How PayPal fees work for UK businesses
When a buyer pays you through PayPal, the fee comes out of the payment before the money reaches your balance. For a UK business account receiving pounds it has two parts: a percentage of the amount and a fixed fee per transaction. The percentage depends on how the buyer paid, and an extra percentage is added when the buyer is outside the UK.
- Standard commercial payment: 2.9% + £0.30. This covers PayPal Checkout, invoices and money requests for goods or services.
- Card payment from a guest (no PayPal account): 1.2% + £0.30.
- Buy Now Pay Later (excluding PayPal Credit): 3.9% + £0.30.
- QR code payments: 1.5% + £0.10 from £10.01, or 2% + £0.05 up to £10.00.
International buyers
PayPal adds an international surcharge to the domestic rate based on where the buyer is: +1.29% for buyers in the European Economic Area and +1.99% for all other markets. Buyers in Guernsey, Jersey and the Isle of Man count as domestic. The surcharge is charged on the full amount, so a £100 payment from a customer in France costs 2.9% + 1.29% + £0.30 = £4.49 instead of £3.20.
Worked example: what should I invoice?
Most people come to a PayPal calculator with the opposite question: “I need £100 to arrive, what do I ask for?” You cannot simply add 2.9% + 30p to £100, because the fee is also charged on the extra you add. The correct amount is (£100 + £0.30) ÷ (1 − 0.029) = £103.296…, which we round up to £103.30. PayPal then takes 2.9% × £103.30 + £0.30 = £3.30 and you receive £100.00. The calculator always rounds up to the next penny and then checks the result with the normal forward calculation, so what you receive is never below your target. For an EEA buyer the same £100 needs an invoice of £104.69.
Currency conversion
If you convert money in your business balance, or receive a payment in another currency and you are the one bearing the conversion, PayPal uses an exchange rate 3% above its base rate. Whether that happens depends on your settings and on when you convert, so the calculator shows it as a separate information line under the receipt, worked out on the amount you receive, and never adds it to the fee total.
Profit, not just fees
Add what the item cost you, postage and any other costs to see the profit on the sale. Margin is shown as profit divided by what the buyer pays, the same way as in our eBay and Etsy calculators, so the numbers are comparable across platforms.
What this calculator does not cover
We only use rates we read ourselves on PayPal’s official UK business fee page. Personal accounts, the optional tiered rates you can apply for, card processing products such as Advanced Credit & Debit Card or Virtual Terminal, payments in other currencies, and how refunds, chargebacks and disputes are charged for UK accounts are listed as not supported instead of estimated. We also do not add or deduct VAT, because the fee page we checked does not cover it. PayPal’s own fee statement in your account is always the final word.
Source: PayPal UK business fees (last updated 1 October 2026, re-checked on 9 October 2026).