Can I surcharge PayPal payments?

To ensure that merchants are given a reasonable opportunity to recover the costs of accepting payments online, we’ve aligned with the Reserve Bank of Australia’s (RBA) new card scheme surcharging standard.

If you choose to, you can surcharge up to the amount you pay PayPal to receive a transaction as a percentage of your total price. However, we don’t recommend you do surcharge your customers. Adding a surcharge can significantly increase your abandonment rates and, in turn, your ability to grow your online business.

Any surcharge you apply may only be expressed as a percentage of the sale total, not a fixed dollar amount.

Calculating your maximum surcharge

To calculate your maximum surcharge, go to your Activity page and click Download. Enter the date range for the most recent 12 month period and choose a file type, then click Create Report. (If you have a premier account, go to your Activity page then click Statements > Activity export > Download History.) Divide the total of the “Fee” column by the total of the “Gross” column to calculate your maximum surcharge percentage.

If you don’t yet have 12 months of sales history with us, you can estimate what your sales will be (and from that, your anticipated fees) over a 12 month period to determine your maximum surcharge percentage.