Paypal Invoice Fee Calculator
PayPal’s invoice and checkout fees moved to 3.49% + $0.49, so any tool still quoting the old 2.9% + $0.30 silently undercharges every estimate. This calculator runs the current 2026 US rates across all 10 PayPal transaction types, works in both directions (see what you keep, or gross up an invoice so the client covers the fee), and handles international payments with the 1.50% cross-border addition. It is an independent estimator, not affiliated with PayPal, Inc.
All 10 types on a $100 payment (seller pays, domestic)
| Type | Rate | Fee | You receive |
|---|
Quick Answer
On a $1,000 domestic PayPal invoice paid via PayPal or Venmo (3.49% + $0.49): if you absorb the fee, PayPal keeps $35.39 and you receive $964.61 (an effective rate of 3.54%). If the client absorbs it, invoice $1,036.67 and you net exactly $1,000. At international rates (4.99% + $0.49) the same invoice costs $50.39 in fees. The calculator above is pre-filled with this $1,000 example.
Key takeaways
- Invoice paid with a PayPal balance or Venmo: 3.49% + $0.49. The same invoice paid by card: 2.99% + $0.49.
- ACH bank transfer costs 1% capped at $10, which makes it the cheapest option on invoices above roughly $1,000.
- Micropayments pricing (4.99% + $0.09) beats the standard rate only below $26.67 per transaction.
- PayPal does not return the original fee when you refund a customer, so price refunds into your margin.
How to use the PayPal invoice fee calculator
Enter the amount, pick the transaction type, and choose who pays the fee. Tick the international box when the client is outside the US. The tool shows the fee, what you receive, the charged total, and the effective rate, plus a chart and table comparing all 10 transaction types on a $100 payment.
Use seller pays when you want to know what lands in your account from a quoted price. Use buyer pays when you need to net an exact figure: the calculator grosses the invoice up with the exact inverse formula, so after PayPal takes its cut you land precisely on your target. If the gross-up would push an ACH fee over its $10 cap, the tool caps it and recomputes the invoice total honestly instead of ignoring the cap.
For the closest comparison to a card invoice you quoted elsewhere, see our PayPal business fee calculator; for card payments outside PayPal, our credit card processing fees calculator breaks down the alternatives.
PayPal fee rates this calculator uses (2026 US)
These are PayPal’s published 2026 US commercial rates, confirmed against PayPal’s own fee pages. Every figure below reproduces in the tool’s comparison table on a $100 payment.
| Transaction type | Rate | Fee on $100 | You receive |
|---|---|---|---|
| Invoice paid via PayPal / Venmo | 3.49% + $0.49 | $3.98 | $96.02 |
| Invoice paid by card | 2.99% + $0.49 | $3.48 | $96.52 |
| Goods and Services (online checkout) | 3.49% + $0.49 | $3.98 | $96.02 |
| QR code (in-person) | 2.29% + $0.09 | $2.38 | $97.62 |
| Micropayment | 4.99% + $0.09 | $5.08 | $94.92 |
| Pay Later | 4.99% + $0.49 | $5.48 | $94.52 |
| Charity / donation | 1.99% + $0.49 | $2.48 | $97.52 |
| Friends and Family (bank / balance) | Free | $0.00 | $100.00 |
| Friends and Family (card-funded) | 2.90% + $0.30 | $3.20 | $96.80 |
| ACH bank transfer | 1.00%, capped at $10 | $1.00 | $99.00 |
International payments add 1.50% to commercial types, so an invoice via PayPal/Venmo becomes 4.99% + $0.49 abroad. International Friends and Family costs 5% of the amount, with a $0.99 minimum and a $4.99 maximum. Rates change and differ by country, so confirm on PayPal’s official fee pages before pricing around them.
The two fee formulas
When the seller absorbs the fee, the math is fee = amount × rate + fixed fee, and you keep amount − fee. A $500 invoice at 3.49% + $0.49 costs $17.94, leaving $482.06.
When the buyer absorbs it, the invoice is grossed up with invoice = (target + fixed fee) ÷ (1 − rate). To net exactly $100 on an invoice, charge (100 + 0.49) ÷ (1 − 0.0349) = $104.12. This is the exact inverse: after PayPal takes $4.12 from the $104.12 invoice, you keep precisely $100. The common shortcut of “just add 3.49%” undershoots, because PayPal also takes its percentage of the added amount.
The effective rate is always higher than the headline rate. On a $1,000 invoice the effective rate is 3.54%, but on a $100 invoice it is 3.98%, because the fixed $0.49 weighs more on small amounts. That is why the calculator reports the effective rate separately: it is the only number that describes what a given invoice actually costs you.
When micropayments pricing wins
Micropayments pricing (4.99% + $0.09) looks expensive next to 3.49% + $0.49, but its tiny fixed fee wins on small amounts. Set the two equal, 0.0499x + 0.09 = 0.0349x + 0.49, and the crossover lands at $26.67: below that, micropayments is cheaper; above it, the standard rate is. On a $5 sale the standard rate takes $0.66 while micropayments takes $0.34, nearly half.
Two catches: you must apply for micropayments pricing in your PayPal account settings, and it applies to your entire account, not individual transactions. Our eBay and PayPal fees calculator is the right tool if you sell through eBay’s managed payments instead.
What competing fee calculators get wrong
Most PayPal fee tools still run the retired rates: 2.9% + $0.30 domestic and tiered international fees up to 4.4%, the pre-2024 schedule PayPal has since replaced. Every invoice estimate from those tools understates the real cost by roughly 0.6 percentage points plus $0.19 per transaction.
- Stale rate cards: several well-known calculators still show 2.9% + $0.30, 2.7% in-store swiped, and 2.2% + $0.30 nonprofit rates. All were replaced; the current commercial rates are the 2.29% to 4.99% band in the table above.
- One rate, one answer: single-rate tools cannot show that an invoice paid by card (2.99% + $0.49) and the same invoice paid by PayPal balance (3.49% + $0.49) differ by $0.50 on every $100, or that ACH at 1% capped at $10 beats both on large invoices.
- Broken worked examples: at least one rival’s subscription example (1,000 customers at $20/month = $20,000) claims $798 in fees, which does not reproduce under 3.49% + $0.49, where the true figure is $1,188 (0.0349 × 20,000 + 0.49 × 1,000). The calculator above shows its full working for every number it prints.
- Gross-ups that ignore the cap: naive reverse calculators divide by (1 − rate) without checking the ACH $10 cap, which overstates the invoice on large buyer-pays ACH transfers. This page caps the fee and recomputes the total.
- No Friends and Family international rules: most tools treat F&F as simply “free or 2.9%”, missing the 5% / $0.99-min / $4.99-max international rule this calculator applies.
The gap this page fills: all 10 current PayPal transaction types with the invoice-card split most tools merge, exact gross-up in both directions with cap handling, an all-types comparison table and chart on every calculation, and the effective rate stated separately so you price on the real cost.
Frequently asked questions
An invoice paid with a PayPal balance or through Venmo costs 3.49% + $0.49 per transaction. If the client pays the same invoice with a credit or debit card, the rate is 2.99% + $0.49. An invoice paid by ACH bank transfer costs 1% of the amount, capped at $10. These are the published 2026 US commercial rates.
Switch the calculator to “Buyer pays” mode, or gross up yourself with charge = (target + $0.49) ÷ (1 − 0.0349). To net exactly $100 from an invoice paid via PayPal, charge $104.12. Simply adding 3.49% to the target undershoots, because PayPal takes its percentage from the larger invoice too.
The fixed $0.49 fee weighs more heavily on small invoices. On a $1,000 invoice the effective rate is 3.54%, but on a $100 invoice it is 3.98%. The calculator reports the effective rate separately because it is the only number that describes what a given invoice actually costs you.
For invoices above roughly $1,000, ACH bank transfer wins: 1% capped at $10 means a $2,500 invoice costs just $10. For in-person sales, QR code payments at 2.29% + $0.09 are the cheapest card-free commercial rate. For small digital sales under $26.67, micropayments pricing (4.99% + $0.09) beats the standard rate.
Below $26.67 per transaction. Micropayments costs 4.99% + $0.09 against the standard 3.49% + $0.49, and the two are equal at $26.67. On a $5 sale the standard rate takes $0.66 while micropayments takes $0.34. You must apply for micropayments pricing in your PayPal account settings, and it applies to your whole account.
International commercial payments add a 1.50% cross-border surcharge, so an invoice via PayPal or Venmo becomes 4.99% + $0.49 abroad. A $1,000 international invoice therefore costs $50.39 in fees. International Friends and Family is different: 5% of the amount, with a $0.99 minimum and a $4.99 maximum.
No. Domestic Friends and Family is free from a bank account or balance, but it offers no purchase protection for either side, and using it for business transactions violates PayPal’s terms. Card-funded Friends and Family costs 2.90% + $0.30 anyway, so there is barely any saving.
No. PayPal retains the original transaction fee on full and partial refunds of commercial and invoicing payments, so the fee the calculator shows is what the refunded sale truly cost you. Factor this into your pricing and refund policy.
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References
- PayPal, Inc. Fees: Merchant and Business – PayPal’s official US merchant fee schedule, including commercial transaction rates, international surcharges, micropayments pricing, and the refund-fee policy. Accessed October 23, 2026.
- PayPal, Inc. PayPal Business Pricing: Transaction and Processing Fees – official online checkout, invoicing, card-present, QR code, and Pay Later rate card. Accessed October 23, 2026.
- PayPal, Inc. PayPal User Agreement – Refunds, Reversals and Chargebacks section: “If you refund a transaction, we’ll retain the fees you paid.” Accessed October 23, 2026.
- BillBooks. PayPal Fees for Receiving Money 2026: Is PayPal Free? – every rate checked against PayPal’s own US merchant fee page on October 5, 2026. Accessed October 23, 2026.
- Sellfy. PayPal Fees 2026: What It Charges and How to Avoid Them – every figure checked directly against paypal.com on September 2, 2026. Accessed October 23, 2026.
- PayPal. PayPal Fees – 2026 breakdown of PayPal standard, cross-border, currency-conversion, and fixed-fee components. Accessed October 23, 2026.