Calculating How Much Money to Request on PayPal to Get Fully Reimbursed

When you request money from someone via PayPal, you don’t receive the entire amount because PayPal takes a fee from you. As of this post, the fee is 2.9% of the amount + $0.30.

Example: You let your friend borrow $100 last week and he wants to pay you back via PayPal today. If you request $100 from him, you will actually receive $96.80.

$96.80 = $100 - (($100 x 2.9%) + $0.30)

Assuming you want your full $100 back how much do you need to request from your friend?

Amount to Request = (Net Amt + PayPal Fixed Fee) / (1 - PayPal Variable Fee)

Amount to Request = ($100 + $0.30) / (1 - 2.9%)

Amount to Request = $103.30

So instead of $100, if you request $103.30, you’ll get back the full amount you lent, $100. Note that you’re essentially passing the PayPal fees onto to the sender via this method.

Hope this is helpful!