PayPal international fees are two separate charges that can stack on one transfer: an international fee on the payment itself and a currency conversion spread built into the exchange rate. As of October 2026, the PayPal Consumer Fees page (last updated May 19, 2026) lists a 5.00% international fee on personal transfers sent from the US, with a minimum of 0.99 USD and a maximum of 4.99 USD. When the recipient gets a different currency, a 4.00% conversion spread applies on top, per the same page.
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This page pulls PayPal's own published numbers for US accounts into one place: what senders pay, what sellers receiving cross-border payments pay, how the exchange rate is formed, and which of these charges can be reduced by choosing a different funding method or currency.
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Sending a personal payment abroad from a US PayPal account costs the domestic sending fee plus an international fee. The international fee is a percentage of the amount with a fixed floor and ceiling in US dollars. If the recipient receives a different currency, a currency conversion spread is added to the exchange rate as well.
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According to the PayPal Consumer Fees page, as of October 2026 the international fee for personal transactions is 5.00% with a minimum of 0.99 USD and a maximum of 4.99 USD, and it is the same whether the payment is funded by PayPal balance, a bank account, a card, or an Amex Send Account. The domestic portion differs by funding source: no fee from balance or bank, and 2.90% plus a fixed fee (0.30 USD for US dollars) from a card.

Because the international fee is capped, it falls as a share of the transfer once the amount passes about 100 USD. Five percent of 99.80 USD is 4.99 USD, so any balance-funded transfer above that pays the same 4.99 USD international fee, based on the cap published on the PayPal Consumer Fees page. Below about 19.80 USD the 0.99 USD minimum applies instead. The conversion spread has no cap, so on larger transfers in a foreign currency it usually becomes the bigger of the two costs.
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A 500 USD personal payment from a US PayPal balance to a relative who receives euros pays the capped international fee rather than the full percentage. The euro amount is then set at PayPal's exchange rate, which includes the higher conversion spread tier. Funding the same payment by card also adds the domestic card fee, which is a percentage plus a small fixed amount.
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Using the rates on the PayPal Consumer Fees page as of October 2026, the arithmetic works like this. Balance funded: 4.99 USD international fee, no domestic fee. Card funded: 4.99 USD international fee plus 14.50 USD (2.90% of 500 USD) plus 0.30 USD, which totals 19.79 USD before conversion. The 4.00% spread is not shown as a line item; it is built into the rate, so on 500 USD it is roughly 20 USD worth of value delivered in euros rather than a charge on the receipt.
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This page does not quote a live euro rate. The PayPal currency calculator help article explains how to see the current rate inside the account: go to Wallet, then Currency calculator, then pick the two currencies.
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PayPal converts currency at a transaction exchange rate that it sets. That rate starts from a base rate drawn from wholesale currency markets and then adds a spread that PayPal keeps. The spread is higher when a payment to friends, family, or a seller lands in a different currency, and lower for other conversions such as balance swaps.
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The PayPal help article on exchange rates states that the base exchange rate is based on wholesale currency market rates on the conversion day or the prior business day, or a government reference rate where law requires one. The PayPal User Agreement (last updated September 14, 2026) describes the spread as applied and retained by PayPal on that base rate.
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The 4.00% tier on the PayPal Consumer Fees page covers three cases: paying for goods in a currency other than the listing currency, sending money to friends or family who receive a different currency, and PayPal Payouts in a different currency. The 3.00% tier covers everything else, such as converting one PayPal balance into another or withdrawing in a different currency. Both tiers carry the qualifier "or such other amount as may be disclosed to you during the transaction," so the figure shown at checkout is the one that applies.
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The international fee on personal transfers applies to every funding method PayPal lists, so it cannot be removed by switching from card to bank. The conversion spread is different. For card-funded payments, the user agreement allows the card issuer to perform the conversion instead of PayPal, where the issuer and network support it.
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The PayPal User Agreement says that when a payment is funded by a debit or credit card, the payer may have the right to have the card issuer convert the currency, and that the issuer then sets the rate and any fees. The same agreement says PayPal always performs the conversion when PayPal balance or a linked bank account is the funding source. For the PayPal Debit Card, Mastercard performs the conversion, except in PayPal checkout or the Send Money feature, where PayPal converts.
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Practical levers that follow from those published rules:

For readers comparing PayPal with app-based peers, the Cash App Fees article covers that app, and Xoom Tracking covers PayPal's dedicated remittance service.
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Sellers with US PayPal business accounts pay their normal domestic receiving rate on a sale, then an extra percentage when the buyer is in another country. That international add-on is one flat percentage for all commercial transactions. If PayPal converts the payment into the seller's currency, a currency conversion spread also applies.
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The PayPal Merchant and Business Fees page (last updated October 1, 2026) lists PayPal Checkout at 3.49% plus a fixed fee and Send or Receive Money for Goods and Services at 2.99%. For international commercial transactions, the domestic rate applies plus an additional 1.50%, per the same page.

A foreign buyer paying through PayPal Checkout therefore costs a US seller 4.99% plus the fixed fee before any conversion, based on the 3.49% and 1.50% rates on the PayPal Business Fees page. Holding the foreign currency in a PayPal balance, instead of converting on receipt, defers the 3.00% spread until a later conversion or withdrawal.
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Moving money out of PayPal is priced separately from sending it. A standard transfer to a linked bank is listed without a percentage fee, while an instant transfer to a bank or eligible debit card costs a percentage with minimum and maximum amounts. Withdrawing in a currency different from the balance also triggers a conversion spread.
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The PayPal Consumer Fees page lists instant transfers at 1.75% of the amount transferred, with minimum and maximum fees based on the withdrawal currency. The PayPal exchange rate help article confirms the transaction exchange rate applies whenever money is withdrawn in a different currency, and the consumer fees page places that conversion in the 3.00% tier.
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This page covers PayPal fees for US accounts only. Accounts registered in other countries have their own fee pages with different percentages and caps. It also does not quote live exchange rates, Xoom pricing, PayPal Payouts pricing, or fees for in-store card terminals, all of which PayPal publishes separately.
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Recipients in other countries may pay their own receiving or withdrawal fees under their local PayPal fee schedule. For Xoom transfer status, see Xoom Tracking. Readers checking whether a transfer has cleared can also see What Is a Pending Transaction.
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All fees on this page were read from PayPal's own published pages, starting with the PayPal Consumer Fees page, fetched in October 2026, and are reported as of October 2026. Percentages and caps are quoted as PayPal publishes them; worked-example totals are arithmetic on those published rates. PayPal states fees can change and that the rate shown during a transaction controls.