---
title: "PayPal fee calculator"
url: "https://trialvalid.com/paypal-fee-calculator.md"
canonical_url: "https://trialvalid.com/paypal-fee-calculator"
last_updated: "2026-10-19"
type: "tool"
summary: "A $100 PayPal Checkout sale costs $3.98 in fees and leaves $96.02. Charge $104.12 to keep the full $100."
related: ["https://trialvalid.com/stripe-fee-calculator.md", "https://trialvalid.com/square-fee-calculator.md", "https://trialvalid.com/gross-margin-calculator.md", "https://trialvalid.com/mrr-calculator.md", "https://trialvalid.com/pricing.md"]
---

# PayPal fee calculator

> **For AI agents:** the complete index of TrialValid pages is [llms.txt](https://trialvalid.com/llms.txt). Every page is also served as markdown at its URL plus .md.

A $100 PayPal Checkout sale costs $3.98 in fees and leaves $96.02. Charge $104.12 to keep the full $100.

Example with the default inputs:

| Input | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Payment amount | 100 |
| How the buyer pays | PayPal Checkout |
| Buyer location | United States |

| Result | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Fee | $3.98 |
| You keep | $96.02 |
| Effective rate | 3.98% |
| Charge to keep this amount | $104.12 |

Working:

1. PayPal Checkout is 3.49% + $0.49.
2. $100.00 x 3.49% = $3.49, rounded to the cent.
3. $3.49 + $0.49 fixed = $3.98 fee.
4. $100.00 - $3.98 = $96.02 kept, an effective rate of 3.98%.
5. To keep $100.00, charge $104.12: ($100.00 + $0.49) / (1 - 0.0349) solved to the cent, with a fee of $4.12.
6. The currency conversion spread PayPal applies when it converts between currencies is not included.

## How the PayPal fee is worked out

PayPal takes a percentage of the payment and adds a fixed amount per payment. The percentage depends on how the buyer pays. When the buyer is registered in a different market from you, PayPal adds a further percentage on top. The fee is rounded to the cent, and you receive the payment less that fee.

In symbols, with the amount as A, the percentage as p and the fixed fee as f:

```text
fee  = round(A x p) + f
keep = A - fee
charge needed to keep T = smallest C where C - fee(C) >= T
                        ~ (T + f) / (1 - p)
```

The percentage for PayPal Checkout is 3.49% and the fixed fee is $0.49. Choose another payment type above to swap in its own pair of numbers.

## Three worked examples

### A $100 Checkout sale from a buyer in the US

| Item | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Payment | $100.00 |
| How the buyer pays | PayPal Checkout |
| Buyer location | In the US |
| Fee | $3.98 |
| You keep | $96.02 |
| Effective rate | 3.98% |
| Charge to keep the full amount | $104.12 |

### A $45 card payment from a buyer outside the US

| Item | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Payment | $45.00 |
| How the buyer pays | Standard card payments |
| Buyer location | Outside the US |
| Fee | $2.51 |
| You keep | $42.49 |
| Effective rate | 5.58% |
| Charge to keep the full amount | $47.63 |

### An $8 sale on micropayments pricing

| Item | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Payment | $8.00 |
| How the buyer pays | Micropayments |
| Buyer location | In the US |
| Fee | $0.49 |
| You keep | $7.51 |
| Effective rate | 6.13% |
| Charge to keep the full amount | $8.51 |

## Fee by payment type

The table lists the US rate for each payment type, then the fee it produces on three payment sizes, with the buyer in the US.

| Payment type | Rate | Fee on $10 | Fee on $100 | Fee on $500 |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| PayPal Checkout | 3.49% + $0.49 | $0.84 | $3.98 | $17.94 |
| Guest Checkout | 3.49% + $0.49 | $0.84 | $3.98 | $17.94 |
| Pay with Venmo | 3.49% + $0.49 | $0.84 | $3.98 | $17.94 |
| Standard card payments | 2.99% + $0.49 | $0.79 | $3.48 | $15.44 |
| Advanced card payments | 2.89% + $0.29 | $0.58 | $3.18 | $14.74 |
| Pay Later | 4.99% + $0.49 | $0.99 | $5.48 | $25.44 |
| Send or receive money for goods and services | 2.99% | $0.30 | $2.99 | $14.95 |
| Micropayments | 4.99% + $0.09 | $0.59 | $5.08 | $25.04 |

An international buyer adds 1.5% to each percentage. The PayPal Checkout fee on $100 moves from $3.98 to $5.48.

## The share you lose falls as the price rises

| Payment | Checkout fee | Share of the payment | Micropayments fee | Share of the payment |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| $5.00 | $0.66 | 13.20% | $0.34 | 6.80% |
| $10.00 | $0.84 | 8.40% | $0.59 | 5.90% |
| $25.00 | $1.36 | 5.44% | $1.34 | 5.36% |
| $50.00 | $2.24 | 4.48% | $2.59 | 5.18% |
| $100.00 | $3.98 | 3.98% | $5.08 | 5.08% |
| $500.00 | $17.94 | 3.59% | $25.04 | 5.01% |

## The micropayments crossover

Micropayments pricing has a higher percentage and a much smaller fixed fee, so it wins on small payments and loses on larger ones. Setting 4.99% of A plus $0.09 equal to 3.49% of A plus $0.49 and solving for A gives $0.40 divided by 0.015, which is about $26.67.

| Payment | Micropayments fee | Checkout fee | Cheaper |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| $10.00 | $0.59 | $0.84 | Micropayments |
| $20.00 | $1.09 | $1.19 | Micropayments |
| $26.67 | $1.42 | $1.42 | Equal |
| $30.00 | $1.59 | $1.54 | Checkout |
| $50.00 | $2.59 | $2.24 | Checkout |

The micropayments rate is available by application, so the crossover only matters once PayPal has approved it for your account.

## PayPal next to Stripe and Square on $100

| Processor | Payment type | Rate | Fee | You keep | Effective rate |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Stripe | Domestic card | 2.9% + $0.30 | $3.20 | $96.80 | 3.20% |
| PayPal | PayPal Checkout | 3.49% + $0.49 | $3.98 | $96.02 | 3.98% |
| PayPal | Standard card payment | 2.99% + $0.49 | $3.48 | $96.52 | 3.48% |
| Square | Online, Free plan | 3.3% + $0.30 | $3.60 | $96.40 | 3.60% |
| Square | In person, Free plan | 2.6% + $0.15 | $2.75 | $97.25 | 2.75% |

These are standard online and card rates for US accounts. Volume pricing, negotiated rates and add-ons are not included.

## Edge cases

- A payment so small that the fee reaches the payment itself is flagged as invalid, because nothing would be left. A $0.40 Checkout sale, for instance, would owe $0.50.
- Goods and services payments have no fixed fee, so they are the cheapest standard type on very small payments.
- The fee is rounded to the cent on each payment, so a total over many sales can differ by a few cents from a single sum done at the end.
- Currency conversion spread, chargeback and dispute fees, and withdrawal fees are separate PayPal charges and are not in this fee.

## Questions

### How much does PayPal charge on a $100 sale?

For a US buyer paying through PayPal Checkout the fee is $3.98 (3.49% + $0.49), so you keep $96.02. That is an effective rate of 3.98%, a little above the headline 3.49% because of the fixed part.

### What should I charge to keep a full $100?

Charge $104.12. The fee is taken from the whole charge, including the part you added to cover it, so tacking the $3.98 onto $100 would leave you short. The calculator solves for the smallest charge that nets $100.

### What does a buyer outside the US cost me?

PayPal adds 1.5% to the percentage for international commercial transactions. On the same $100 Checkout sale the fee becomes $5.48 (4.99% + $0.49), and you keep $94.52.

### When do micropayments beat the standard rate?

Below about $26.67. Micropayments pricing is 4.99% + $0.09 and Checkout is 3.49% + $0.49, and the two cost the same at $26.67. Under that amount micropayments is cheaper, above it Checkout is. PayPal offers the lower-value pricing by application, so check that you qualify before you plan around it.

### Why does a small sale lose a bigger share to fees?

The fixed $0.49 is paid on every payment. On a $5 Checkout sale the fee is $0.66, which is 13.20% of the sale. On $500 it is $17.94, or 3.59%.

### How does PayPal compare with Stripe and Square on $100?

At each processor's standard online card rate, a $100 payment costs $3.20 on Stripe (2.9% + $0.30), $3.98 on PayPal Checkout and $3.60 on Square online on the Free plan (3.3% + $0.30). The comparison table on this page reads all three from the same dated rate files.

### Does the fee include currency conversion?

No. When PayPal converts a payment from one currency to another it applies a conversion spread that is not part of the percentage and fixed fee used here, so a sale in a foreign currency can cost more than this tool shows.

### Where do these rates come from?

They are read from PayPal's merchant fees page for US accounts, which was labelled last updated 1 Oct 2026 when it was read on 19 Oct 2026. The rate file keeps the address, the read date and who read it, and every number on this page is generated from that file.

## Related tools

Compare the same payment on [Stripe](https://trialvalid.com/stripe-fee-calculator.md) and [Square](https://trialvalid.com/square-fee-calculator.md), see what the fees do to margin with the [gross margin calculator](https://trialvalid.com/gross-margin-calculator.md), or check what a month of sales brings in with the [MRR calculator](https://trialvalid.com/mrr-calculator.md). The [pricing page](https://trialvalid.com/pricing.md) shows what TrialValid costs.

## Sources

- [PayPal merchant fees, US](https://www.paypal.com/us/business/paypal-business-fees): read 19 Oct 2026. The page was labelled last updated 1 Oct 2026.

## Related

- [Stripe Fee Calculator (US)](https://trialvalid.com/stripe-fee-calculator.md)
- [Square fee calculator](https://trialvalid.com/square-fee-calculator.md)
- [Gross margin calculator](https://trialvalid.com/gross-margin-calculator.md)
- [MRR calculator](https://trialvalid.com/mrr-calculator.md)
- [Plans from $29 with a 14-day trial for $1](https://trialvalid.com/pricing.md)