PayPal Fee Calculator

How do you calculate PayPal fees and your net receipt?

Start with the actual transaction type. PayPal Checkout, a Goods and Services transfer, a standard card payment and an invoice paid by bank each have their own pricing. Choose the mode, enter a USD payment amount and select international commercial payment only when that condition applies.

The calculator estimates the fee for a US recipient using the selected published rate. Net receipt is the original payment minus that fee. Reverse mode finds the payment amount required for your entered target net. The processing estimate is in USD. Currency conversion, withdrawals, disputes and other products can change the eventual bank deposit.

Why are Goods and Services and Checkout not the same rate?

The PayPal US merchant-fee page, checked October 13, 2026, lists Send/Receive Money for Goods and Services at 2.99% without a fixed fee, and Checkout at 3.49% plus a currency-specific fixed fee. In USD, Checkout’s fixed amount is $0.49.

The transaction label identifies which entry applies. A shop checkout integration and a Goods and Services money transfer are different transaction types in the table. Match the payment type in the calculator with the transaction shown in your account so the result uses the corresponding rate.

For an agreed rate, choose custom pricing and enter the percentage and fixed fee from your agreement. Use the payment type and eligibility conditions attached to that agreement when comparing the result with a standard rate.

Which PayPal US rates does the calculator use?

The domestic USD rates below come from PayPal US merchant fees. The source’s last update is October 1, 2026. Select the actual transaction type rather than assuming every commercial payment uses Checkout pricing.

PayPal Point of Sale lists 2.29% + $0.09 for card-present transactions and 3.49% + $0.09 for manual card entry. Advanced credit/debit card payments use 2.89% + $0.29, while Virtual Terminal uses 3.39% + $0.29.

How much does PayPal take from $100?

Checkout takes $3.98; a Goods and Services transfer takes $2.99. Both start with a $100 payment, but Checkout adds a $0.49 fixed fee to its 3.49% percentage. The Goods and Services entry applies 2.99% alone. That leaves $96.02 through Checkout and $97.01 through Goods and Services.

For Checkout, $100 × 0.0349 = $3.49, then $3.49 + $0.49 = $3.98. On a $10 payment, the percentage produces $0.349 before adding the fixed amount; rounding the combined $0.839 gives $0.84.

Collecting a $200 project in two stages changes the fixed-fee total. A $40 Checkout deposit costs $1.89, and the $160 balance costs $6.07: $7.96 altogether. Collecting $200 once costs $7.47. For a series of matching payments, the number field applies one fee to each share of the total. A deposit with a different-sized balance needs two labeled results.

How much should you charge to receive a target amount?

To receive $100 using domestic Checkout, reverse mode finds a $104.12 payment. The rounded fee is $4.12 and net receipt is $100.00. At $104.11, the same rounded fee leaves only $99.99.

For Goods and Services at 2.99% with no fixed fee, the lowest cent amount for a $100 receipt is $103.08: fee $3.08, net $100.00. Standard card pricing at 2.99% plus $0.49 instead needs $103.59: fee $3.59, net $100.00. Payment type is therefore essential even when the headline percentages match.

Reverse mode helps plan the receipt from an agreed selling price. For PayPal’s contractual terms and card-payment rules, see the surcharge section on the Stripe fee page.

What changes for international payments and currency conversion?

PayPal adds 1.50 percentage points to the relevant domestic commercial rate for an international commercial transaction. International Checkout therefore uses 4.99% plus the USD fixed fee. A $100 payment costs an estimated $5.48 and leaves $94.52. International Goods and Services uses 4.49%, without a fixed fee.

PayPal defines international payments by the sender’s and receiver’s markets. The international commercial option applies the published addition to the relevant commercial payment type.

Currency conversion has its own pricing in addition to international processing. This calculator keeps the estimate in USD. A known dollar cost entered in the other-cost field is deducted once per payment, after the processing fee has been calculated.

Which payment method determines a PayPal invoice fee?

The customer's payment method through the invoice determines the relevant invoice rate. Checkout, Venmo and Guest Checkout use 3.49% plus the USD fixed fee. Standard cards and Apple Pay use 2.99% plus that fee. Pay Later uses 4.99% plus the fee.

Invoice Pay by Bank uses 1%, capped at $10. A $100 ACH invoice payment costs $1; a $1,200 payment reaches the $10 cap. Reverse mode checks the percentage and cap instead of treating ACH as an uncapped card fee. The rate covers a domestic USD bank payment.

The PayPal US merchant-fee page adds 1.50 percentage points for international invoicing transactions. For the Checkout calculation, see the international-payment example above. The bank option here uses the domestic invoice Pay by Bank rate.

How much is the fee on $100, $1,200 and $5,000?

These examples compare two domestic commercial types and domestic invoice ACH. Each amount is one successful payment, before conversion or other charges.

For a $5,000 payment, “the PayPal fee” therefore needs a transaction label. The fee and net receipt vary by transaction type even at the same gross amount. International commercial payments add their applicable percentage to the selected commercial type.

How do online sellers, freelancers and small-ticket sellers use PayPal fee estimates?

Online sellers

Start with the actual Checkout integration or card product used for the sale. Select the international condition separately from any later conversion.

Use the transaction label when recording the estimated receipt. A Goods and Services transfer and a Checkout sale can have the same gross amount but different fees. If the selling method changes, repeat the calculation using the new method before reusing a net figure from an earlier payment.

Freelancers and contractors

Choose the invoice payment method the customer will use. If the method is undecided, compare the alternatives and retain the transaction labels with the results. Track a deposit and final payment as stages of the same agreed project, with the method recorded for each stage.

Small-ticket sellers

QR and approved micropayments have small fixed fees but different percentages. On a $5 payment, QR at 2.29% plus $0.09 gives a $0.20 rounded fee and $4.80 net. Approved micropayments at 4.99% plus $0.09 gives $0.34 and $4.66 net.

The micropayments rate requires approval; the calculator asks you to confirm that your account already has that pricing. Select it once that pricing is active on your account. Compare the fee dollars at your actual selling amount because the lower fixed fee and higher percentage can change which total is smaller. Use the comparison page for broader processor comparisons.

Next step: turn the charge into an invoice

Ready to bill for the agreed project? Give the result a job description, then choose Turn into an invoice. Free registration opens an editable invoice with the gross payment amount and description carried in. The invoice amount is what the customer owes; the PayPal fee helps you budget the receipt from that payment.

Or make it without an account to prepare the invoice in the free generator. Enter the agreed payment and describe the work. Keep the selected PayPal transaction type with your own calculation so you can compare the expected receipt with the payment later.

Sources

Official sources for the rates and policies used on this page. Checked October 13, 2026. The worked examples apply those rates to the stated payment conditions.

PayPal US merchant-fee page