PayPal's Australian Charity Rate Is 1.10%, If You Get Approved For It
PayPal is a payment rail, not a fundraising platform. It processes the money well and leaves you to assemble the donation forms, ticketing, receipts and donor records around it.
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Get the fundraising tools, not just the payment rail
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The charity rate is real, and it is gated
PayPal publishes 1.10% + A$0.30 for Australian charity transactions, which is genuinely low. It is "subject to eligibility, application, and pre-approval by PayPal", so until you are approved you pay the standard 2.90% + A$0.30. Zeffy has no rate to apply for and covers processing itself.
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A payment rail is not a fundraising platform
PayPal moves money and issues a payment record. Donation pages, event ticketing, membership renewals, tax receipts and a donor history are yours to build or buy elsewhere. Zeffy includes all of them at no cost.
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Australian receipts and Australian rules, built in
Zeffy issues tax receipts for Australian donors and is built around ACNC registration and an ABN. PayPal gives you a transaction record and leaves the receipting, and the donor list, to you.
Frequently asked questions
What does PayPal charge an Australian charity?
1.10% + A$0.30 on domestic transactions once approved for the charity rate, which PayPal states is "subject to eligibility, application, and pre-approval". Without that approval the standard commercial rate applies: 2.90% + A$0.30. Receiving from outside Australia adds 1.00%. Zeffy charges no platform fee and no transaction fee, and covers processing itself.
Is there a monthly or platform fee on PayPal?
No. PayPal charges no platform fee and no monthly fee for standard use; the cost is entirely per transaction. That is a genuine strength if all you need is a payment rail.
How do we get the PayPal charity rate?
You apply and PayPal pre-approves you. Their page is explicit that eligibility, an application and pre-approval are all required, and that once approved the rate applies to commercial transaction payments and donations received in the account. Budget on 2.90% + A$0.30 until the approval lands.
What is PayPal Giving Fund?
A separate PayPal programme that delivers donations to enrolled charities. It is not the same as the charity processing rate, and enrolling in one does not enrol you in the other. Worth looking at on its own terms rather than as a discount.
Can we run events, memberships or an auction on PayPal?
Not natively. PayPal offers a hosted donate button and recurring subscriptions, and everything else — ticketing, registration, check-in, member management, auctions, peer-to-peer pages — needs another platform on top. Zeffy includes them.
Does PayPal issue Australian tax receipts?
PayPal issues a payment confirmation, not a deductible-gift receipt for your organisation. Receipting stays your job. Zeffy issues receipts to Australian donors automatically.
Is Zeffy really free if PayPal already has no monthly fee?
The difference is the per-transaction cost and what comes with it. On $50,000 raised, PayPal at the approved charity rate of 1.10% + A$0.30 takes roughly $550 plus 30 cents a gift, and at the standard 2.90% roughly $1,450 plus the same. Zeffy takes nothing at any volume, and the donation forms, ticketing, memberships and donor CRM are included rather than assembled.
What does PayPal do better than Zeffy?
It is a payment rail with enormous reach, donors already have accounts, and it settles in more currencies and countries than any fundraising platform. If you need to accept money from many countries in many currencies, that is a real advantage. Zeffy is built for Australian not-for-profit fundraising specifically.
Keep comparing, and see why not-for-profits choose Zeffy
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