When Fees Apply
PayPal international fees usually apply when the buyer and seller are in different markets. The fee can change again if the payment method or currency also changes.
PayPal International Fee Calculator for Business Payments
Estimate cross-border PayPal fees for business payments by buyer and seller market, payment product and receiving currency. Check conversion costs separately.
Sending a personal payment to a friend or family member? Friends & Family fee calculator. Check sender fees, funding methods and regional availability.
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Cross-border receiving fees and final balance
Supported example: a UK buyer pays a US business 100 USD through PayPal Checkout, with a USD balance and no currency conversion. The estimated fee is 5.48 USD and the business receives 94.52 USD before withdrawal costs. Choose your actual account markets and currencies for your own payment.
Example: 1,000.00. Use a period for decimal places.
Choose the PayPal product used to process this payment. Available products depend on the receiving account market. Paying with a card through PayPal Checkout does not automatically qualify for standalone card-processing rates.
PayPal Checkout
Fees verified
No merchant currency conversion assumed.
Business account · Payment currency received before balance conversion · Fees deducted before seller balance conversion
Receiving availability: Receiving availability for this account market and payment product has not been verified. Figures are fee references, not confirmation that your account can accept payments.
Fee breakdown for this payment
- 1. Customer payment
- USD 100.00
Source: payment amount entered by you. This is the currency received for the transaction.
- 2. Base commercial fee (3.49%)
- - USD 3.49
Percentage of the gross payment. Standard product pricing, not a negotiated account rate.
PayPal Checkout. Fees verified · 2026-10-09. Rate source
- 3. International surcharge (1.50%)
- - USD 1.50
Based on registered markets, not currency differences. Combined percentage rounded once; rounding residual assigned here.
PayPal Checkout. Fees verified · 2026-10-09. Rate source
- 4. Fixed receiving fee
- - USD 0.49
Selected by transaction receiving currency, before any later balance conversion. Not by the seller country alone.
PayPal Checkout. Fees verified · 2026-10-09. Rate source
- Total processing fees
- USD 5.48
PayPal Checkout
- 5. After transaction fees
- USD 94.52
Payment less base, international and fixed fees. Currency conversion is separate.
How exchange quotes and rate differences affect the balance
- 6. Currency conversion difference
- USD 0.00
Post-fee amount converted at the entered rate. No conversion on this path; source: selected currencies and conversion party.
- 7. Net receiving balance
- USD 94.52
Calculated from the fee schedule and selected path. Any FX result uses your quote or manual assumption, not a live PayPal rate.
Charge for a fixed net balance
Example: 1,000.00. Use a period for decimal places.- Payment amount to charge
- USD 105.77
Expected net: USD 100.00. Smallest payment minor unit reaching the target under the same rates and rounding; quote changes invalidate this estimate.
Official rule: PayPal Checkout / Receiving international transactions / Fixed fee based on currency received (paypal-US-UK-international-balance-USD-waterfall, v3) | Verified 2026-10-09
Assumptions: seller accepts the payment currency, then converts the remaining balance if selected. Actual automatic-conversion ordering may differ. Taxes, withdrawals, disputes, refunds, card issuer fees and negotiated pricing are excluded. Currency selection does not confirm account eligibility.
Receiving-account policy: PayPal United States: merchant and currency-conversion fees
US dollar example
What does a US seller receive from a $100 UK PayPal payment?
For a UK buyer paying a US merchant $100 in USD through PayPal Checkout, the estimated receipt is USD 94.52 after USD 5.48 in fees. That includes the domestic Checkout fee of USD 3.98 plus USD 1.50 for the international surcharge.
US business recipient, UK sender and USD settlement; no currency conversion or withdrawal fee. A card payment, different receiving country or currency conversion can change the total.
Source: PayPal US fees · Source updated · Rate last verified
Country pairs, payment currency and conversion are separate inputs
Buyer and seller account markets determine the cross-border classification. The payment currency determines the fixed fee. The seller balance currency and who converts determine whether an exchange-rate quote is needed. A UK buyer paying a US seller in USD can still incur an international fee without seller-side conversion.
| Country pair and currencies | Base + cross-border + fixed | After processing | Seller balance |
|---|---|---|---|
| US buyer, US seller; USD to USD | USD 3.49 + USD 0.00 + USD 0.49 | USD 96.02 | USD 96.02 |
| UK buyer, US seller; USD to USD | USD 3.49 + USD 1.50 + USD 0.49 | USD 94.52 | USD 94.52 |
| UK buyer, US seller; EUR to USD | EUR 3.49 + EUR 1.50 + EUR 0.39 | EUR 94.62 | USD 104.08 |
The EUR example uses a hypothetical seller conversion quote of 1 EUR = 1.10 USD and a hypothetical reference rate of 1.12. EUR 94.62 becomes $104.08, compared with $105.97 at the reference rate: a $1.89 difference. That difference is already reflected in the converted balance; it is not another fee to subtract. These are not live exchange rates.
For the first two examples, payment, buyer and balance currencies are all USD with no conversion. For the third, payment and buyer currency are EUR, balance is USD, and conversion is by the seller. Buyer-side conversion instead changes the buyer funding amount, not a second seller deduction.
An absent quote leaves conversion pending, not free. Unmapped country/currency combinations remain unsupported, not a US-rate fallback. Other supported corridors may be labeled modeled rather than officially verified. Withdrawal fees and taxes are outside these examples.
US international percentage and currency-specific fixed fees | Compare your own exchange-rate quotes
Evidence Layer
Fee sources and verification dates
The waterfall separates commercial fees, the cross-border surcharge, the currency-specific fixed fee, conversion and the final balance. Missing conversion quotes leave settlement pending.
- Relevant fee-source review
- US official page updated
United States. The date applies only to the selected receiving market's merchant fee baseline, not all sender–receiver corridors. Selected corridor rules show their own evidence; FX quotes are supplied by the user.
- Evidence Mode
- Verified Fees / Modeled Fees / User FX Quotes
The US merchant fee baseline was reviewed on October 9, 2026. This date does not apply to every international corridor; each matched fee rule has its own evidence. Other supported corridors retain their modeled labels. A user-entered PayPal quote is not independently verified; a manual rate is an assumption.
- Coverage
- Markets + Transaction Currency + Settlement Path
Products depend on the receiving account market: US Checkout or Standard Card, Mexico commercial payments or approved Advanced Card, and mapped commercial or Standard Card products elsewhere. Card funding alone does not identify the processing product. Unsupported combinations pause the estimate.
Official Source Pages
The date applies only to the selected receiving market's merchant fee baseline, not all sender–receiver corridors. Selected corridor rules show their own evidence; FX quotes are supplied by the user.
Currency conversion and international surcharge are intentionally disclosed as separate factors because cross-border total cost is not always a single official row.
Use the methodology page before relying on this page for contracts or large payment decisions because this is the most interpretation-heavy PayPal fee page in the site.
How PayPal International Fees Work
What Changes The Rate
The receiver market, sender market, and payment method all affect the final PayPal international fee. That is why this page asks for both markets instead of assuming one flat cross-border fee.
What The Calculator Shows
The waterfall separates base fees, international surcharge, the fixed fee and currency conversion. Conversion differences require a reference rate and are never deducted twice. Net-balance gross-up uses the same path and rounding.
Cross-Border Is Not The Same As Conversion
Different account countries can trigger a cross-border fee even when the currency stays the same. Conversion is a separate step. A missing PayPal exchange-rate quote leaves the converted settlement pending rather than assuming zero conversion cost.
Supported scope and unverified combinations
Selectors include tracked markets, but not every market, payment method and currency has a supported rule. Unsupported combinations never inherit another market rate. Only verified rules are labeled official.
View Full Market ListRelated PayPal Fee Pages
International fee questions usually overlap with invoice pricing, conversion spreads, and source verification. These pages keep the pricing context together.
PayPal Invoice Fee Calculator
Use the invoice calculator for domestic invoice pricing by client payment method. Keep cross-border and conversion estimates in this international calculator.
PayPal Currency Conversion Calculator
Compare a mid-market reference with your PayPal quote when you only need the conversion difference, without a commercial payment fee calculation.
PayPal Fee Sources And Methodology
Open the methodology page if you want to see how the tracked market data and modeled cross-border assumptions are separated.
Brazilian Freelancer Paid By A US Client
See a worked BRL invoice example with the Brazil commercial fee, international surcharge, net amount, and gross-up total.
People Also Ask
Does PayPal charge international fees?
Cross-border commercial payments can carry an additional receiving fee even without currency conversion. This calculator separates the base fee, international surcharge, fixed fee and any conversion. Personal transfers belong in the Friends & Family calculator.
More PayPal International Fee Questions
The PayPal fee on receiving international payments depends on the sender market, receiver market, and payment method. This calculator estimates the percentage fee, fixed fee, and cross-border surcharge together.
This calculator estimates fees deducted from the business recipient's payment. A buyer's funding or currency-conversion costs may be separate. Personal transfers use a different fee schedule; use the Friends & Family fee calculator.
Compare payment products your business is eligible to accept, confirm the receiving currency and avoid unnecessary currency conversions. Use the final PayPal quote for any exchange rate. Compare your PayPal exchange-rate quote.