PayPal fees for merchants: what does a payment really cost?

The short answer

A merchant in Germany pays PayPal 2.99 per cent plus €0.39 for a normal payment at checkout. On a €50 basket that is €1.89; on €10 it is almost seven per cent of the sale (PayPal fee page for Germany, last updated 07.09.2026, retrieved by me on 10.10.2026).

On top of that come items no advert mentions: surcharges for buyers outside the EEA, the fixed fee PayPal keeps on refunds, and up to €14 per buyer protection case. The page lists no monthly fee for the standard account.

What does a PayPal payment cost per basket size?

The fixed fee of €0.39 is why PayPal gets expensive on small amounts. Alongside it is Stripe’s list price for a standard EEA card (1.5 per cent plus €0.25, retrieved 10.10.2026), because many shops offer both side by side.

Basket size	PayPal checkout (2.99% + €0.39)	effective	Stripe, standard EEA card (1.5% + €0.25)	effective
€10	€0.69	6.9%	€0.40	4.0%
€25	€1.14	4.6%	€0.63	2.5%
€50	€1.89	3.8%	€1.00	2.0%
€100	€3.38	3.4%	€1.75	1.8%
€250	€7.87	3.1%	€4.00	1.6%

My own calculation, rounded. The Stripe figure is not the price for every card: premium EEA cards cost 2.8 per cent plus €0.25 there, international cards 3.15 per cent plus €0.25. How card fees are built up in general is covered in Card payment fees: the building blocks.

For context: in its full-cost analysis of German retail, the Bundesbank puts the credit card, the most expensive payment method at the till, at around 2.4 per cent of turnover (study, as of December 2025). At usual basket sizes, PayPal in e-commerce sits above that.

Which surcharges are added?

The 2.99 per cent applies to buyers from the European Economic Area. For other countries of origin PayPal adds a percentage:

Buyer from	Surcharge	Total on a €100 basket
EEA	+ 0%	€3.38
United Kingdom	+ 1.29%	€4.67
all other markets	+ 1.99%	€5.37

Anyone selling in a foreign currency and taking payout in euros also pays for currency conversion: according to PayPal, 3 per cent above the base exchange rate. Withdrawal to a German bank account is free as long as no conversion is needed.

For donations PayPal lists 2.49 per cent plus €0.35, for charities 1.50 per cent plus €0.35. Invoice purchase with Ratepay via PayPal is priced on the page like the normal checkout at 2.99 per cent plus the fixed fee. Other payment methods via PayPal are mostly also at 2.99 per cent plus €0.39, some premium methods at 5.49 per cent plus €0.39.

What happens on refunds and buyer protection?

This is where merchants most often underestimate the costs.

Refund: If a merchant refunds a payment, PayPal keeps the fixed fee according to the fee page. On a €50 return, €0.39 is gone although no revenue remains. With a return rate of 30 per cent and 1,000 orders a month, that is €117 a month (300 × €0.39, example values for the calculation).

Buyer protection case: PayPal may charge a dispute fee of €14 when a buyer files a buyer protection claim or initiates a chargeback. On a €30 order such a case means €1.29 transaction fee plus €14 dispute fee, €15.29 in total — more than half the order value before anything has been decided about the goods themselves.

Card chargeback: For card payments not processed via a PayPal account or guest checkout, PayPal lists a fee of €16 per chargeback. For comparison, Stripe lists €20 per dispute. How chargebacks work and how to avoid them is covered in Chargebacks for cards and direct debit.

Is the micropayment rate worth it?

For small amounts PayPal offers a separate rate: 4.99 per cent plus €0.09, only on application and after approval by PayPal. The higher percentage is offset by the lower fixed fee as long as the basket stays small.

Basket size	Standard (2.99% + €0.39)	Micropayment (4.99% + €0.09)
€3	€0.48	€0.24
€8	€0.63	€0.49
€15	€0.84	€0.84
€30	€1.29	€1.59

The break-even point is €15. Anyone selling almost exclusively below that — downloads, tickets, small parts — should run the numbers; anyone with mixed baskets pays more on every larger purchase with the micropayment rate.

May I pass PayPal fees on to the customer?

For cards, credit transfers and direct debits, § 270a BGB (German Civil Code) prohibits a surcharge. For PayPal, the Bundesgerichtshof (Federal Court of Justice) ruled differently on 25.03.2021 (case I ZR 203/19): the fee is charged not for the transfer or card behind it but for engaging the service provider PayPal — and § 270a BGB does not cover that.

Two limits remain. Under § 312a(4) BGB a payment method fee towards consumers is invalid if there is no common and reasonable free payment option, and it must not exceed the costs the merchant actually incurs. Legally permitted does not mean wise, either: a surcharge at checkout costs conversions. Only comparing the abandonment rate before and after shows whether it pays off. This explains the legal position; it is not legal advice for an individual case.

What you should do now

1. Pull the fees of the last three months from your PayPal account and divide them by your PayPal turnover. That is your effective rate, not the 2.99 per cent.
2. Count refunds and buyer protection cases as well. €0.39 and €14 each belong in the calculation.
3. Check the share of buyers outside the EEA. Above a meaningful share, 1.29 or 1.99 percentage points change the picture.
4. If your typical basket is below €15, apply for the micropayment rate and calculate it against the baskets above that.
5. Offer at least one cheaper payment method alongside PayPal and make it visible at checkout. The options for that are covered in Integrating online payments: the routes.
6. If you are considering a PayPal surcharge: make sure there is a free alternative, base the amount on your own costs, display it clearly before purchase.