See your exact payout for every PayPal transaction type. Updated for 2026 rates.
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✓ Rates from PayPal's US merchant fee page (updated Sept 1, 2026) · checked September 2026
PayPal remains one of the most widely used payment platforms in the world, processing payments for millions of sellers across more than 200 markets. But its fee structure has grown more complex over the years, with different rates applying depending on how you receive money, where your buyer is located, and what type of account you're using. Understanding exactly how these fees work — and how to minimize them — can mean the difference between a healthy profit margin and barely breaking even on each sale.
The calculator above gives you an instant answer, but knowing the reasoning behind the numbers helps you make smarter pricing decisions across your entire business — not just for a single transaction.
The single most common mistake with PayPal fees is assuming there is one rate. There are three that matter to most sellers. PayPal Checkout — the PayPal and Venmo buttons on a website, and invoices paid through a PayPal account — costs 3.49% + $0.49. A card payment processed through PayPal Checkout (the buyer types a card number instead of logging into PayPal) costs 2.99% + $0.49. And a direct Goods & Services payment, where a buyer sends money from their own PayPal account and marks it as a purchase, costs 2.99% with no fixed fee at all. On a $100 sale that's $3.98, $3.48, and $2.99 respectively — so which one your buyers use matters more than most sellers realize. Payments from buyers in another country add 1.5% on top of any of these.
Let's walk through a concrete example. Say you sell a used camera lens for $250 and the buyer pays through a PayPal Checkout button on your site. PayPal's fee is 3.49% of $250 ($8.73) plus the fixed $0.49, for a total of $9.22, so you'd receive $240.78 — not the full $250 you might have expected. If the same buyer instead sent a direct Goods & Services payment from their PayPal account, the fee would be 2.99% with no fixed fee: $7.48, leaving you $242.52.
This is exactly why many experienced sellers build the fee into their listing price from the start. If you want to guarantee you receive exactly $250 after PayPal Checkout fees, you'd need to charge the buyer $259.55 instead — using the reverse calculation formula built into our calculator above.
Not every PayPal transaction costs the same amount, and choosing the right transaction type for your situation can save you meaningful money over time:
1. Switch to QR codes for any in-person sales. If part of your business involves face-to-face transactions, this single change costs you 2.29% + $0.09 instead of 3.49% + $0.49 through PayPal Checkout — roughly 1.6 percentage points less on a $100 sale.
2. Build fees into your pricing rather than absorbing them silently. Most successful online sellers don't think of PayPal's cut as a loss — they simply price their goods knowing the fee is part of the cost of doing business, the same way a retail store accounts for rent.
3. Consider your transaction volume. If you're processing more than $3,000 a month, it's worth comparing PayPal Checkout's 3.49% + $0.49 against Stripe's 2.9% + $0.30 for card payments where buyer brand-preference for PayPal specifically isn't a factor. Even a half-percent difference adds up significantly at scale — see our full Stripe vs PayPal comparison for the complete breakdown.
Despite not having the lowest rates in the industry, PayPal remains the right choice for sellers who serve an international audience, who sell higher-ticket items where buyer trust meaningfully affects conversion rates, or who simply want the easiest possible setup with no developer involvement. The combination of brand recognition and built-in dispute resolution often outweighs the higher fees — particularly for sellers without an established reputation of their own yet.
| Transaction Type | Rate | Fixed Fee | On $100 | You Keep |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| PayPal Checkout / Pay with Venmo | 3.49% | $0.49 | $3.98 | $96.02 |
| Card payment via PayPal Checkout | 2.99% | $0.49 | $3.48 | $96.52 |
| Goods & Services payment | 2.99% | $0.00 | $2.99 | $97.01 |
| Invoice paid with PayPal account | 3.49% | $0.49 | $3.98 | $96.02 |
| QR code (in person) | 2.29% | $0.09 | $2.38 | $97.62 |
| Pay Later | 4.99% | $0.49 | $5.48 | $94.52 |
| Charity (approved nonprofits) | 1.99% | $0.49 | $2.48 | $97.52 |
| Friends & Family (bank or balance) | 0.00% | $0.00 | $0.00 | $100.00 |
| International buyer (any commercial type) | +1.50% | — | +$1.50 | — |
US PayPal accounts, USD. Source: PayPal merchant fee page, last updated September 1, 2026 (checked September 2026). A currency conversion adds PayPal's conversion spread.
Domestic payments. The $0.49 fixed fee is why small sales cost proportionally more through PayPal Checkout, while Goods & Services payments (no fixed fee) stay at a flat 2.99% at every amount.
| Sale | Checkout (3.49% + $0.49) | Card (2.99% + $0.49) | G&S (2.99%) | QR (2.29% + $0.09) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| $5.00 | $0.66 | $0.64 | $0.15 | $0.20 |
| $10.00 | $0.84 | $0.79 | $0.30 | $0.32 |
| $25.00 | $1.36 | $1.24 | $0.75 | $0.66 |
| $50.00 | $2.24 | $1.99 | $1.50 | $1.24 |
| $100.00 | $3.98 | $3.48 | $2.99 | $2.38 |
| $250.00 | $9.22 | $7.97 | $7.48 | $5.82 |
| $500.00 | $17.94 | $15.44 | $14.95 | $11.54 |
| $1,000.00 | $35.39 | $30.39 | $29.90 | $22.99 |