How Operators Can Avoid Paying PayPal's New Increased Fees with bookingkit

Starting August 31, PayPal will be introducing new fees on received payments for all customers (except those who have entered into separate agreements with PayPal specifying other rates). The new rates will affect small and mid-sized businesses in the tours and activities industry most, with total monthly received payments amounting to less than €25,000 incurring a commission of at least two percent.

Until now, the max fee for businesses using PayPal was just 1.9 percent, even for monthly revenues totaling less than €2,000. Unfortunately, given the growth we’ve been seeing in online purchases for tickets and coupons in the tours and activities industry, as well as the increasing popularity of PayPal as a convenient way to offer and manage online payments, operators simply have no choice but to accept the fee bump for now.

What will my PayPal fee rate be after the increase?

As of August 31, merchants with a monthly payment volume of less than €2,000 will owe a commission of 2.49 percent for each transaction (formerly 1.9 percent). For merchants who earn more, the fee is set to jump 0.29 percent, resulting in commissions ranging from 1.79 to 2.19 percent. A lower commission of 1.49 percent is reserved for merchants with a monthly volume of more than €100,000. A complete overview of the new rates can be found in PayPal’s terms and conditions.

New PayPal fee rates following the increase. Source: screenshot taken from PayPal

What the new fees look like in absolute terms:

PayPal’s getting more expensive, but not for bookingkit customers

Since PayPal is directly integrated in the bookingkit platform as a payment method, bookingkit customers are unaffected by the new rates. This means the former transaction fee rates still apply for bookings placed through bookingkit.
In fact, PayPal’s fee bump actually makes bookingkit, as well as the services and features it provides, more affordable. Not only do customers get convenient payment processing through PayPal, but they also get a comprehensive booking management service complete with a wide range of other payment methods, automatic ticket and invoice generation, coupon and gift certificate management tools, bookkeeping and access to marketing platforms — and all at the same price as before!
PayPal fee example: Until now, for operators not using bookingkit, a monthly revenue of €1,000 would incur a PayPal fee of €19. At €24.90, this fee is now €5.90 more expensive. But bookingkit customers don’t have to worry about that — their PayPal fee rates will stay the same. Which means the complete bookingkit service just got €5.90 cheaper!

Are there alternatives to PayPal?

Sort of. PayPal is still one of the most popular online payment methods around, and you should definitely continue to use it for this reason. But there are also plenty of other standard payment methods which you can — and should! — offer in addition to PayPal. Each customer has his or her preferred method of payment, and you want to avoid losing potential bookings because you didn’t cover all your bases.

Other payment methods available through bookingkit