If you are using PayPal as your primary payment platform as an individual, I am sure you want to learn about friends and family PayPal Fee. It is strange that there are certain conditions in which you will have to pay fee even if you are transferring money from PayPal to PayPal and unlike other payment platforms.
PayPal is a digital wallet that is used in over 200 countries and supports 20 currencies, this is a widely used P2P payment platform for both business and personal transactions.
You can use PayPal to send and receive money from your friends and family, you can make online purchases through PayPal and you can also use PayPal to receive payments for goods and services.
PayPal has a fee structure that unique and takes some time to understand. In this article, I will explain everything that you need to know about friends and family PayPal fee,
Let’s dive in…
What Do You Mean By Friends And Family On PayPal?
This is the most essential thing that you have to understand. PayPal has divided the payments into two major categories, you have to choose which type of payment you are sending.
The two main payment categories on PayPal are
- Friends and Family
- Goods and Services
Both of these categories have different fee structures. You will have to pay the fee for both of them. However, there are situations in which you don’t have to pay friends and family PayPal fee, and you can send money for free.
What are the Friends and Family PayPal Fee?
PayPal is undoubtedly one of the most famous online payment platforms, many people use it as their primary payment gateway. Things get confusing when you sometimes have to pay a fee on a transaction and sometimes the same kinda transaction is free.
The downside of using PayPal is that it’s fee depends on the context. Depending on the situation, you will be subjected to a friends and family PayPal fee.
Let’s explore all of the situations one by one.
1- Friends and Family PayPal Fee Within the U.S
If you are using PayPal within the U.S and you want to send money to someone who is on your list of friends and family. In other words, you want to make a personal transaction.
The person you are sending money to is also in the United States, then you can send money to him for free. There will be no fee for sending this type of Friends and Family Payment.
Keep in mind that according to PayPal personal transactions are defined as money that is not for goods and services.
No friends and family PayPal fee is applicable on this type of transaction.
2- Friends and Family PayPal Fee through PayPal Wallet
When you create your PayPal account you are required to connect your account to a bank account. You can do it by linking your credit or debit card.
In this case, we are looking at transactions that fall under the friends and family category through the PayPal Wallet.
If the receiver and the sender of the money are in the same country, in this case, the U.S, and the payment is made through a PayPal account or PayPal Wallet, there will be no Friends and Family PayPal fee on it.
So if you are making friends and family transactions on PayPal you will not be subjected to a fee.
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3- Friends and Family PayPal Fee Through Debit/Credit Card.
As I mentioned above, you can link your PayPal account to a debit card as well as a credit card. Both of the cards are accepted by PayPal. However, transactions made by a debit card, or credit card are subjected to a small fee.
If you are sending money to another PayPal user as a personal transaction with a debit card, or credit card, each transaction will be subjected to a small processing fee of 2.9% + a fixed fee. (Fixed Fee varies by country). In the case of the U.S current rate of the fixed fee is $0.30.
This fee applies whether you and the receiver are in the U.S or not.
Friends and Family PayPal fees for the transactions made with a debit/credit card are 2.9% + $0.30 within the U.S. If you are sending $100 from your linked debit card, you will be paying $103.2 in total. You can use this PayPal calculator to find exactly how much fee you will be paying.
4- Friends and Family PayPal Fee for International Transfers
Now we know about the fee for domestic transfers on PayPal to friends and family. Let’s talk about the PayPal fee for international transfers.
If you are sending money to friends and family from your PayPal wallet internationally, you will have to pay a transaction fee of 5%. If the receiver uses the same currency. If not, then you will also have to pay a currency conversion fee.
If you are sending money internationally and you are making this transaction from your debit or credit card, the domestic fee will also be applied. So the total fee that you will be paying, in this case, is 2.9% (Fee for using Debit/Credit Card) + 5% (International Fee) + Currency Conversion (If Involved)
Also Read: Get Small Personal Loan With Bad Credit
5- Friends and Family PayPal Fee- Different Currencies
I know things on PayPal are confusing but, as this is a platform that is used by millions of users across the world so they will have to come up with fee structures that apply to all and covers their expenses.
If the payment is taking place between accounts that are based on different currencies, you will be paying a currency conversion fee, no matter whether both sender and receiver are in the same country.
Now that is all about the Friends and Family PayPal fee, and I will put it on a chart that you can refer to whenever required.
How to Use PayPal Friends And Family?
If you want to send money using PayPal Friends and Family, you will have to make sure that both sender and the receiver have an active PayPal account.
Here is how you can make a personal transaction on PayPal
- Launch PayPal
- Log in to your PayPal account
- Tap on Send and Request
- Type in Email or Phone Number under Send Money
- Choose Sending to a Friend
- Type in the Amount
- Enter Reason for payment (Optional)
- Click on Submit
How do I avoid PayPal friends and family fees?
Nobody likes to pay fees, including me. Why should we be giving fee to a third party? Actually, I do feel this way but then I justify the fee by telling myself that this is for the awesome PayPal services that I enjoy every day.
PayPal has made funds transfer easy, so they deserve the fee, however, we should also take some steps to reduce the fee as much as we can and we can do it by using the options that PayPal has given us.
We can reduce friends and family PayPal fee by transferring money from the wallet only. If we don’t transfer money from a linked credit and debit card, there will be no fee and we can send money to friends and family for free.
If you don’t have money in your PayPal wallet you can also transfer it from your bank account, in this case, the fee will also be waived. You can also transfer the money from your debit card to your PayPal wallet first and then transfer it to your friends.
How to Avoid Scams on PayPal Friends and Family?
Can you get scammed on PayPal friends and family? the answer is, Yes? As we know that PayPal transfers to friends and family are free, and transactions for goods and services are not free at all, sellers will sometime ask you to make a Friends and Family transfer to them so that they don’t have to pay a fee for receiving money on PayPal.
But don’t fall for this trap, as PayPal has no fraud protection for Friends and Family transactions. If you paid someone through PayPal friends and family and didn’t receive the promised goods or services, you are not gonna get your money back.
PayPal only offers fraud protection on Goods and services payments.
As PayPal strictly states in its Terms and Conditions
“You must not use the “send money to a friend or family member” feature in your PayPal account when you are paying for goods or services.”
Refund Of Fraudulent Payment Requests
You are only protected for “Goods And Services” scams, you are not protected by PayPal for friends and family payment scams. Paypal doesn’t refund “Payments sent using PayPal’s friends and family functionality”.
However, if you were scammed for goods and services payments, here is what PayPal purchase protection policy states
- Sellers will not have access to your financial information
- Each transaction is encrypted
- Your transactions are monitored 24/7
- PayPal will cover all global transactions.
For Customers
PayPal will give you fraudulent payment protection if:
- You were charged for something you didn’t buy
- If you didn’t receive your order
- You received a different product
If you have encountered any of the above inconveniences, you should report it within 60 days of the transaction date, PayPal guarantees to refund the full cost including the shipping cost of the order.
You are given a choice by PayPal to first talk to the seller, if they do not agree to refund the amount, you can file a dispute.
For Merchants
The same type of payment protection is given to merchants by PayPal. Merchants are covered if:
- The transaction was marked unauthorized
- Items were never received
Alternatives to PayPal Friends And Family
If you don’t want to use PayPal as your primary payment gateway to send and receive money from friends and family, you can look into other online P2P payment platforms. There are many popular payment platforms that you can use.
Cash App is one of the most popular platforms that doesn’t charge friends and family fees. You can also check, Venmo or Zelle for that matter.
Verdict
PayPal Fees are a little difficult to understand because these fees depend on the situation. Friends and Family PayPal fee also varies depending on the country you are in and whether you are sending money from a PayPal wallet or a linked bank card.
I hope this article was helpful and you have got all the information that you were looking for. Please share your thoughts in the comments below.
Cheers…