PayPal currency conversion fees: Explained [2021]

PayPal is a global online wallet, payment platform and online marketplace that can be used in over 200 countries.

PayPal users in India can’t load a wallet or send money as an individual to family or friends. And you can’t receive money into a PayPal India wallet from abroad. Instead, you can only link your debit or credit card to shop on the PayPal India website.

Or if you are a registered business, you can receive payments from abroad to your PayPal wallet in India. But you can’t load a PayPal wallet and your balance is cleared and deposited every day.

Overall, it is easy to feel that there isn’t much you can do with PayPal India. Especially if you are looking for a way to receive or send money in India using a PayPal wallet. Or to feel just plain confused by all the PayPal fees.

Friends, family or clients who do want to send you money from abroad can use money in their PayPal wallet to do so, depending on their resident country. But they can only send money using PayPal to your Indian bank account, not a PayPal wallet.

And unfortunately, using PayPal to send money means conversion fees, exchange rate fees and charges.

Let’s break down what it looks like to send money internationally with PayPal and how much it may cost you or your sender. And better yet, let's take a look at ways to save money on international fees to India.

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PayPal currency conversion fees

If you are a business in India, you can use PayPal to receive payments from abroad. But one of the first fees you will encounter when you want to withdraw your money from PayPal is the currency conversion fee.

This is a fee to only convert your received currency into the local currency so it can be deposited in your local bank account. And the fee is dependent on the currency you received.

For PayPal India, the currency conversion fee is a 3% fee put on top of the exchange rate for the specific currency. And PayPal sets their own exchange rate, which means there is a mark up already over the exchange rate you see on Google.

See how much PayPal’s exchange rate can cost you with the Wise honest comparison tool. It will let you know how much you can expect to pay with PayPal transfers, and if you could save money by switching to Wise.

PayPal international transaction fee

The PayPal international transaction fee is put on payments and transactions received from outside India. This is a flat percentage free plus a fixed fee depending on where the money is coming from.

You can expect the** international transaction fee to be 4.40% + the fixed fee**. Here are a few examples of the fixed fee for more popular routes to India²:

PayPal fees for sending $1000 USD to India

How much does it cost a client to send money to India with PayPal? Using the PayPal Exchange Rate Calculator, check out how much you can be losing on fees with PayPal versus a cheap and easy global transfers platform like Wise ³.

Data collected on 2nd February, 2021

Just by using Wise, you can save ₹2,551.62 in fees versus PayPal

PayPal charges per transaction India

Even if you are not looking to do international transactions, you will be charged by PayPal for domestic payments too⁴.

Other payment gateways can be an option for you if you have customers in India. Homegrown Indian payment gateways often offer very low cost transactions and APIs to work with your digital business domestically.

How to save money on your international transactions

It can be tricky to find ways to save money with PayPal on international transactions for India. Between the conversion fees, international transaction fee and the exchange rate, international payments can feel expensive.

Here are a few suggestions on how to save money on international transactions

Build in PayPal fee costs into your prices

If you run a business and you would like to stick with PayPal, consider incorporating the fees into how you price your product or services. That way it doesn’t seem like an additional cost to your customers.

High value payments

You can also mitigate the costs associated with PayPal by only using it for payments and transactions above a certain threshold. PayPal’s fees and convenience can be dealt with only for transactions that are large in size.

Keep or use your PayPal balance

This is a more tricky option as your PayPal balance in India does need to be cleared every day into your bank account. But you can try to make purchases from your PayPal business balance to lessen fees.

Find a global transfer service that charges less

A no-brainer, but there are a number of alternative platforms out there to help make global business cheaper and easier. While you may want to keep PayPal for certain parts of your business, take a look at cheaper options for domestic and international payments.

It can be worth your while to do some research and take a look at other providers out there and compare how much they will cost you. Some providers may have additional services or flexibility that you may need, while others just may be out and out cheaper.

Easy to use global money transfers, like those with Wise, can help you and your clients save time and money.

Open your free Wise account now

Receive payments in India easily with Wise 🚀

PayPal business accounts let you get payments from abroad, but it may not be the cheapest way to do international transactions. With one transparent fee and an exchange rate that is the same one that you see on Google, Wise can save you money on every transaction.

Wise offers Indian businesses and freelancers with account details in 8 different currencies to receive payments from abroad. Your clients pay you with a local transfer in their currency, and you receive rupees in your INR bank account — with eFIRC for every transfer. That is truly business without borders.

Get started with a Wise Business Account 🚀

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