PayPal Fee Calculator
| PayPal product | Rate | Fee on sale | You keep | % lost to fees |
|---|
PayPal's fee structure looks simple but has four distinct rates that apply to different sale types and account configurations. The standard online rate of 3.49% + $0.49 applies to most ecommerce goods-and-services transactions. Micropayments (4.99% + $0.09) is a separate product that has to be applied for and only makes sense for sub-$12 sales. International transactions add 1.5% on top of whatever your domestic rate is. And currency conversion adds another 3 to 4% as a spread above the wholesale FX rate.
For most DTC brands selling above a $20 average order value, PayPal Standard is the relevant rate to model. The 3.49% + $0.49 is materially more expensive than Stripe Standard's 2.9% + $0.30 — about $0.57 more per order at a $65 AOV. Brands processing $50K or more per month should renegotiate or switch processors. Brands with an AOV under $15 are effectively losing 6 to 13% of revenue to PayPal fees and should evaluate Micropayments or an alternative processor entirely.
PayPal does have one advantage worth flagging: conversion rate lift. Cart pages with a PayPal button typically convert 5 to 12 percent higher than card-only checkouts according to PayPal's published data, with a likely 3 to 6 percent real lift after marketing-claim adjustment. For some shopper segments (older demographics, certain international markets) PayPal is the preferred or only payment method. Removing PayPal entirely to save fees can lose more revenue than it saves — model both sides before deciding.
If you are deciding between PayPal and a competitor, see the full payment processing comparison for side-by-side fee modeling across Shopify Payments, Stripe, PayPal, and negotiated rates. To model how processing fees flow into overall profitability, run your numbers through the contribution margin calculator.