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What PayPal Charges a US Business Account

PayPal's own fee pages list a rate for every way you can take money. Here is each one, read straight off the page.

A customer can pay you through PayPal in several ways. Checkout, a card, Venmo, an invoice, a reader at the counter. PayPal's fee page prices each one separately, and the numbers are not the same. Here is what those pages say, so you can read your own costs off them instead of guessing.

What counts as a commercial transaction

PayPal's fee page says a commercial transaction happens when you accept the User Agreement to buy or sell goods or services. Any sale of goods or services, or any other commercial type of transaction, falls in this bucket.

The page also splits transactions by where the parties live. A domestic transaction occurs when both the sender and receiver are residents of the same market. An international transaction is one where the sender and receiver are residents of different markets. That split matters, because international commercial transactions add a fee. The rates published on the page apply to PayPal accounts of United States residents.

The per-transaction rates by payment type

PayPal's fee page lists these rates for the main ways a business takes money:

  • PayPal Checkout and PayPal Guest Checkout cost 3.49% plus a fixed fee.
  • Standard credit and debit card payments cost 2.99% plus a fixed fee.
  • Pay with Venmo costs 3.49% plus a fixed fee.
  • PayPal Point of Sale card present transactions cost 2.29% + 0.09 USD.
  • PayPal Point of Sale manual card entry transactions cost 3.49% + 0.09 USD.

Notice the spread between card present transactions and manual card entry. Manual entry costs more than a card present sale on the same Point of Sale product. If you take payments by manual card entry, that manual rate is the one to work your math on.

The fixed fee and the international add-on

The percentage is only half the cost. PayPal's fee page says the fixed fee for commercial transactions received in US dollars is 0.49 USD.

International sales cost more. PayPal's fee page says international commercial transactions add a 1.50% fee. The page says the fee for receiving international card payment services transactions is the domestic fee plus an additional percentage-based fee. Other PayPal Card Payment Services transactions pay an extra 1.50%.

Invoicing and Pay Later

Invoicing has its own rates. PayPal's fee page says the standard rate for domestic invoicing transactions through PayPal Pay Later options is 4.99% plus a fixed fee. International invoicing adds more. The page says the extra percentage-based fee for international invoicing transactions is 1.50% for all payment types.

You can also buy invoicing as a subscription. PayPal's fee page says the Invoice Subscription Service costs 14.99 USD per month. The Invoicing Subscription service is priced at 14.99 USD per month, per the same page.

One further path sits inside invoicing. PayPal's fee page says Pay by Bank through an invoicing transaction is charged 1% capped at $10.00 per transaction.

Payflow gateway fees

PayPal's fee page says Payflow Pro lets you design a checkout page that matches your site's branding. Payflow Link comes with a pre-built checkout template you embed into your checkout page.

PayPal's business fees page says Payflow Pro and Payflow Link transactions each cost 0.10 USD to receive. It lists a monthly fee of 25.00 USD for Payflow Pro and no monthly fee for Payflow Link. Its Recurring Billing Service costs 10.00 USD monthly for both.

Optional services and add-ons

PayPal's fee page prices a long list of optional services. Each one adds a monthly cost, a per-transaction cost, or both:

  • The Fraud Protection Advanced optional service costs 0.07 USD per transaction. The business fees page says the Fraud Protection Services Basic Package has no monthly fee while the Advanced Package costs 10.00 USD monthly.

  • The Account Updater optional service costs 0.25 USD per update.

  • The Network Tokenization optional service costs 0.15 USD per token issued.

  • The Recurring Billing optional service costs 10.00 USD per month. The Recurring Payment Tool optional service costs 30.00 USD per month.

  • The Smart Retries optional service costs 0.6% per successful recovered transaction.

  • The 3D Secure Advanced optional service costs 0.03 USD per lookup.

  • The Account Monitoring Service optional service has a 29.95 USD set up fee and 19.95 USD per month.

  • The Buyer Authentication Service optional service costs 10.00 USD per month and 0.10 USD per transaction.

Other fee situations

A few more lines on the fee page:

  • Currency conversion. The page says the transaction exchange rate includes a currency conversion spread for transactions involving a currency conversion by PayPal.
  • E-checks. A sender may use an E-check to fund a payment from their bank account. PayPal applies the fee you agreed to pay to receive an E-check funded payment, up to a monetary cap.
  • ACH and virtual terminal. The page says its domestic ACH Services rate is 0.80%, capped at $5.00 per transaction. Its domestic Virtual Terminal rate is 3.39% plus a fixed fee. Its domestic Advanced Credit and Debit Card Payments rate is 2.89% plus a fixed fee. The monthly fee is no fee for Advanced Credit and Debit Card Payments and ACH Services.
  • Getting money out. You can typically withdraw money by standard withdrawals or transfers to your linked bank account or eligible cards. A currency conversion and currency conversion spread may apply to withdrawals. A standard withdrawal to an eligible linked debit card has no fee when no currency conversion is involved.

How to confirm your own rates

PayPal's fee page says use of its online payment services is subject to eligibility, application, and approval by PayPal. Approved rates apply to certain payment types subject to the User Agreement. So the numbers above are the published ones.

Published prices change. Check PayPal's fee page and business fees page on the day you sign up. Confirm the rates inside your own account before you rely on them. For a wider view of how per-transaction rates play out on a real sale, see how a card tap is priced.

Sources

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