PayPal Fee Calculator

PayPal charges most US business payments a percentage of the amount plus a fixed fee. For a goods and services payment through PayPal Checkout the rate is 3.49% + $0.49, so on a $100 sale PayPal keeps $3.49 + $0.49 = $3.98 and you receive $96.02. The fee is rounded to the cent. If the payment comes from a buyer outside the US, PayPal adds an international fee of 1.50%, which makes the same $100 cost $5.48.

Because the fixed fee doesn't shrink with the payment, small transactions pay a much higher effective rate: $0.49 on a $5 payment is almost 10% before the percentage is added. The calculator shows the effective rate so you can see this.

If you need exactly $100 to arrive, adding $3.98 to the invoice isn't quite enough, because PayPal also takes its percentage from the extra $3.98. The correct amount is (target + fixed fee) ÷ (1 − percentage). For 100 at 3.49% +0.49 that is 100.49 ÷ 0.9651 = $104.12…, which the calculator rounds up to $104.13. Charging $104.13 costs a $4.12 fee and leaves you $100.01.

• The reverse mode checks its answer by running the fee forward, and adds a cent if rounding would leave you short.
• If the combined percentage is 100% or more, no amount can work, and the calculator says so instead of showing a negative number.