In the last 20 years, PayPal has become one of the most popular online payment platform. It is currently available in 200 countries and connects 295 million users worldwide. You will most likely come across PayPal, while shopping online, as most of the ecommerce platforms use it as one of the payment methods.
In this article we will cover the services and products available for Australian customers. Keep reading to learn about transaction costs for payments from Australia to any part of the World, setting up business account or even handling credit cards via PayPal platform.
Send money domestically
You can easily handle your everyday finances with PayPal. If you want to send money to your friend, split dinner bill or taxi fare, a simple domestic transaction is free of charge. However, it’s important to notice that the person you are trying to send money to needs to have a PayPal account also. You can simply order a payment to their email and they can register from the link there and receive the money. Once the money is on PayPal account it can be easily withdrawn to one’s bank account.
Send money internationally
If you need to make an international payment to an individual account, the process is similar to classic domestic payment. However, there will be additional costs for currency conversions or sending bigger amounts abroad. PayPal usually charges a certain “fixed fee” depending on which currency you want to send. For Australian Dollars, it’s 0.30AUD per transaction.
Buy something in Australia
Online shopping has become very convenient with PayPal being used by most of e-commerce stores. After you purchase a certain good, at the checkout there should be a special PayPal button, which lets you pay with one click of a button if you are logged into your account. PayPal also allows you to securely pay with your credit or debit card.
Buy something internationally
The process is identical to domestic purchase. However, keep in mind that they will need to adjust the price based on your currency and there may be additional charges for handling overseas transaction and a markup on exchange rates. Be careful when paying with a credit or debit card, as these generate quite a significant banking fees. It’s best to pay for a product directly from your PayPal balance. PayPal allows you to hold multiple currencies on one account. That way you can choose to pay with your foreign balance to avoid additional exchange costs.
PayPal Fees
| Payment funded by your PayPal balance | Payment with a debit or credit card | |
| Sending money within Australia | free | 2.6% of the transaction + $0.30 fee |
| Sending money internationally | 0.99-5.99AUD + currency conversion fees | 0.99-5.99AUD + 2.6% + currency conversion fees |
| Buying something in Australia | free (if in AUD) | free (if in AUD) |
| Buying something from abroad | currency conversion fees | currency conversion fees |
The flat fee is 5% of the total transaction sum, but it’s no lower than 0.99AUD and no higher than 5.99AUD.
In most cases the most significant charges will be related to currency conversions, as there is a markup on the exchange rates.
PayPal exchange rates
It’s hard to determine the exact rates, which are used to exchange the currency. The markup can reach around 2-4%. In the table below you can find the flat fees, which are added to your international currency transaction.
| Currency received | Personal Transaction fixed fee |
| Australian Dollar | $0.30 AUD |
| Brazilian Real | 0.60 BRL |
| Canadian Dollar | $0.30 CAD |
| Czech Koruna | 10 CZK |
| Danish Krone | 2.60 DKK |
| Euro | €0.35 EUR |
| Hong Kong Dollar | $2.35 HKD |
| Hungarian Forint | 90 HUF |
| Israeli Shekel | 1.20 ILS |
| Japanese Yen | ¥40 JPY |
| Malaysian Ringgit | 2.0 MYR |
| Mexican Peso | $4 MXN |
| New Zealand Dollar | $0.45 NZD |
| Norwegian Krone | 2.80 NOK |
| Philippine Peso | 15 PHP |
| Polish Zloty | 1.35 PLN |
| Russian Ruble | 10 RUB |
| Singapore Dollar | $0.50 SGD |
| Swedish Krona | 3.25 SEK |
| Swiss Franc | 0.55 CHF |
| Taiwan New Dollar | 10 TWD |
| Thai Baht | 11 THB |
| UK Pounds Sterling | £0.20 GBP |
| US Dollar | $0.30 USD |
PayPal Business Account Fees
If you are running a business, you may want to learn the fees for merchants.
| Payment type | Australian | International |
| Online Payments | 2.6% + $0.30 | 3.6% + fixed fee |
| Website Payments Pro – Hosted Solution | 1.75% + $0.30 | 3.6% + fixed fee |
| Invoices | 2.6% + $0.30 | 3.6% + fixed fee |
| PayPal Here card reader | 1.95% | 1.95% |
| PayPal Here – manual entry | 2.9% + $0.30 | 2.9% + fixed fee |
| Virtual Terminal | 3.6% + $0.30 | 4.6% + fixed fee |
| Donations | 1.1% + $0.30 | 2.1% + fixed fee |
Keep in mind that Website Payments Pro have also an additional monthly $25 maintenance fee. Also, when it comes to donations, only verified charities can benefit from these cheaper rates.
What are PayPal alternatives for Australia?
If the rates or PayPal’s offer don’t suit your needs, you can easily research thousands of other online payment platforms. We’ve created lists of remittance companies, which can be sorted based on transaction fees, speed, safety or overall customer satisfaction. You can also use “compare tool”, where after you type your transfer details the algorithm will show you fees for your transaction in all of the available companies.