How much does PayPal take? Fees on $100, $500, $1,000 and more
PayPal takes 2.99% + $0.49 from every US Goods & Services payment in 2026. On $100 that is $3.48, so you keep $96.52. On $500 it is $15.44, leaving $484.56. On $1,000 it is $30.39, leaving $969.61. On a small payment the same rate bites much harder: $10 costs $0.79, which is 7.90% — not 2.99% — because the 49-cent fixed fee does not shrink with the payment. Friends & Family transfers funded from a bank account or PayPal balance are free domestically, but they are not allowed for business income.
Below is the fee and the net on every amount people actually search for, then the situations that change the price: micropayments, international clients, invoicing to hit a target net, refunds, chargebacks, and the 2026 rate increase. Every figure on this page is computed with the same formula as the PayPal Fee Calculator, so you can check any row yourself.
How much PayPal takes from $10 to $10,000
| Payment received | PayPal fee | You keep | Effective rate | Fixed fee's share of the fee |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| $10 | $0.79 | $9.21 | 7.90% | 62% |
| $25 | $1.24 | $23.76 | 4.96% | 40% |
| $50 | $1.99 | $48.01 | 3.98% | 25% |
| $100 | $3.48 | $96.52 | 3.48% | 14% |
| $250 | $7.97 | $242.03 | 3.19% | 6% |
| $500 | $15.44 | $484.56 | 3.09% | 3.2% |
| $1,000 | $30.39 | $969.61 | 3.04% | 1.6% |
| $2,500 | $75.24 | $2,424.76 | 3.01% | 0.7% |
| $5,000 | $149.99 | $4,850.01 | 3.00% | 0.3% |
| $10,000 | $299.49 | $9,700.51 | 2.99% | 0.2% |
Read the last two columns together. The advertised rate is 2.99%, but you only actually pay 2.99% on a $10,000 payment. Everywhere below that you are paying the percentage plus a fixed charge that is a bigger and bigger slice of the total as the payment gets smaller — 62% of the fee on a $10 payment, 0.2% on a $10,000 one.
That single fact decides which fee problem you have. If your average payment is above roughly $250, PayPal costs you close to its headline rate and there is little to optimise. If your average payment is under $30, the fixed fee is your cost problem, and the fix is order size or a different price plan — not haggling over percentages.
Fees on the in-between amounts people actually type
Most searches are not for round hundreds. Here is the same 2.99% + $0.49 US rate across the amounts that show up in real invoices and carts.
| Payment received | PayPal fee | You keep | Effective rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| $5 | $0.64 | $4.36 | 12.80% |
| $15 | $0.94 | $14.06 | 6.27% |
| $20 | $1.09 | $18.91 | 5.45% |
| $30 | $1.39 | $28.61 | 4.63% |
| $40 | $1.69 | $38.31 | 4.22% |
| $60 | $2.28 | $57.72 | 3.80% |
| $75 | $2.73 | $72.27 | 3.64% |
| $150 | $4.98 | $145.02 | 3.32% |
| $200 | $6.47 | $193.53 | 3.24% |
| $300 | $9.46 | $290.54 | 3.15% |
| $400 | $12.45 | $387.55 | 3.11% |
| $600 | $18.43 | $581.57 | 3.07% |
| $750 | $22.92 | $727.08 | 3.06% |
| $1,500 | $45.34 | $1,454.66 | 3.02% |
| $2,000 | $60.29 | $1,939.71 | 3.01% |
| $3,000 | $90.19 | $2,909.81 | 3.01% |
Two practical readings. First, the percentage applies to the gross amount that landed in your account, including shipping and sales tax the buyer paid you. Collect $85 for an item plus $15 of shipping and tax and PayPal charges on $100, not $85. Second, splitting one payment into several always costs more, because the 49 cents repeats. A $600 job billed as six $100 invoices costs $20.88 in fees; billed once it costs $18.43. Same money, $2.45 difference, and five fewer invoices to chase.
For a deeper walkthrough of the formula and the rate table by payment type, the PayPal fees explained guide sits alongside the calculator itself.
Goods & Services vs Friends & Family: two prices, one of them a trap
PayPal has two rails, and the price gap is the whole reason people ask this question.
| Payment type (2026, US) | What it costs | Who pays it |
|---|---|---|
| Goods & Services (commercial) | 2.99% + $0.49 | Recipient |
| PayPal Checkout button on your own site | up to 3.49% + $0.49 | Recipient |
| Friends & Family, domestic, bank or balance funded | $0 | Nobody |
| Friends & Family funded by debit or credit card | around 2.9% + $0.30 | Sender |
| Cross-border Goods & Services | around 4.49% + $0.49 | Recipient |
| Micropayments pricing (opt-in) | 4.99% + $0.09 | Recipient |
| Chargeback fee | around $20 | Recipient |
Friends & Family really is free when it is domestic and funded from a bank account or balance, which is why sellers keep asking buyers to pay that way. On a $200 sale it saves $6.47. Do not take that trade.
Routing business income through Friends & Family costs you Seller Protection entirely — an F&F transfer is not a covered transaction, so if the buyer claims non-receipt or says their account was compromised, there is no protection programme behind you. It also strips the buyer's Purchase Protection, which is why informed buyers refuse the request and why asking for it reads as a scam signal to exactly the cautious customers who spend most. And it breaches PayPal's User Agreement: personal transfers are not for commercial activity, and PayPal's systems are good at spotting repeated similar-sized payments from many different senders. The usual outcome is not a warning but an account limitation with funds held through a review. Losing access to your balance for weeks costs far more than the fees you dodged.
There is a tax consequence too. Business income is taxable however it arrives, but Friends & Family payments do not land on the 1099-K PayPal issues for commercial activity, which leaves a books-versus-forms gap that is unpleasant to explain later. Processing fees are a deductible business expense, so the honest route is also partly self-funding — see the Self-Employment Tax Calculator for how that lands on your return.
Does it cost money to use PayPal for personal payments?
For ordinary personal use, PayPal is mostly free: sending Friends & Family domestically from your bank or balance costs nothing, receiving it costs nothing, and moving money to your bank on the standard one-to-three-day timeline is free. The costs appear when you want the money faster or when a card is involved.
| Action | 2026 US cost | On $500 |
|---|---|---|
| Send Friends & Family from balance or bank (domestic) | Free | $0.00 |
| Send Friends & Family funded by card | around 2.9% + $0.30, paid by sender | $14.80 |
| Standard transfer to your bank (1-3 days) | Free | $0.00 |
| Instant Transfer to bank or debit card | 1.75%, minimum $0.25, maximum $25 | $8.75 |
| Receive a Goods & Services payment | 2.99% + $0.49 | $15.44 |
Instant Transfer is the one that quietly adds up. At 1.75% it costs $1.75 on $100, $8.75 on $500 and $17.50 on $1,000, then caps at $25 once the transfer passes roughly $1,428. Someone cashing out $1,000 weekly for the convenience is paying about $910 a year to skip a two-day wait. Batch withdrawals and use the standard transfer and that number goes to zero.
Personal-account rates change more often than commercial ones, so confirm the current instant-transfer percentage and cap on PayPal's published fee schedule before budgeting around it.
PayPal micropayments: when 4.99% + $0.09 is the cheaper price
If most of what you sell is cheap — digital downloads, single tracks, printables, tips — PayPal offers an opt-in micropayments price of 4.99% + $0.09 on a separate account. Higher percentage, far lower fixed fee, which flips the maths at small amounts.
| Sale amount | Standard (2.99% + $0.49) | Micropayments (4.99% + $0.09) | Cheaper | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| $2 | $0.55 | $0.19 | Micropayments | $0.36 |
| $5 | $0.64 | $0.34 | Micropayments | $0.30 |
| $10 | $0.79 | $0.59 | Micropayments | $0.20 |
| $15 | $0.94 | $0.84 | Micropayments | $0.10 |
| $20 | $1.09 | $1.09 | Identical | $0.00 |
| $25 | $1.24 | $1.34 | Standard | $0.10 |
| $50 | $1.99 | $2.59 | Standard | $0.60 |
| $100 | $3.48 | $5.08 | Standard | $1.60 |
The crossover is exactly $20: the 40-cent saving on the fixed fee is cancelled by the extra 2.00% at that amount. Below $20 micropayments wins; above it the gap runs against you fast.
Concretely, a creator selling 300 copies of a $7 download each month pays $210 a month on standard pricing — a 10.00% effective rate. On micropayments the same month costs $132.00, a 6.29% rate, saving $936 a year on identical revenue. That is the difference between a low-ticket product being viable and not. Because it needs a separate account, most people run micropayments for the cheap catalogue and a standard account for everything else.
Getting paid from another country: 4.49% plus a markup nobody itemizes
When the payer's PayPal account is registered outside your country the transaction becomes cross-border and the rate rises to roughly 4.49% + $0.49 for US sellers. That is the visible half. The other half is currency conversion: PayPal converts at its own rate, typically 3% to 4.5% away from the mid-market rate, and it never appears as a line item. You just receive fewer dollars than the market would have given you.
| Payment | Domestic | Cross-border | Cross-border + conversion | Extra vs domestic |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| $100 | $3.48 | $4.98 | $8.98 | $5.50 |
| $250 | $7.97 | $11.72 | $21.72 | $13.75 |
| $500 | $15.44 | $22.94 | $42.94 | $27.50 |
| $1,000 | $30.39 | $45.39 | $85.39 | $55.00 |
| $2,500 | $75.24 | $112.74 | $212.74 | $137.50 |
| $5,000 | $149.99 | $224.99 | $424.99 | $275.00 |
The conversion column assumes a combined 8.49% + $0.49, using a 4% conversion spread. On a $5,000 monthly retainer from an overseas client, that stack costs $424.99 a month — about $5,100 a year against $1,800 if the same client paid domestically.
Three defences actually work. Hold a multi-currency balance and withdraw in the currency you were paid, so you convert once, deliberately, instead of automatically on every payment. If the client pays by card, decline PayPal's conversion offer at checkout and let their issuer convert. And for recurring international money, price the rails against each other with the Wise vs PayPal vs Payoneer Calculator before defaulting to PayPal out of habit.
What to invoice to receive exactly $500, $1,000 or $2,500
Invoice a client $1,000 and you will receive $969.61. To land on a target net you have to gross the invoice up, and adding 2.99% does not do it — you have to divide.
Invoice amount = (Target net + Fixed fee) ÷ (1 − Rate) At the 2026 US rate: (Target + 0.49) ÷ 0.9701
| You want to receive | Invoice this | PayPal fee | You receive |
|---|---|---|---|
| $50.00 | $52.05 | $2.05 | $50.00 |
| $100.00 | $103.59 | $3.59 | $100.00 |
| $250.00 | $258.21 | $8.21 | $250.00 |
| $500.00 | $515.92 | $15.92 | $500.00 |
| $750.00 | $773.62 | $23.62 | $750.00 |
| $1,000.00 | $1,031.33 | $31.33 | $1,000.00 |
| $2,500.00 | $2,577.56 | $77.56 | $2,500.00 |
| $5,000.00 | $5,154.61 | $154.61 | $5,000.00 |
The gross-up is always slightly bigger than the fee on the original number, because the percentage now applies to the larger invoice too. Adding a flat 3% instead leaves you short on every line — $2.32 short on a $2,500 invoice, more on a cross-border one where the rate is 4.49% and the correct divisor is 0.9551.
Whether you should gross up at all is a pricing question, not a fee question. Adding a visible "PayPal fee" line to an invoice reads badly to most clients and is restricted in some jurisdictions; building the cost into your rate does the same job invisibly. If you are setting rates from scratch, the Freelance Rate Calculator treats processing costs as one of the overheads that has to be covered before an hourly number means anything.
What a refund costs you when the sale reverses
Under PayPal's current US terms, refunding a Goods & Services payment returns 100% of the money to the buyer and PayPal keeps the fee. You do not get it back.
| Original order | Fee you paid | Refunded to buyer | Your net position |
|---|---|---|---|
| $40 | $1.69 | $40.00 | −$1.69 |
| $75 | $2.73 | $75.00 | −$2.73 |
| $120 | $4.08 | $120.00 | −$4.08 |
| $250 | $7.97 | $250.00 | −$7.97 |
| $500 | $15.44 | $500.00 | −$15.44 |
| $1,000 | $30.39 | $1,000.00 | −$30.39 |
You shipped nothing, sold nothing, and paid for the privilege. A store doing 100 orders a month at a $75 average with an 8% refund rate forfeits about $21.84 a month, or $262 a year, on revenue that was reversed. In apparel and footwear, where 20% to 30% return rates are normal, the number is several times that.
The practical consequence is that a prevented refund is worth more than it looks. Better photography, honest sizing, and accurate delivery windows pay back the margin and the sunk fee. Feed refund fees into your unit economics as a percentage-of-revenue cost with the Profit Margin Calculator rather than treating them as occasional accidents. Confirm the refund policy for your country before you model it, since PayPal has changed this rule before.
What one chargeback really costs
A chargeback is worse than a refund on every axis: you lose the goods, the money, the original fee, and a chargeback fee of around $20 in the US. Sellers with elevated dispute ratios can pay more, so treat $20 as a floor.
| Order | Money returned | Original fee kept by PayPal | Chargeback fee | Total cash out | vs. order value |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| $30 | $30.00 | $1.39 | $20.00 | $51.39 | 171% |
| $60 | $60.00 | $2.28 | $20.00 | $82.28 | 137% |
| $120 | $120.00 | $4.08 | $20.00 | $144.08 | 120% |
| $300 | $300.00 | $9.46 | $20.00 | $329.46 | 110% |
| $750 | $750.00 | $22.92 | $20.00 | $792.92 | 106% |
Every row costs more than the sale was worth, before the cost of the goods. On a $30 order the cash loss is 171% of the order — which is why low-ticket sellers are hit hardest by fraud and why a 1% dispute rate does far more damage to a small store than it appears to in a monthly P&L.
Winning disputes is an evidence problem: tracked and signature-confirmed delivery to the address on the transaction, shipping inside the stated window, and a recognisable descriptor on the buyer's statement. Seller Protection requires exactly that record-keeping, and it only exists on Goods & Services transactions — the concrete reason the Friends & Family shortcut is a false economy.
What PayPal costs per month in six real situations
| Situation | Payments/month | Average payment | Monthly volume | Monthly fee | Effective rate | Annual fee |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Handmade side seller | 25 | $32 | $800 | $36.25 | 4.53% | $435 |
| Freelance designer | 4 | $1,250 | $5,000 | $151.48 | 3.03% | $1,818 |
| Digital downloads, standard pricing | 300 | $7 | $2,100 | $210.00 | 10.00% | $2,520 |
| Small online store | 120 | $65 | $7,800 | $291.60 | 3.74% | $3,499 |
| Agency on retainers | 6 | $4,000 | $24,000 | $720.54 | 3.00% | $8,646 |
| Consultant, overseas clients | 3 | $3,000 | $9,000 | $405.57 | 4.51% | $4,867 |
Compare rows two and four. The store moves 56% more money than the designer but pays a 3.74% rate against 3.03%, entirely because its average payment is $65 instead of $1,250. Nothing about the store is inefficient; the fixed fee simply repeats 120 times instead of four.
Row three is the one worth acting on. A 10.00% effective rate is not a PayPal problem, it is a wrong-price-plan problem, and micropayments pricing cuts it to 6.29%. Row six is the other: half of that $4,867 is cross-border and conversion cost that a different payout rail would reduce.
If PayPal sits on top of a marketplace commission rather than replacing one, these fees stack. The Marketplace Fee Comparison Calculator shows the combined load across channels, and the online marketplace seller fees data has the current published rate for every major platform.
Did PayPal fees increase, and by how much?
Yes. The long-standing US commercial rate of 2.9% + $0.30 is gone; the current standard Goods & Services price is 2.99% + $0.49, and PayPal Checkout on your own site can reach 3.49% + $0.49. The percentage barely moved. The fixed fee went up 63%, which is where the damage is.
| Payment | Old rate (2.9% + $0.30) | Current rate (2.99% + $0.49) | Increase | % more expensive |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| $10 | $0.59 | $0.79 | $0.20 | 34% |
| $25 | $1.02 | $1.24 | $0.22 | 22% |
| $50 | $1.75 | $1.99 | $0.24 | 14% |
| $100 | $3.20 | $3.48 | $0.28 | 9% |
| $500 | $14.80 | $15.44 | $0.64 | 4% |
| $1,000 | $29.30 | $30.39 | $1.09 | 4% |
A small-basket seller absorbed a 22-34% fee increase; a high-ticket seller absorbed 4%. Notably, Stripe's US standard rate is still 2.9% + $0.30, which is exactly the old PayPal price — so every figure in the "old rate" column is also what Stripe would charge today. At 500 orders a year averaging $100 the gap is $140. Model your own mix with the Stripe Fee Calculator before switching, and weigh it against PayPal's checkout conversion advantage, which is usually worth more than 0.28%.
Rates change without much notice and differ by country and product. Treat everything here as the 2026 US schedule and confirm against PayPal's current published fees for your account before you price anything around it.
How to pay PayPal less on the same revenue
- Raise average payment size. Bundles, quantity breaks and free-shipping thresholds dilute the fixed 49 cents. Moving a $32 average to $65 takes the effective rate from 4.53% to 3.74%.
- Bill once, not in instalments. Six $100 invoices cost $20.88; one $600 invoice costs $18.43.
- Switch to micropayments pricing if your average sale is under $20. On $7 downloads it saves $936 a year at 300 sales a month.
- Gross up with the divide formula, not a flat 3%, so a $1,000 quote actually nets $1,000.
- Stop automatic currency conversion. Hold multi-currency balances, withdraw in the currency received, and decline conversion at card checkout.
- Use standard bank transfers, not Instant Transfer. Weekly $1,000 instant cash-outs cost about $910 a year.
- Ask for merchant rate pricing once you have volume. PayPal publishes reduced rates above certain monthly thresholds and asking costs nothing.
- Cut disputes before cutting fees. One $120 chargeback costs $144.08 — more than a month of fee optimisation on a small store.
- Price the fee in from the start: roughly 3.5% of headroom on domestic sales, closer to 9% if you sell internationally with conversion. How to reduce seller fees covers the same exercise channel by channel.
Frequently asked questions
How much does PayPal take from $100?
$3.48 on a US Goods & Services payment in 2026, leaving you $96.52. That is 2.99% of $100 ($2.99) plus the $0.49 fixed fee, an effective rate of 3.48%.
How much does PayPal take from $1,000?
$30.39, leaving $969.61. The effective rate is 3.04% — close to the headline 2.99%, because at this size the fixed fee is only 1.6% of the total charge.
Is PayPal free to use?
For personal use, largely yes: Friends & Family transfers funded from a bank account or PayPal balance are free domestically, as are standard transfers to your bank. It costs money when you receive a commercial payment (2.99% + $0.49), send Friends & Family with a card (around 2.9% + $0.30, paid by the sender), or use Instant Transfer (1.75%, capped at $25).
Can I make the buyer pay the PayPal fee?
You cannot pass it through as a separate surcharge on a Goods & Services payment — PayPal charges the recipient, and adding a visible fee line is restricted in some jurisdictions. What you can do is gross the invoice up so the net lands where you want it: invoice $515.92 to receive $500.00.
Do I get the PayPal fee back if I refund a customer?
No. Under current US terms the buyer receives 100% of their money and PayPal keeps the merchant fee. A refunded $120 order leaves you $4.08 out of pocket, so model refunds as a real cost rather than a neutral reversal.
Is PayPal cheaper than Stripe?
No, on rate alone. Stripe's US standard is 2.9% + $0.30 against PayPal's 2.99% + $0.49, so Stripe is cheaper on every amount — $0.28 less on $100, $1.09 less on $1,000. The gap is small enough that checkout conversion usually decides it, which is why most sellers offer both.
Related calculators
- PayPal Fee Calculator — run your own amount and rate
- Stripe Fee Calculator — the same charge at 2.9% + $0.30
- Wise vs PayPal vs Payoneer — cheapest rail for international payouts
- Etsy Fee Calculator — platform fee plus payment processing on Etsy orders
- eBay Fee Calculator — final value fees on eBay sales
- Profit Margin Calculator — margin once processing fees are in the model