PayPal Fees 2026: Goods and Services, Card and International Fees Explained

PayPal fees in 2026 depend on how you get paid. A goods and services payment from another PayPal user costs the seller 2.99%, with no fixed fee. A PayPal Checkout payment on your website costs 3.49% + $0.49, a card payment 2.99% + $0.49, and Pay Later 4.99% + $0.49. International payments add 1.5%. Buying with PayPal is free, and sending money to friends and family in the US is free from your PayPal balance or bank account.

Below are all the PayPal fees for US accounts, taken from PayPal’s official fee pages (last updated October 1, 2026), with real examples of what you pay and what you actually receive.

PayPal fees at a glance

The seller pays the fee on commercial payments. It is deducted automatically, so a $100 sale lands in your PayPal balance as $96.02 after a Checkout fee, or $97.01 after a goods and services fee.

PayPal fee for goods and services

When someone pays you through PayPal and marks the payment as goods and services, PayPal charges the recipient 2.99% of the payment, with no fixed fee on top. That makes it the cheapest way to get paid by another PayPal user, especially for small sales.

Who pays the fee for goods and services? The seller, the person who receives the money. The buyer pays nothing extra. In return, the buyer gets PayPal Purchase Protection and the seller can qualify for Seller Protection. That protection is the reason to use goods and services instead of friends and family for any sale.

How much to ask for to receive a set amount: to end up with exactly $100 through goods and services, request $103.08. Through PayPal Checkout it is $104.12, because of the fixed $0.49.

Paid from another country? An international goods and services payment adds 1.5%, so a $100 payment from a buyer outside the US costs you $4.49.

Does PayPal charge a fee?

It depends on which side of the payment you are on and how it is funded:

• Buying with PayPal: free. PayPal does not charge buyers for purchases, unless the payment involves a currency conversion.

• Sending money to friends and family in the US: free when paid from your PayPal balance or a linked bank account. Paying with a credit or debit card costs the sender 2.90% + $0.30.

• Sending money to friends and family abroad: 5% of the amount, at least $0.99 and at most $4.99, plus the card fee if you pay by card.

• Receiving money from friends and family: free for the recipient when no currency conversion is involved.

• Getting paid for a sale: the seller always pays a commercial fee, from 2.99% for goods and services to 4.99% + $0.49 for Pay Later.

So the PayPal to PayPal fee is $0 between friends in the US, and 2.99% when the payment is for something you sold. Don’t take payment for a sale as friends and family to skip the fee: neither you nor the buyer is protected, and PayPal’s user agreement expects commercial payments to go through goods and services.

PayPal fees for business payments

If you accept PayPal on your website or send invoices, the rate depends on how the customer pays at checkout:

The fixed fee hurts small sales the most. On a $10 Checkout payment PayPal takes $0.84, or 8.4%. That is why PayPal offers micropayments pricing of 4.99% + $0.09, which you have to apply for. It works out cheaper than standard Checkout on every payment under about $26.67: a $5 sale costs $0.34 instead of $0.66.

Invoices paid by bank: when a customer pays a PayPal invoice with Pay by Bank (ACH), the fee is 1%, capped at $10 per payment. On a $2,000 invoice that is $10 instead of $70.29 by PayPal Checkout.

International payments and currency conversion

Two extra costs apply when money crosses borders:

• International fee: 1.5% on top of the domestic rate for commercial payments from buyers in another country. A $100 Checkout payment from abroad costs $5.48 instead of $3.98.

• Currency conversion: PayPal builds a spread into its exchange rate, 3% for most conversions and 4% when a buyer pays for goods listed in another currency. If you receive that $100 in a foreign currency and convert it to dollars, about $2.84 more goes on conversion, and you end up with around $91.68.

To keep conversion costs down, list prices in the currency you want to be paid in, and hold a balance in that currency instead of converting every payment automatically.

Other PayPal fees to know

How to calculate PayPal fees

The formula is the same for every payment type: fee = payment × percentage + fixed fee, plus 1.5% if the buyer is abroad. For a $250 PayPal Checkout payment: $250 × 3.49% = $8.73, plus $0.49, so the fee is $9.22 and you receive $240.78.

To figure out PayPal fees for your own amount, including international payments, currency conversion and the amount to charge to receive a target sum, use the calculator below.

How to pay less in PayPal fees

• Ask PayPal users to pay with goods and services: 2.99% with no fixed fee beats Checkout at 3.49% + $0.49.

• Apply for micropayments if most of your sales are under about $25.

• Use Pay by Bank for large invoices: the fee is capped at $10.

• Avoid automatic conversion: price and hold balances in the currency you sell in.

• Use standard transfers to your bank instead of instant ones when you are not in a hurry.

• Compare processors: for card payments on your own site, Stripe charges 2.9% + $0.30. Check the difference for your average order in the Stripe fee calculator.