PayPal does not have one fee — and the most-quoted one is wrong for Goods & Services
Ask the internet for PayPal's fee and you will mostly get "2.99% + $0.49". PayPal's own merchant fees page says something more precise: Send/Receive Money for Goods and Services is 2.99% with no fixed fee at all. The $0.49 fixed fee belongs to other routes — standard card payments (2.99% + $0.49) and PayPal Checkout (3.49% + $0.49). On small payments the difference is the whole story: at $10, a phantom $0.49 is 4.9% of the payment. This calculator uses the official rate for the route you pick, keeps every number editable, and runs backwards — the exact amount to charge so the amount you want is what lands.
International commercial payments add 1.50% to the percentage rate. Currency conversion, where it applies, is a separate 3–4% spread on the exchange rate and is not part of the transaction fee.
Worked example
At the defaults — a $100 Goods & Services payment at the official 2.99% with no fixed fee — PayPal keeps $2.99 and you receive $97.01. To receive exactly $100, charge $103.09. Switch the route to PayPal Checkout (3.49% + $0.49) and the same $100 payment costs $3.98 instead — the route matters more than the amount.
How to use this calculator
- Enter the amount the buyer pays.
- Pick how the payment actually arrives — a Goods & Services transfer, a Checkout payment, a card payment, a QR code scan, or micropayments. The rates fill in from PayPal's official table.
- Tick the international box if the buyer is in another country; it adds PayPal's 1.50%.
- Use the reverse box before you quote a price or send an invoice: it tells you what to charge so fees do not eat the difference.
- Negotiated a different rate with PayPal? Type it over the preset — the maths follows your numbers.
The official US rates used here
From PayPal's merchant fees page (paypal.com, checked October 2026): Goods & Services send/receive 2.99% (no fixed fee) · PayPal Checkout and Guest Checkout 3.49% + $0.49 · standard credit and debit card 2.99% + $0.49 · QR code 2.29% + $0.09 · micropayments 4.99% + $0.09 · PayPal Pay Later 4.99% + $0.49. International commercial transactions add 1.50%. One more honesty note: when you refund a buyer, PayPal does not return the fee you paid — budget for that on refund-heavy products.