# A paypal fee question **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 8, 2005, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-paypal-fee-question/334601 "2005-12-08T02:25:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2005, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-paypal-fee-question/334601/1 "2005-12-08T02:25:38Z")
Paypal fees are (in my locality, at least) calculated on the basis of 3.4% of the transaction value, plus GBP0.20 So what would happen if someone were to paypal me, say, 15 pence? - the calculated fee would be 3.4% of 15p (just over half a penny, so it might be rounded to a whole penny), plus 20p; so the fee would exceed the value of the transaction by 6 pence. Is this what actually happens? Could someone actually make me net poorer by sending me Paypal micropayments? ---
**Author:** ![Caught\_Work](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/919ad9/32.png) [@Caught\_Work](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Caught_Work)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2005, 5:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-paypal-fee-question/334601/2 "2005-12-08T05:46:43Z")
Well, that’s what the fee schedule says. However, we recently received a payment of $0.42 USD and the fee was $0.00 USD Another payment of $2.44 USD and the fee was $0.38 USD Another payment of $1.00 USD and the fee was $0.33 USD I think the system waives the fee if the amount is under $1.00 Do you want a $0.99 to test it ? ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2005, 8:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-paypal-fee-question/334601/3 "2005-12-08T08:54:16Z")
> [@Caught@Work](#): > > Well, that’s what the fee schedule says. > > However, we recently received a payment of $0.42 USD and the fee was $0.00 USD > > Another payment of $2.44 USD and the fee was $0.38 USD > > Another payment of $1.00 USD and the fee was $0.33 USD > > I think the system waives the fee if the amount is under $1.00 That sounds reasonable. > [@](#): > > Do you want a $0.99 to test it ? If you’re up for it, yes, that would be interesting; might as well just make it $0.05 though. My ID for PayPal is [email address removed]. Cheers! ---
**Author:** ![\_len](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/_/c0e974/32.png) [@\_len](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/_len)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2005, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-paypal-fee-question/334601/4 "2005-12-08T13:51:43Z")
IME, PayPal waives the fee under a certain amount. One-cent payments, for example, don’t seem to incur a fee. Len > [@Mangetout](#): > > That sounds reasonable. > > If you’re up for it, yes, that would be interesting; might as well just make it $0.05 though. My ID for PayPal is [email address removed]. > > Cheers! ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2005, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-paypal-fee-question/334601/5 "2005-12-08T14:18:24Z")
If that’s true, I suppose the reason this isn’t mentioned by ebay at all is that they wouldn’t want anyone breaking a payment into a thousand small pieces, none of which were big enough to attract a fee. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2005, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-paypal-fee-question/334601/6 "2005-12-08T14:19:25Z")
:smack: ebay/paypal = same thing. ---
**Author:** ![Caught\_Work](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/919ad9/32.png) [@Caught\_Work](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Caught_Work)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2005, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-paypal-fee-question/334601/7 "2005-12-14T01:12:29Z")
Sorry, I missed this thread. 0.05 has been sent your way. I hope it doesn’t cost you anything 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2005, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-paypal-fee-question/334601/8 "2005-12-14T01:18:38Z")
Well, that was interesting; here’s the pertinent details for the PayPal transaction at my end: **Total Amount:** $0.05 USD **Fee Amount:** -$0.05 USD **Net Amount:** $0.00 USD So it looks like the fee isn’t waived, but it is capped at the value of the transaction (under normal circumstances it will be much less than this value, of course). I’m not sure whether this would be any different for anyone paying me in my native currency of GBP. I’d also be interested to know what happens if I try to refund this transaction… is that OK? ---
**Author:** ![Reply](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/reply/32/15952_2.png) [@Reply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reply)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2005, 5:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-paypal-fee-question/334601/9 "2005-12-14T05:58:45Z")
I paid a friend 1 US cent and the fee took it all, so it’s not a matter of native currency. But the refund would be interesting to try? ---
**Author:** ![Caught\_Work](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/919ad9/32.png) [@Caught\_Work](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Caught_Work)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2005, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-paypal-fee-question/334601/10 "2005-12-14T23:07:58Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > Well, that was interesting; here’s the pertinent details for the PayPal transaction at my end: > > **Total Amount:** $0.05 USD > **Fee Amount:** -$0.05 USD > **Net Amount:** $0.00 USD > > So it looks like the fee isn’t waived, but it is capped at the value of the transaction (under normal circumstances it will be much less than this value, of course). I’m not sure whether this would be any different for anyone paying me in my native currency of GBP. > > I’d also be interested to know what happens if I try to refund this transaction… is that OK? Sure thing. I’ll also send you 5p and see whether your native currency has anything to do with it. ---
**Author:** ![Caught\_Work](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/919ad9/32.png) [@Caught\_Work](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Caught_Work)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2005, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-paypal-fee-question/334601/11 "2005-12-14T23:11:44Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > Well, that was interesting; here’s the pertinent details for the PayPal transaction at my end: > > **Total Amount:** $0.05 USD > **Fee Amount:** -$0.05 USD > **Net Amount:** $0.00 USD > > So it looks like the fee isn’t waived, but it is capped at the value of the transaction (under normal circumstances it will be much less than this value, of course). I’m not sure whether this would be any different for anyone paying me in my native currency of GBP. > > I’d also be interested to know what happens if I try to refund this transaction… is that OK? The refund came through as: Refund From YOURNAME 14 Dec. 2005 Completed Details $0.05 USD $0.00 USD The very last column is the fee column, so no fee on the refund. Did you get your fee refunded? I’ll end you 5p and see whether your native currency has anything to do with it. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2005, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-paypal-fee-question/334601/12 "2005-12-15T00:20:42Z")
> [@Caught@Work](#): > > The refund came through as: > > Refund From YOURNAME 14 Dec. 2005 Completed Details $0.05 USD $0.00 USD > > The very last column is the fee column, so no fee on the refund. Did you get your fee refunded? > > I’ll end you 5p and see whether your native currency has anything to do with it. Thanks for your help with these experiments; all of them came through, but were wiped out by a fee to exactly the same value; refunding them deducted a net refund of zero from my account, plus a refunded fee of .05, so the transaction was exactly reversed in all aspects. We’d better stop the experiments now, lest PP start viewing the activity as suspicious. ---
**Author:** ![Caught\_Work](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/919ad9/32.png) [@Caught\_Work](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Caught_Work)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2005, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-paypal-fee-question/334601/13 "2005-12-15T03:24:02Z")
Cool. Glad to be of help.