Transaction Fees

In most countries, sending money between friends and family is free of charge for all but credit and debit card transactions. Payments for goods or services include a fee that one of the involved parties pays.

Some personal payment transactions might include transaction fees:

Either the payer or payee can pay any transaction fees. For purchase payments, the payee always pays the fee. The fees that PayPal charges depend on the transaction payment type and the funding option. As part of the payment_type, you must specify the "fee":"<payer>" attribute. A valid value for the fee <payer> is PAYER or PAYEE.

These combinations of payment type and fee payer are allowed:

For information about the list funding options request parameters, see request parameters.

Applicable fees

If the payment is a personal payment for friends and family, the applicable fees depend on the funding_option that you use to complete the payment.

If the payment is a purchase of goods or services, the payee for the payment always pays the fees regardless of the instrument_type value:

The actual fee amount depends on the funding account, country, and the instrument being used.

Payer as fee payer

This sample request sets the payer as the fee payer:

1curl -v https://api-m.sandbox.paypal.com/v1/payments/personal-payments/funding-options \
2  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
3  -H "Authorization: Bearer <Access-Token>" \
4  -d '{
5  "amount": {
6    "total": "25.00",
7    "currency": "USD"
8  },
9  "fee_payer": "PAYER",
10  "payee": {
11    "email": "[email protected]"
12  },
13  "type": "PERSONAL"
14}'

Payee as fee payer

This sample request sets the payee as the fee payer:

1curl -v https://api-m.sandbox.paypal.com/v1/payments/personal-payments/funding-options \
2  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
3  -H "Authorization: Bearer <Access-Token>" \
4  -d '{
5  "amount": {
6    "total": "25.00",
7    "currency": "USD"
8  },
9  "fee_payer": "PAYEE",
10  "payee": {
11    "email": "[email protected]"
12  },
13  "type": "PERSONAL"
14}'

Additional information

• Personal Payments
• Regulatory requirements
• Send money to phone or account number
• Personal Payments Limited Release API Reference