PayPal Fee Calculator: Goods and Services Seller Fees

Estimate your PayPal transaction costs, invoice fees, and exact net payout. Switch to invoice mode to find out exactly how much to charge your buyer so you receive your full asking price.

PayPal Fee Calculator Inputs
Payment Details
$

The total amount the buyer pays you in this PayPal transaction.

Choose how the payment is processed. Each PayPal product has its own seller fee rate.

Cross-Border Option

PayPal adds roughly 1.5 percent to the variable rate for international (cross-border) payments. The fixed 49 cent fee stays the same.

Your Net Payout ($)
$0.00
The amount that lands in your PayPal balance after fees
Your effective PayPal fee is 0.00% of the total transaction.
Visual Receipt: Where Your Money Goes
Total Customer Payment $0.00
- PayPal Percentage Fee (2.99%) -$0.00
- PayPal Fixed Fee (49 cents) -$0.49
Net Payout to Your Account $0.00
Total PayPal Fee
$0.00
Percentage fee + 49 cents fixed
Net Payout
$0.00
What you actually receive
Effective Fee Rate
0.00%
Total fee as a share of the payment
Key PayPal Terms Explained
Goods and Services (G&S)
A PayPal payment type for commercial transactions. It charges the seller a fee (2.99% + 49 cents for standard US invoicing) but gives the buyer Purchase Protection and the seller Seller Protection if a dispute arises.
Friends and Family (F&F)
A no-fee payment type for personal transfers between people who trust each other, when funded by balance or bank. It carries no buyer or seller protection, so it should never be used to pay for goods or services.
Invoice
A formal payment request you send a customer through PayPal. Invoices are processed as Goods and Services, so the standard 2.99% + 49 cent seller fee applies to the amount the customer pays.
Chargeback
A forced reversal a buyer initiates through their card issuer rather than through PayPal. Chargebacks can carry an extra dispute fee and put the funds at risk, which is why Seller Protection on Goods and Services matters.
Cross-Border Fee
An extra international fee, roughly 1.5%, that PayPal adds to the variable rate when the buyer's account is registered in a different country from the seller's.
Micropayments
An optional PayPal pricing plan designed for very small transactions. It swaps the standard rate for a higher percentage and a lower fixed fee (commonly around 4.99% + a few cents), which can be cheaper on tiny sales.
Variable Fee
The percentage portion of a PayPal fee, charged on the full transaction amount. It changes with the payment type: 2.99% for Goods and Services, 3.49% for Checkout, 1.99% for charities.
Fixed Fee
A flat per-transaction charge, currently 49 cents for standard US payments, added on top of the variable fee. Because it is fixed, it makes a much bigger dent in small payments than large ones.
Net Payout
The money that actually reaches your PayPal balance after the variable and fixed fees are deducted from the customer's payment.
Gross-Up
The math of raising the amount you charge so that, after PayPal takes its cut, you are left with the exact net you wanted. This calculator's invoice mode does the gross-up automatically.

The Complete Guide to Calculating PayPal Fees

If you sell anything online, PayPal's fees quietly eat into every sale, and the fixed 49 cent charge hits small transactions hardest. This PayPal fee calculator shows your exact net payout in real time and, just as importantly, tells you how much to invoice a buyer so you still pocket your full asking price after PayPal takes its share. Below is a plain-English walkthrough of how PayPal seller fees work and how to use both modes of this tool.

How PayPal seller fees are structured

Every commercial PayPal payment in the United States is charged in two parts: a variable percentage of the transaction plus a fixed per-payment fee. For standard Goods and Services invoicing the variable rate is 2.99 percent and the fixed fee is 49 cents. A PayPal Checkout or website payment is charged at 3.49 percent plus 49 cents, and registered charities qualify for a reduced 1.99 percent plus 49 cents. If the buyer is in another country, PayPal adds a cross-border fee of about 1.5 percent on top of whichever variable rate applies. These are current standard US rates and PayPal can revise them, so treat the output as a close estimate rather than a guarantee.

How to use this tool

Start by choosing a mode at the top of the calculator. In "Calculate fees on a payment" mode, enter the amount your customer is paying you and the calculator instantly shows the total PayPal fee, your net payout, and your effective fee rate. In "Invoice a net amount" mode, enter the amount you want to actually receive, and the calculator grosses the figure up to show the exact amount to invoice the buyer so the fees come out of their pocket, not yours. Pick the transaction type that matches how you are getting paid, and tick the International box if your buyer is overseas. Every figure updates as you type, with no submit button and nothing sent to any server.

Calculate fees mode: the math

When you are figuring out what a payment will cost you, the calculator applies the variable rate to the full amount and adds the fixed fee:

Total Fee = (Amount × Variable Rate) + 0.49
Net Payout = Amount - Total Fee
Effective Rate = (Total Fee / Amount) × 100

On a 100 dollar Goods and Services payment that is (100 × 0.0299) + 0.49 = 3.48 dollars in fees, leaving 96.52 dollars net, an effective rate of 3.48 percent. Notice the effective rate is higher than the headline 2.99 percent because of the fixed 49 cents. On a 5 dollar sale that same 49 cents pushes the effective rate above 12 percent, which is why small-ticket sellers feel PayPal fees so sharply.

Invoice mode: how the gross-up works

The most common mistake sellers make is simply adding 2.99 percent back onto their price. That undershoots, because PayPal charges its percentage on the larger grossed-up amount too. The correct formula divides by one minus the rate:

Required Charge = (Desired Net + 0.49) / (1 - Variable Rate)
Total Fee = Required Charge - Desired Net

To end up with exactly 100 dollars at the 2.99 percent rate, you charge (100 + 0.49) / 0.9701 = 103.59 dollars. PayPal takes 3.59 dollars, and you keep your full 100. This is how to pass PayPal fees to the buyer cleanly without under- or over-charging them.

A note on refunds and Friends and Family

Two things surprise sellers most. First, if you refund a Goods and Services payment, PayPal keeps both the percentage and the fixed fee, so a refund costs you the original fee on top of returning the buyer's money. Second, accepting Friends and Family to avoid fees strips all buyer and seller protection and violates PayPal's terms when used for sales. The few dollars saved are rarely worth losing your recourse in a dispute.

Frequently Asked Questions

For standard Goods and Services invoicing in the United States, PayPal charges a variable fee of 2.99 percent of the transaction plus a fixed fee of 49 cents per payment. A PayPal Checkout or website payment is charged at 3.49 percent plus 49 cents, and registered charities and non-profits qualify for a reduced 1.99 percent plus 49 cents rate. On a 100 dollar Goods and Services payment the total fee is 3.48 dollars, leaving you a net payout of 96.52 dollars. Cross-border payments add roughly 1.5 percent on top of the variable rate. These are the current standard US rates and PayPal can change them at any time, so always confirm against your own account before relying on a figure.
When a Friends and Family payment is sent within the United States and funded by a PayPal balance or a linked bank account, PayPal does not charge a fee. However, Friends and Family is intended for personal transfers between people who trust each other, and it strips away PayPal Purchase Protection for the buyer and Seller Protection for the seller. If you sell goods or services and accept payment as Friends and Family to dodge fees, you have no recourse through PayPal if the deal goes wrong, and PayPal can penalize accounts that misuse it. A fee also applies if the sender funds a Friends and Family payment with a credit or debit card, or sends it internationally.
You cannot simply add the percentage fee back on, because PayPal then charges its percentage on that larger amount too. Instead you gross up using the formula: Required Charge equals (Desired Net plus 0.49) divided by (1 minus the variable rate as a decimal). For a 100 dollar net at the 2.99 percent Goods and Services rate, that is (100 plus 0.49) divided by 0.9701, which equals 103.59 dollars. Charge your buyer 103.59 dollars and after PayPal takes its 3.59 dollar fee you receive exactly 100 dollars. Switch this calculator to invoice mode and it does the gross-up for you automatically.
No. Under PayPal's current US policy, when you refund a Goods and Services payment PayPal returns the full amount to the buyer but keeps both the percentage fee and the fixed 49 cent fee. This means a refund actually costs you money, because the fee you already paid is not given back. Historically PayPal used to return the percentage portion, but that changed, and today the seller absorbs the entire original fee on a refunded transaction. Factor this in before issuing refunds on large orders.
When you receive a payment from a buyer in another country, PayPal adds an international or cross-border fee of roughly 1.5 percent on top of your normal variable rate. So a Goods and Services payment that is normally 2.99 percent effectively becomes about 4.49 percent plus the 49 cent fixed fee for an international buyer. PayPal may also apply a currency conversion spread if the payment arrives in a different currency. Tick the International Transaction box in this calculator to add the extra 1.5 percent to your estimate.
This calculator provides estimates based on standard United States PayPal seller rates and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or operated by PayPal Holdings, Inc. PayPal fees vary by country, account type, pricing plan, and can change at any time. Verify the exact fees in your own PayPal account before relying on these figures. This is not financial advice.