PayPal Fee Calculator
Calculate PayPal fees and what you actually receive.
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Enter the amount a client or buyer pays you, PayPal's percentage fee and its fixed per-transaction fee, and this PayPal fee calculator shows the fee, the amount you actually receive, and what to invoice if you need a specific amount after fees. It is aimed at freelancers and online sellers, including the many in India who bill overseas clients in dollars.
The three fields and their defaults
- Amount: what the sender pays, in the transaction currency.
- Fee (%): the percentage part of the fee. Left blank, it uses 4.4.
- Fixed fee: the flat charge per payment, in the same currency. Left blank, it uses 0.30.
Those defaults reflect a commonly quoted rate for international commercial payments, but PayPal's charges differ by country, currency and payment type and change from time to time, so copy the figures from the fee page for your own account. Only an empty field falls back to its default; typing 0 is kept, so you can model a fee-free transfer or a percentage-only fee with no fixed charge.
Two answers from one click
What you receive. Fee = amount × percentage ÷ 100 + fixed fee. On a $100 payment with the defaults, the fee is 4.40 + 0.30 = 4.70, and you receive 95.30.
What to invoice. To end up with exactly $100, ask for (100 + 0.30) ÷ (1 − 0.044) = 104.92. Check: the fee on 104.92 is 4.92, leaving 100.00.
| Client pays | Fee | You receive |
|---|---|---|
| 100.00 | 4.70 | 95.30 |
| 250.00 | 11.30 | 238.70 |
| 500.00 | 22.30 | 477.70 |
Why adding 4.4% to your invoice falls short
The fee is charged on the whole amount the client sends, including the extra you added. Invoicing 100 + 4.4% + 0.30 = 104.70 leaves you 99.79, not 100. The gross-up formula divides by (1 − fee rate) precisely to cover the fee on the fee, which is why the calculator shows 104.92 instead.
Costs this calculator leaves out
- Currency conversion. When a dollar payment is converted to rupees, PayPal uses its own exchange rate, which includes a margin over the market rate. For Indian freelancers that margin is an extra cost on top of the fee shown here.
- Refunds and disputes. Fees on refunded payments and chargeback charges are not included.
- Different fixed fees. The fixed part varies by currency, so a payment in pounds or euros has its own figure.
Practical tips for invoicing
- Agree in the contract who bears the payment fee, then invoice either the base amount or the grossed-up figure.
- Record the gross amount, the fee and the net receipt separately; your accountant will want all three at tax time.
- Compare the effective cost with a direct bank transfer for large invoices, where a flat wire charge can work out cheaper than a percentage.
To see how payment fees affect your earnings on a product, the Profit Margin Calculator helps, and the Percentage Calculator handles quick fee-rate checks. Treat every figure as an estimate and confirm against your PayPal statement.