What is PayPal

PayPal is a payment system that has been operating since 1998. At first, the system was called Confinity and worked as a money transfer platform.

In 2002, eBay bought PayPal for $1.5 billion. After that, PayPal became popular all over the world and many online stores, following the example of eBay, connected themselves with paying for goods through PayPal. There are few such stores in Ukraine, but if you often buy something abroad, you might notice a button with the PayPal logo under the goods.

PayPal itself is an electronic account from which you can transfer money or pay for goods and services. If you’re selling something online, you can get paid into your PayPal account. Additionally, you can manage your account through a mobile application. In this article, we will discuss PayPal fees international.

PayPal Fees 2022: Numerous transactions cost money

PayPal is one of the easiest and fastest ways to pay for goods and services or send money to friends and family on the Internet. A short registration, a few clicks, and the desired amount of money flows from your own bank account toward the recipient. 

Depending on the type of payment – whether private or business, domestically or abroad, including currency conversion or not – different fees may apply. And these are anything but clear. So that you are always in the picture and know how much money actually arrives at the other end, we have listed all the particularly relevant PayPal fees in this guide.

Types of PayPal Account

There are two types of accounts in the system: personal and corporate. The first is suitable for those who send money to other users or buy something on the Internet. The second account is for business, through which you can receive online payments from your customers.

With a personal account, you can:

• make online purchases;
• send transfers;
• request reverse transfers;
• buy items on eBay.

For corporate clients, PayPal has additional services:

• your customers will be able to pay for goods via PayPal;
• you will be able to issue invoices;
• it will be possible to manage funds;
• you can pay business expenses.

PayPal fees International on business transactions

If you make online purchases, the merchant or seller usually pays the PayPal fee international. In the worst case, PayPal will show you the price increase immediately during the payment process. But there are motivations to realize the PayPal charges for paying for labor and products.

After all, many people buy something on eBay classifieds, and a commercial payment is usually recommended (keyword: buyer protection) – otherwise it can happen that you end up with no money and no goods on eBay. But what “losses” do you have to expect in a business transaction via PayPal?

Domestically, PayPal charges a transaction fee of 2.49 percent on the amount of money sent. In addition, there is also a fixed fee of 0.35 euros, which must be paid in any case.

So much for domestic transactions. Internationally, however, there are additional PayPal fees that apply in addition to the amounts already mentioned. 

We’re talking about 2 percentage points for Canada, the USA, and the Europe 1 is in Northern Europe, then again, just 1.8 extra rate focuses are caused, while in Europe 2 an astounding 3 percent should be paid furthermore.

Everywhere else, the additional PayPal fee is 3.3 percentage points. And you also have to reckon with certain additional expenses when the currency is converted.

PayPal fees for international money transfers

The costs for an international transfer with PayPal are difficult to determine, as there can be more than 12 different fees. In addition, all costs are offset against the exchange rate. The payment service provider does not offer an official fee calculator itself. Customers must work through the extensive fee schedule to determine the exact cost.

Due to the opaque network of fees and sometimes extremely high fees for international money transfers, we cannot currently recommend the provider PayPal for international payment transactions.

Cost of sending cross-border payments

For cross-border payments with PayPal, play to determine the costs

• the country of the recipient,
• the country group of the sender and
• the deposit method (credit, bank account, credit card)

Fees for receiving cross-border payments

Also, when receiving international transfers via PayPal, the company charges the cross-border fee in addition to the domestic payment fee. Northern Europe is 1.80%, Europe I 2.00% and The United States2.00%.

Exchange Rate Fee International

As soon as it comes to currency conversion for business payments, PayPal fees international calculates the so-called exchange rate fee. It is 2.5% above the purchase exchange rate if the seller bears the costs. If the seller does not bear the costs, PayPal calculates the following exchange rate fees as a percentage above the purchase exchange rate:

The Australian dollar is 4.00%, the Brazilian real is 4.00 and the British pound is 3.50%.