[Update] PayPal Increasing Seller Fees to 2.99%/3.49 + $.49 on August 2nd

Update 7/1/21: Three things I see on this Paypal FAQ page which seems different than what I wrote in the original post:

• It states a rate of 2.89% + $0.49 for payments without chargeback protection. That’s different from the 2.59% rate stated on the other page.
• Indicates that there is no fee change for family and friend payments. I had suggested in the original post that family and friends payments with credit card might go down to the new 2.59% rate.
• It suggests a rate of 2.89% + $0.49 for sellers who are paid by buyers via a direct link. That’s different than the 2.99% rate mentioned below.

It might be the difference is whether the Paypal account is a personal account or a business one. At this point I’m way too confused to try to make sense of this all, just putting it out there for anyone interested.

Original Post:

PayPal is increasing their seller fees on August 2, 2021. Their current seller fees and website processing fees are 2.90% + $.30. After August 2nd, the fees will change from $.30 to $.49 and from 2.90% to either 2.59%, 2.99%, or 3.49%.

Business Pricing | FAQ | Old Fee Structure 

Here’s my understanding of when these fees apply in layman’s terms, please correct me if there are any mistakes here:

• 3.49% + $.49 for a website who accepts PayPal. If you have a website which offers PayPal at checkout, your fees will increase from 2.90% + $.30 to 3.49% + $.49.
  • Large websites such as Walmart.com, Bestbuy.com, etc, likely have a special fee structure and isn’t necessarily changing, so I don’t have any reason to believe that these large websites will stop accepting PayPal. Smaller websites, on the other hand, might drop the PayPal option in favor of cheaper alternatives.
• 2.99% + $.49 for a regular seller. This will apply if a buyer sends a seller money from within their PayPal account as payment for goods or services. This is an increase of .09% and $.19 per transaction.
• 2.59% + $.49 for a regular seller when there’s no chargeback protection.
  • I’d guess (?) that each seller will get to decide whether they want chargeback protection or not. Thus, in theory, these new changes are a net positive for a seller who – for whatever reason – does not need chargeback protection.
  • I wonder if this means that for our purposes there’s actually a huge net benefit here – if you ‘send money to family and friends’ and choose to pay with a credit card with a fee, presumably that would go under the ‘no chargeback protection’ provision and our fees will now be reduced from 2.90% to 2.59%.
• 1.99% + $0.49 for confirmed charities. I believe this is instead of the current rate of 2.20% + $.30. Overall likely a net reduction in fees for charities.
• For in-person payments there are also some changes, but I’m not entirely clear on what services PayPal offers in that regard and what the fee changes are on that end, so I’ll leave that for others to clarify.