How much are PayPal fees in the UK?

Before using any kind of payment or money transfer service, it’s always smart to check out the small print. You need to know exactly how much it’ll cost you to send, receive and withdraw money. There may be fees you’re not aware of, which could make your transactions more expensive.

In this handy guide, we’ll run through everything you need to know about PayPal fees in the UK.

This includes crucial info about fees, currency conversion and exchange rates when you send money internationally - both with PayPal and alternative solutions such as Wise.

So, let’s get started.

PayPal fees for sending and receiving money

Firstly, let’s take a look at how much PayPal charges for sending and receiving personal payments. For example, if you want to send a family member some birthday money, or be paid back by a friend for a recent meal.

Sending money with PayPal

Here’s what PayPal charges to send money using your PayPal account, both to recipients in the UK and overseas.

Service	PayPal fee¹
Sending money within the UK	No fee (unless a currency conversion is involved)
Sending money internationally	5% of the transaction amount (minimum of £0.99, maximum of £2.99)

Receiving money with PayPal

Now, does it cost anything to receive PayPal payments? Let’s take a look:

Service	Fee¹
Receiving money into your PayPal account	No fee (unless a currency conversion is involved)

How much does PayPal charge for currency conversions?

The upfront fee isn’t the only thing you should check when using a payment service like PayPal, especially if you’re sending or receiving money internationally.

It’s also important to understand what happens with currency conversion. Is there a fee to convert currency, and what exchange rate will you get?

With PayPal, personal customers aren’t charged a separate fee for currency conversion¹. However, the exchange rate you get will usually have a mark-up or margin added on top of what is known as the mid-market or ‘real’ exchange rate. This is the rate you’ll find on Google or currency sites like XE.com.

PayPal adds a margin of 3% to this rate¹, which can make your international payment more expensive - so your recipient receives less money at the other end.

You can check PayPal’s live exchange rates before you set up your payment, using its Currency Converter Tool.

A cost example - sending £1,000 from the UK to France

To illustrate just how much the exchange rate for currency conversion can affect international payments, let’s do a quick hypothetical example.

Taking into account both transfer fees and exchange rates, how much would it cost to send £1,000 GBP to a friend in France? This would involve a currency conversion from GBP to EUR.

For this example, we’ll compare PayPal with international transfer specialist Wise:

Provider	Transfer fee	Exchange rate	Recipient receives
PayPal	£2.99¹	1.13815²	€1,134.74 EUR
Wise²	£4.28	1.19246 (mid-market rate)	€1,187.36 EUR

As you can see, even though PayPal’s upfront transfer fee is lower, the transfer still costs more overall. This is primarily because of the mark-up on the exchange rate. It means that your friend on the other end of the transfer will receive less money.

PayPal fees for withdrawals

If you’ve received money from a friend, or got a refund from a retailer for a recent purchase, you may want to withdraw it from your PayPal balance to your bank account.

The table below covers PayPal fees for withdrawals, including withdrawals to your bank account and debit card.

Withdrawal method	Fee¹
UK bank account	No fee (unless a currency conversion is involved)
Card	No fee (unless a currency conversion is involved)

Are there any other PayPal fees I need to know about?

We’ve looked at most of the main fees PayPal charges to personal customers in the UK. But there are just a couple more it’s worth knowing about. These include¹:

• Inactivity fee - if you don’t use your PayPal account for 12 months, you may be charged an inactive account fee of £9. To avoid this, you can simply login to your account or use it for a payment, or close down your PayPal account altogether. ³
• Bank return fee - if you try to set up a withdrawal or transfer out of PayPal and you provide the wrong bank account details, there’s a chance that the payment may fail. In this case, a fee of £10 will be charged.

Send and receive money worldwide with Wise

PayPal is great for sending and receiving money within the UK. But things become a little more expensive when other countries and currencies are involved.

This is where Wise comes in. Open a Wise multi-currency account and you can securely send money worldwide in just a couple of taps. You’ll only be charged one small upfront transfer fee, and are guaranteed the real, mid-market exchange rate.

Take a look at how Wise compares to other providers, especially banks.

With Wise, you can also receive money for free in 10 major currencies, and hold a whopping 50+ currencies in your account at once.

And for when you travel or shop online in other currencies, there’s even a contactless Wise debit card offering the same fair exchange rates.

Join Wise today

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Sources used for this article:

1. PayPal - PayPal consumer fees
2. Wise - PayPal vs. Wise
3. PayPal - inactivity fee

Sources checked on 30-04-2022.