How much are Paypal fees in Australia?

PayPal¹ is a global giant in ecommerce and digital finance, operating for over 25 years and leading the way in secure online transactions. It’s certainly a convenient option for online spending, splitting bills, and paying back friends, but it’s important to know what you’re paying for the services you use.

So, does PayPal charge fees, and how do the costs work for common transaction types? This guide looks at PayPal personal fees and PayPal seller fees, when you receive money, send funds, or spend. We’ll also touch on an alternative for digital transfers overseas, which may let you save on fees - Wise.

What is PayPal?

PayPal offers a choice of services in Australia for individuals looking to shop online and send or receive personal payments, and merchant and business accounts for traders.

As an individual, you can set up a PayPal account with no fee, add a bank account or card, and send money to other PayPal accounts locally and overseas. You can also shop securely and access extras like Buy Now, Pay Later services.

If you run an ecommerce site or other business, you can also get a PayPal business account to accept online payments, issue invoices, and access working capital.

The costs of PayPal fees in Australia depend on the account type you have and the services you use. Here we look at both PayPal consumer fees² and PayPal merchant fees³ to give a flavour for the most common fees you’ll meet with each.

How much are PayPal fees in Australia: Types of charges

So, how much are PayPal fees locally, and does PayPal charge international fees when you spend or send foreign currencies?

PayPal has fees for various services, so reading through the fee guidelines for your account type before you transact is a must.

You’ll find there’s no PayPal fee for some domestic transactions, such as sending money in AUD to another PayPal account using your linked Australian bank. However, international transactions tend to attract a much higher fee, which includes a cost for currency conversion. If you’re using PayPal to send money to someone, they may also need to pay a fee if they want to withdraw the money to their bank once it’s been received. We’ll walk through these different common PayPal fees one by one next.

PayPal fees for sending money

You can send a payment to family or friends with PayPal if you have a consumer account. The costs here depend on whether the recipient is based in Australia or overseas, and how you pay. Currency conversion fees may apply if you want to send in a foreign currency.

*Details correct at time of research - 8th September 2025

PayPal fees for receiving money

If you have a personal PayPal account, there’s no fee for receiving a payment from family or friends. If you need currency conversion, the PayPal conversion fee of 3% or 4% will apply, depending on the transaction type you make.

If you have a PayPal merchant account, commercial transaction fees apply when you receive money for goods or services.

*Details correct at time of research - 8th September 2025

PayPal withdrawal fees

Once you have funds in your PayPal account you can leave the money there and use your balance to send to someone else, or for online shopping for example. Or, you can withdraw the funds to your bank if you’d prefer - in this case fees apply.

In this case the costs are usually the same whether you have a PayPal consumer account or a PayPal merchant account:

*Details correct at time of research - 8th September 2025

Transfer comparison: PayPal vs Wise

When you send a payment internationally with PayPal, there are various fees as we’ve seen. You may pay a currency conversion cost and a variable transfer fee depending on how you pay. Once the money has been received, the recipient might need to pay to withdraw their funds to a bank, depending on where they live.

This might not be your cheapest option for sending money overseas - providers like Wise can often offer smooth payments for deposits to banks directly, with no currency conversion markup and no hidden costs.

To illustrate, here’s an example transfer - in this case, we're sending 1,000 AUD to a USD account to be deposited to a bank. Here’s how much your recipient might get with Wise compared with the costs of using PayPal.

How to avoid PayPal fees?

If you’re planning to shop online with a local ecommerce site, or send a quick payment to a friend using your PayPal balance or a linked AUD account, you may not need to pay any PayPal fee. However, the costs when transacting internationally with PayPal can be high - and might come as a surprise.

Here are a few pointers to help you avoid or reduce the costs of PayPal fees:

• If you’re shopping online, check the currency the retailer will bill you in - if you’re billed in a currency other than AUD, you might have to pay a 4% PayPal conversion fee.
• Try to avoid paying for things with PayPal using a linked credit or debit card - this usually means paying a higher PayPal fee.
• Bear in mind that a PayPal withdrawal fee of 1% - 3% will apply if you need to move money from PayPal to your bank.
• For international transfers in foreign currencies, consider using Wise instead of PayPal - conversion uses the mid-market exchange rate and the funds are deposited directly to the recipient’s bank, avoiding the PayPal withdrawal fee.

Get low fees on international transfers with Wise

Wise is an easy way to save up to 3x when sending money overseas. You can make extra secure transfers to 140+ countries, which are easy to set up with no physical paperwork and completed usually in seconds.

With low, transparent pricing and the mid-market exchange rate for all your currency conversions for your foreign transfers, you'll usually get the best value for your money. Wise lets you see exactly what you're paying for a transfer, and what the recipient will get, with no hidden fees.

For managing foreign currencies even easier, create a free Wise account, and you'll be able to manage and convert your money in AUD and 40+ other currencies. Plus, you'll get local account details in 8+ currencies, making it easy to receive money from abroad whenever you need. You'll be able to track your transfers all in one place.

When it comes to international transfers, Wise makes things easier and cheaper.

📤 Send money with Wise