Friends and family is free because it is not a sale
Within the US, a personal payment funded from a PayPal balance or a bank account costs nothing; funded by a card it costs the sender 2.90% + $0.30. That is genuinely cheaper than the 3.49% + $0.49 a seller pays — and it is not a loophole, it is a different product. Personal payments carry no purchase protection for the buyer and no seller protection for you, and PayPal's user agreement does not permit them for commercial transactions. On a $100 sale you would be saving $3.98 and giving up the dispute process on the whole $100. Sellers who ask for it are, in effect, asking the buyer to absorb the risk.
The conversion spread is bigger than the fee
Two separate cross-border charges exist and they stack. The international surcharge is 1.50% added to whichever domestic rate applies. Currency conversion is a 4.00% spread above the base exchange rate — larger than the headline transaction fee, and it never appears as a line item because it is built into the rate you are shown. A $100 sale to an overseas buyer with conversion costs $9.48, not $3.98. If you invoice in the buyer's currency and hold a balance in it, you can often defer or avoid the conversion leg.
Limitations & Accuracy Notes
- US rates only. PayPal publishes different tables per country, and charities and micropayment pricing differ again.
- Rates are as read on 12 September 2026. PayPal changes them; the source links are on the page for that reason.
- The 4.00% currency conversion figure is a spread on the exchange rate, not an itemized fee. Treating it as an extra percentage of the transaction estimates the cost accurately enough to compare options, but it will not match a line on your statement, because there is no such line.
- Chargeback fees, refunds and disputes are not included.
- Negotiated volume pricing is not covered — larger merchants often pay less than the published rate.
- Nothing here is tax or accounting advice.
Frequently Asked Questions
What are standard PayPal merchant fees in 2026?
How do I pass PayPal fees to the client legally?
What is the PayPal fee for goods and services?
Is friends and family really free, and can I use it for a sale?
How much does PayPal charge for international payments?
Why is the currency conversion cost not on my statement?
Which PayPal rate applies to me?
What is the currency conversion cost?
Is there a fee for receiving money from friends and family?
Do I get fees back on a refund?
What is the micropayments rate?
Is my data stored?
References & Further Reading
- PayPal — Merchant and business fees (US) — The source of every rate used here, including the 1.50% international surcharge and the per-currency fixed fees