For a seller who needs to start taking orders, check account availability before comparing PayPal and Skrill fees. Skrill's official help page currently says it cannot process new business-account applications. An existing approved merchant has a different decision from a new seller who cannot yet onboard.
PayPal offers hosted merchant Payment Links in supported markets. For an eligible seller wanting to share checkout without building a website, that is a concrete route to evaluate. Neither wallet brand alone determines how you deliver an order, handle a refund or calculate the money left after fees.
This comparison concerns business sales. It does not compare personal money transfers, gambling deposits or moving balances between wallets.
The first gate is a usable merchant account
Skrill distinguishes personal and business accounts, and states that businesses accepting customer payments need the business type. The same page reports the current application pause. Recheck it before applying: a pause is not a claim that Skrill has permanently stopped serving merchants.
For an existing approved Skrill business, confirm the agreed products, supported countries, merchant terms and payout route. Paysafe's digital-wallet offering remains relevant to merchant evaluation. Do not replace a business arrangement with a personal wallet merely because registration is easier.
| Requirement | PayPal route | Skrill route |
|---|---|---|
| New merchant onboarding | Confirm seller-country, business and product eligibility | Check whether business applications have reopened |
| Selling without a custom website | Evaluate native merchant Payment Links where available | Confirm the available merchant checkout product and implementation |
| Existing approved merchant | Verify account capabilities and the intended payment route | Review the existing agreement rather than personal-wallet rates |
| Currency and withdrawal | Price the actual sale and payout currencies | Obtain the merchant fee schedule for that route |
| Delivery and refunds | Assign order fulfilment and verify transaction status | Assign the same responsibilities separately from wallet acceptance |
PayPal's US Payment Links page describes hosted checkout for products and services, including digital items. The available payment methods depend on market and eligibility; the US feature list is not a worldwide promise. Selling a digital item also does not prove that a particular checkout automatically sends your file.
Use a 24-order merchant worksheet
Imagine a seller offering eighteen €50 services and six €20 download bundles in one month. The following is a hypothetical workload, not a forecast or a customer result.
| Order group | Count × price | Gross sales | Responsibility after successful payment |
|---|---|---|---|
| Defined service | 18 × €50 | €900 | Match payer to scope and schedule or deliver the work |
| Download bundle | 6 × €20 | €120 | Deliver the correct file and usage terms |
| Total | 24 orders | €1,020 | Keep transaction, order and refund references together |
For each candidate route, write the available merchant account, accepted buyer methods, settlement currency, payout destination, delivery owner and refund owner beside this workload. If the merchant account cannot be opened, mark the route unavailable. Do not award it a low-cost score based on personal-transfer pricing.
For a quoted rate of r as a decimal and fixed fee f, the simplest same-currency processing estimate is €1,020 × r + 24 × f. Add any route-specific charges, conversion, withdrawal, subscription and refund/dispute charges. Mixed payment methods need separate rows; a single average hides the order mix.
A purely illustrative quote of 3% + €0.30 would produce €30.60 + €7.20 = €37.80 before those extra costs. This is not PayPal's or Skrill's quoted price. Substitute the current merchant schedule for your country and product.
Decide what must happen after checkout
A service seller needs a reliable link between the payment and the agreed work. A file seller additionally needs delivery. For the six download orders above, make the acceptance question specific: can an eligible successful payment release the correct bundle, and what happens when delivery fails?
If you already use Skrill successfully and your customers prefer it, switching purely for a different interface may add work without solving a problem. If you need a new account now, an unavailable merchant route cannot be your launch plan. If the real requirement is a buyer-ready checkout with delivery, compare that workflow rather than wallet popularity.
Where PayRequest fits
PayRequest payment links provide a hosted selling and collection workflow with eligible connected providers, including PayPal where supported. PayRequest does not make a Skrill business application available and is not presented here as a native Skrill integration.
For the service orders, create a clear payment page describing the scope and amount. For files, assess digital-product selling and automatic delivery separately. Confirm your connected provider and payment method for the chosen workflow before advertising it to customers.
PayRequest adds its own platform charges to provider processing where applicable. Free is €0/month with a 2% standard payment fee; active Premium and Business plans remove that standard platform fee. Provider fees and commission-payment exceptions remain separate. Compare the whole workflow instead of assuming that another layer is automatically cheaper.
If hosted collection solves your selling problem, create an account, connect an eligible provider and prepare one customer-facing checkout. Confirm an actual successful transaction before delivering work; a buyer's screenshot is not a payment record.
*Method: primary sources checked 31 October 2026. Original hypothetical 24-order and fee worksheet; no provider test, savings or customer outcome claimed. AI assisted the text and illustration, followed by editorial review.*
