PayPal Fees Explained: What You Actually Pay in 2026

This is the most important thing to understand about PayPal's fee structure, and most people get it wrong.

Friends & Family has no buyer or seller protection. If you send money via F&F and the other person disappears, or sends you the wrong item, or sends nothing at all, you have no recourse through PayPal. The dispute pathway simply doesn't exist for F&F payments.

Goods & Services, on the other hand, includes PayPal Purchase Protection. If something goes wrong, the buyer can file a claim. That's what the 2.99% is partly paying for: an insurance premium baked into the transaction fee.

The protection trade-off also works the other way. Sellers who accept G&S payments are covered by Seller Protection against unauthorized transactions and "item not received" claims, but only if they ship to the confirmed address and can provide proof of delivery.

Once money lands in your PayPal balance, you have two options to move it to your bank account, and the fee gap is significant.

Standard transfer (1–3 business days):

completely free. Money arrives in your bank account at no cost if you can wait a couple of days.

Instant transfer:

1.75% (minimum $0.25), capped at $25. Money hits your bank or debit card within minutes, but you pay for the speed.

The $25 cap means very large cash-outs (above about $1,429) get relatively cheaper on a percentage basis, but it still pays to use the free option whenever possible.

Cross-border payments through PayPal layer on fees that aren't immediately obvious. You start with the base domestic fee, then add:

International commercial fee:

1.5% on top of the Goods & Services fee whenever the buyer and seller are in different countries. Friends & Family abroad is priced on its own (below).

Currency conversion spread:

3%–4% over the wholesale exchange rate: 4% when you pay, or your recipient receives, another currency, and 3% on other conversions. This is a hidden cost baked into the rate PayPal quotes you, not a separate line item you'll easily spot.

International Friends & Family:

a 5% fee (minimum $0.99), capped at $4.99, from a bank or balance; a card adds its 2.9% + $0.30 funding fee on top. The "free domestic F&F" deal does not extend internationally.

None of this requires workarounds, just smart choices about funding source and transfer method:

Fund F&F from your bank account or balance.

That's the only path to a genuinely free domestic send. A credit or debit card turns it into a 2.9% + $0.30 transaction instantly.

Use the free standard cash-out.

Unless you truly need money in minutes, the 1.75% instant-transfer fee is an easy cost to avoid.

Build the G&S fee into your price if you're selling.

If you're accepting PayPal as a seller, price in the 2.99% (3.49% + $0.49 through PayPal Checkout). It is the cost of offering that payment option, not a surprise deduction.

Use a specialist for large international transfers.

For cross-border sends where a currency conversion is involved, a service like Wise says it converts at the mid-market rate and shows its charge as a visible fee. PayPal instead takes a 3%–4% conversion spread plus its international fee, which on $2,000 is $60–$80 before that fee. Compare both on your amount.